Book Review: Cleaning Nabokov’s House

Cleaning Nabokov’s House: A Novel by Leslie Daniels

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

When Barb Barrett walks out on her loveless marriage, she doesn’t realize she will lose everything: her home, her financial security, even her beloved children. Approaching forty with her life in shambles and no family or friends to turn to, Barb must now discover what it means to rely on herself in a stark new emotional landscape.

With only a questionable business plan in hand, Barb is determined to reinvent herself. She moves into a house once occupied by the literary genius Vladimir Nabokov, author of the notorious Lolita. She discovers what could be Nabokov’s last unpublished manuscript and from there begins a personal journey that is deliciously romantic, darkly comic, and wise.

Cleaning Nabokov’s House went a completely different direction than I was expecting. I thought it would be mostly about Barb finding the manuscript and trying to get it published but that was only a small part of the story. It’s about her trying to become a functional human being again after getting divorced and losing her kids. She starts an unorthodox business in the sleepy little town she lives in which was a surprise to me although now I know it’s foreshadowed in the very first sentence of the book. Throughout it all she maintains a wry sense of humor that is probably what keeps her from going completely insane.

I think one of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much is that Barb reminded me of one of my friends after her divorce. I could imagine my friend thinking and saying a lot of the things that Barb did. Barb has some really great lines. For example, after she finds out her ex-husband has a girlfriend:

I asked myself sternly, “Why shouldn’t he be happy?” I answered myself like this: “Why shouldn’t he be dead?”

The book is full of this kind of wry humor, which helps provide relief when Barb’s situation feels utterly bleak. Even though Barb is fairly socially inept and just plain weird sometimes, I found myself rooting for her on all fronts. I thoroughly enjoyed Cleaning Nabokov’s House.

Make sure to come back tomorrow – I’ll be giving away three copies of this book! (US only)

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(I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher.)