Lolita

by Vladimir Nabokov 

Review of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

 

       This book was an extremely disturbing, perverse and abnormal experience, which I found really hard to relate to (being a non peodophilic female heterosexual). Normally I don't find classics hard to read (some people complain about language) but at times I felt bored because it wasn't picking up pace. Generally speakng it was ironically a fun and light read which I rather enjoyed.

       Was it a good book? Yes, it was. But I do not think it deserves to make it to the 'greatest novels' list. It's claim lies in its controversial themes and entertaining, funny plot rather than how well it was written. This book could most probably have been condensed into a novella .

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov was reviewd by Joz

       Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth, Lo. Lee.Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly in school. She was Dolores on the dottedline. But in my arms she was always Lolita.

      So begins one of the most controversial novels of modern times, charting the unconventional relationship between the older man, Humbert Humbert, and a girl of twelve. It’s a tale told from the point of view of Humbert (a character so good they named him twice!) and is surprisingly persuasive in garnering sympathy for a man who is, essentially, a pedophile. The torment he suffers through his obsession with Lolita and the length to which he will go to possess her are beautifully told – at times poignantly poetic – in a style that illustrates the author’s love of a language which isn’t his mother tongue (I could almost cry at how beautifully he writes!).

       This is truly a modern classic and the subject, though fraught with danger, is tactfully engaged so that the reader is forced to re-evaluate conventional thinking in terms of relationships between adults and children who are often less innocent than one might believe. It’s a tale of epic proportions, a telling commentary on life, love and obsession, and an amoral love letter to every nymphette who ever lived.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov was reviewd by Kell Smurthwaite (On the Shelf Reviews)

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