On "The Little Girl With Budding Breasts and a Bubblegum Laugh" by A. Igoni Barrett (5804 words) ****

A friend recently asked why I like the book Lolita and whether I sympathized with the main character. Does one have to sympathize with a main character? I'm not convinced one does. Still there's a certain sick hopelessness, a pitifulness, to such characters. Writing about subjects like incest or pedophilia is almost always of a disturbing nature, and this story is no exception. Here a man falls for his cousin fifteen years his junior. He's got no business living in the same house with her, and reading as the events unfold is downright icky. She's a spoiled teen; he's nearing thirty. The decisions he makes, mostly based around her, become increasingly more disturbing and also secretive. If you have the stomach, you can read the story here at Kweli Journal.