I read Lolita as a warning - that it is possible to be completely obsessed with beauty and completely oblivious to cruelty, both at the same time.

Lolita catches me when I find myself relishing something Humbert wrote, when I feel myself admiring or even envying the beauty of his prose, then noticing a moment later that he was describing something horrifying. I don't find Lolita to be useful as some sort of attempted documentary, nor as a rote morality play about keeping your hands off of little girls. I find Lolita valuable as an *evocative confrontation*, something bearing an awareness that can only be gestured at rather than reductively described.

There are many such works of literary fiction, and I hope you find some that work their magic on you in the same way!