Cleaning Nabokov's House: A Novel
From Goodreads:
“I knew I could stay in this town when I found the blue enamel pot floating in the lake. The pot led me to the house, the house led me to the book, the book to the lawyer, the lawyer to the whorehouse, the whorehouse to science, and from science I joined the world.”
I won an advanced reader's edition of Cleaning Nabokov's House as a GoodReads First Read. It took me a while to get into the book. Barb, the main character, is newly divorced and living in her husband's hometown where she doesn't feel at home. She has lost custody of her two school aged children, but has found an unfinished book about Babe Ruth - that may or may not have been written by novelist Vladimir Nabokov - hidden in the house that she's living in, where Nabokov had also previously lived. The book leads her to a lawyer, by the lawyer's office she discovers a cathouse. She has an idea to open one in the small town where she's living to spice up the lives of the residents, and the book goes from there.
I have to admit, I wasn't a big fan of the story line from the beginning. Im not big on the idea of prostitution for really any reason. I had a bit of a hard time relating to the characters, but the story wasn't all that bad. There were funny moments - like where Barb got caught on peeing on a camping trip -and I did hope to see Barb stick it to her jerk of an ex by the end of the book. The whole thing picked up and wrapped up nicely, and I found myself wishing as it was over that I had liked it more at the beginning - if that makes sense. Maybe if I knew more about Nabokov, I'd be more interested in the book? Then again, Barb herself didn't know much more about him than I do now...
I gave Cleaning Nabokov's House by Leslie Daniels 3 stars on Goodreads.
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