Book Review
Title: Speak, Memory
Author: Vladimir Nabokov
Genre: Autobiography
Rating: ***
Review: This autobiography I found when I was studying Lolita for college and realized that Nabokov wrote his autobiography at the same time. Nabokov begins with memories of his first conscious thoughts where he realizes the two beings holding his hands are his mother and father. He recounts several memories from his early years often linked to thoughts or experiences he would have much later. One interesting thing about Nabokov was he didn’t die until the 70’s meaning he lived through the Russian war with Japan, the First World War, the abdication of the Tsar as well as the Second World War and much more. All this coupled with his living in many countries has given him a lot of memories he can write about.
Nabokov was very close to his mother because he was often ill as a child, but he was also very close to his father despite the fact he wasn’t around much the to his work, and both of their deaths affected him greatly. Nabokov also had 3 siblings; one brother and 2 sisters which was accepted because they were a well off family. I liked reading about Nabokov’s strange ‘abilities’, he sees colors when he hears certain letters which he talks about in-depth but he also heard voices in his mind which were removed from his own thoughts and seemingly wanted nothing to do with him, as well as witnessing visions on the verge of sleep or in the depth of illness. Another interesting thing he recounts is Russian isn’t his first language, technically he learned English first as well as many others. The next section consists of Nabokov going through some of the members of his own family he uncovers; this only applies to the ones he found interesting. However, only to stand out to me; Konstantin who managed to avoid death by both a terrorist bomb and on the Titanic but otherwise lead a very normal life and is uncle Vasily who maybe have (it’s unclear) sexual abused Vladimir in his young years until he became plain in his uncle’s eyes. The family itself seems to be made up primarily of learned people, aristocracy and soldiers who have done a lot in their lives and many Nabokov didn’t know of until speaking to family members or doing research for his autobiography.
I can honestly say that Nabokov has led an interesting life and lived through some of the more turbulent and dangerous times in history, but I didn’t read this book because I was interested in his life. I read this book purely because I had to read Lolita for a college assignment, and I needed some context on the author. I am not a fan of autobiographies unless I am really interested in the person who the book is about, but I think it is still worth a read as he frequently mentions Lolita as he was writing it at the same time.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk
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