Roger Fishbite

Roger Fishbite is a novel by the American writer and journalist Emily Prager, which was published in 1999.

Themes and literary connections

The novel was written partly as a literary parody of Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel Lolita, partly as a "reply both to the book and to the icon that the character Lolita has become."[1] It tells the story of thirteen-year-old Lucky Lady Linderhoff, and her mother, and their lodger, whom Lucky calls Roger Fishbite.[2]

While taking its inspiration from Nabokov's Lolita, Prager's novel is narrated by Lucky, not Fishbite, and displays a number of twists and turns that differ from the original text. Prager also updates the story, setting it in the modern-day period, rather than choosing to set it in the 1950s.[3]

Reviews

At the heart of the novel is the issue that Lucky raises constantly throughout: The way in which children in America (and western society in general, I would add) are hated and feared by a society that seeks to eroticise them whilst at the same time destroying them.[4]

What prevents the novel from devolving into an inside joke is the enthralling voice of Lucky Linderhof, who, at nearly 15, tells her tale with the world-weariness befitting an elder statesman of child abuse.[5]

References
  1. Author's Note, Prager, Emily - Roger Fishbite, Vintage: 1999
  2. ANDREA HIGBIE (May 23, 1999). "Books: Roger Fishbite". the New York Times.
  3. "Emily Prager : Roger Fishbite: A Novel". Bookmooch.com. 1999-03-16. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
  4. "Roger Fishbite". The F-Word. 2006-07-02. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
  5. "Roger Fishbite". Salon.com. 1999-04-14. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
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