Lolita | Vladimir Nabokov | I thought his book was amazing.

Lolita | Vladimir Nabokov | A True Masterpeice

books:

Lolita

	Lolita Vladimir Nabokov Vintage, 1989 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 450 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

I thought his book was amazing.

Notwithstanding its tabooed subject matter, Nabokov's ability at capturing the intensity of longing, despair, passion and rapture is enthralling. The story in many respects isn't an easy read. The extensive vocabulary and obscure references insure that there was much I probably missed. But it did not take away from the awe of Vladimir Nabokov's incredible mastery of the English language along with sprinklings of French and German as far as I could decipher.

Story-wise, the cold and calculated way Humbert Humbert goes about seducing 12-year-old Dolores is difficult to endure especially as the reader is privy to every manner of plan and execution. Of course as this is almost entirely from Humbert's perspective, the reader is only able to glean Lolita, his private name for her, and other characters from that perspective notwithstanding his own scrupulous attempt at objectivity. From this perspective we discover a Lolita in many ways a typical 12- year-old of the times yet with a beguiling precociousness. She's brash and bratty and not shy about her sexuality, burgeoning though it may be. There is Dolores' mother Charlotte, needy and in a hateful rivalry with her daughter for Humbert's affections. Humbert himself is erudite, superior and routinely disdainful of all who pass his way. Yet under the spell of his own longing and desire for Lolita, becomes the very entity he scorns.

What stands out and continues to draw me to this work is the depths of emotion Humbert subjects himself to albeit much of it through his obsession for Lolita. It made me question the idea of love and what it is supposed to mean. It's clear that Humbert's feelings for Lolita are profound but one could not but question whether this love is centered more on an ideal Lolita rather than the real life Dolores. His ongoing obsession with "nymphs" and "girl children" finally finds release in the ideal form, in many ways, of Dolores Haze. Ideal because she was a willing participant at least initially and fit the criteria of being a young girl, an ideal nymphet in that regard. Yet this nymphet turns out to also be impudent, petulant with banal tastes, not exactly a fantasy combination for the highbrow Humbert. Yet his declarations of love and devotion is always steadfast and much to his surprise goes on to extend past her "nymphage" years. At the end, I was left with the unsettling thought that perverted and unseemly though it may be perhaps it could be qualified as love. Not the not-so-common pure and selfless kind but the sullied and soiled kind where self-interest, manipulation and in Humbert's case ultimately murder is par for the course.

What is even more fascinating about this book is the twist taken by Nabalov with the character of Lolita. By taking the child abuse scenario in a different direction and not making her the frightened, quivering Little Red Riding Hood to Humbert's Big Bad Wolf. Nabokov still does a remarkable job of keeping her as a believable young girl, not totally innocent but clearly not grown-up either. He is skillful at interweaving her precociousness with an obvious emotional immaturity. At age 12 in the early 1950s, she is knowledgeable and experienced in the ways of sex but in a childishly oblivious way. She is aware of the concept of incest, breezily admits to having sex at camp with her and another girl taking turns with a teen-aged boy and is the one to initiate the first sexual contact with Humbert whom she assumes is clueless about this activity which she summarizes as being "rather fun" and "good for the complexion." She then has no compunction about needling him, calling him a "dirty old man" and slyly telling him that she's going to call the cops. During their travels, she has a lot of say in where they will eat, what they will do, where they will stay. Granted this more than likely stems from Humbert's desire to appease Lolita in Humbert's words "from kiss to kiss." But through out it can be sometimes difficult to discern where the balance of power really does fall. It is interesting though the fact that despite Dolores' growing ambivalence if not outright distaste for Humbert and his foppish ways she continues the sexual relationship without much fuss considering she has no problem heartily refusing other demands made by Humbert such as reading more books, despite his pleas and threats. Perhaps sex does not have significance for Dolores one way or the other. Perhaps she knows it's a powerful leverage with Humbert although it wasn't until later on that she appears to actually start using it as such and even then still in a limited manner. The fact that everything is pretty much related from Humbert's perspective had me at times, longing for a bit more insight into Dolores' own inner thoughts.

There really is a lot to this book and it would take another entire book to analyze it all. The subject of the story may be taboo but it is done in what I think is a very tasteful and non-offensive manner. It delves into so much more than a pedophile's lust for a young girl that it's hard to even know where to start. But it definitely got me thinking not just about the complexity of the human experience but the skill that it takes as a writer to express it in such an eloquent and exceptional way. As I got this as an audio-cassette, hearing Jeremy Iron and his way of bringing to life Nabokov's words allowed me a means of appreciating it all the more so. His ability to infuse the book with the sarcasm, humour, despair and vulnerability so prevalent in the book makes the writing that much more memorable.

for more information click here

A True Masterpeice

Lolita was a book that I enjoyed immensely. Having read it over six months ago I still remember reading this book deep into the night and being overly captivated by the story. Although the book itself is not for younger audiences, I didn't find anything in it to be distasteful! What I found within the pages was a story that felt as if I had almost lived it myself. Vladimir Nabokov wrote a marvelous book. Highly Recommended!

Wonderful Wonderful

Let it be said, as it has been before by many others more qualified than I, that Nabokov is a genius. He is an astounding writer, and it can be seen that not only does he deserve acclaim for merely writing, but his use of english puts him in the company of fine poets and lyricists alike (for example: "Possibilities of sweetness on technicolor beaches had been trickling through my spine for some time..."). In a short essay written by Nabokov following the end of the novel itself, he describes this book as his love affair with the english language.

The novel begins with a foward by "John Ray, Jr. PhD," expressing his thoughts on the publishing of the killer whom we only know by his own self-proclaimed alias "Humbert Humbert." In it, we learned that shortly after completing the novel, Humbert has died of coronary thrombosis. We also hear of a Mrs. Richard T Schiller who dies in childbirth, giving birth to a stillborn baby girl. By immediately giving us the fates of certain key characters, the remaining novel thickens our understanding of their tragedy.

Humbert falls in love with a "girl-child" who resembles a lost love of his, and mechanically plots his way to becoming her guardian, a plot assisted by "McFate" as the narrator coins it. Part one ends with the end of their life in Ramsdale, a quaint New England town, and Nabokov's picture of Life Americana.

The second part of the story slowly unravels the truth behind the narrators twisted view of his indulgant love affair. Reality and Time are the true villains here, not Humbert, not Lolita, and certainly not the man they come to call "Cue" (a wonderful light sketch of a character, who plays a pivotal role in the grand finale of the novel). They spend the years roaming around the counrty, staying at seedy inns and encountering misadventures along the way.

This novel is truly one of, if not the greatest novel(s) of the twentieth century. Nabokov's essay includes accounts of his perilous efforts of trying to have it published, which just as amusing as the novel itself. It is interesting to note, as Nabokov points out, that there is not a single foul four-letter word in the novel. I reccomend this book to any lover of great literature or any person appreciative of the english language.

for more information click here

A Classic in Every Word

Flowery Elegant in language providing a challenge to read without annotations, this novel, albeit dealing with a older man-young girl seduction, provides the reader with pure entertainment.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

products you might be interested in