I've just finished reading this book about a couple of weeks ago and I was just left astounded - I have to admit I'm not normally one to read a 'classic' book, but I had a book token so I thought I'd just go for it and I was pleasantly surprised.
When I explained what it was about to some of my friends, they said that it would be wrong for me to like it, but I feel the controversial topic made it even better. Okay, so here's the synopsis, if you're thinking that my jabbering has made it sound like a good book;
"'Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.'
Poet and pervert, Humbert Humbert becomes obsessed by twelve-year-old Lolita and seeks to possess her, first carnally and then artistically, out of love, 'to fix once for all the perilous magic of nymphets'. This seduction is one of many dimensions in Nabokov's dizzying masterpiece, which is suffused with a savage humour and rich, elaborate verbal textures."
I think it truly is such a good piece of writing - some people who reviewed it even felt sorry for Humbert Humbert, which I found myself doing. But then I just began to understand his logic, even if it was a little warped and it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable read.
I'm going to watch the film adaption this week - the older one - and then find the new one. That's how good I think it is.
Five out of five ^_^
Points:
Time spent:
Canary word: Present
Possible AI signals:
Original Text:
Are you sure you want to delete this comment? This cannot be undone.
Mark this comment as a review? Points will be awarded to the poster.
Your comment was posted, but it wasn’t long enough to count as a review. Reviews need about four complete sentences (at least 250 characters). Try writing another review that explains your thoughts in more detail — the author will appreciate it, and you’ll earn points for it.
125,018 Literary Works • 672,861 Reviews
Ah, already I like this forum! Anyway, Lolita is definitely a work of genius. No doubt. Incredibly disturbing, so much so that I had to put it down several times out of sheer horror, but fantastic anyway. Nabokov wrote better in his non-native language than most of us native speakers can dream of.
I read it about a year ago, and it left me astounded. There's only a few books I've been quite so enthralled with, such as Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell *GWTW plug*.
Lolita was a bit perverting, I'll admit, but it really was fabulous writing, and I can see why it's a classic.
I should reread it.
I read Lolita in like November, I believe, and I got many a weird looks. "Why would you want to read pedo lit?" Haha, but it was jokingly of course.
I think Lolita is probably one of the most disturbing, beautiful, scary, and pitiful (not the book itself but the characters) books I've ever read. I actually borrowed the book from a friend of mine in creative writing and we talked about it which made me feel better because throughout the book I was actually kind of angry at Lolita for hurting Humbert and I actually sympathized with his pain.
It's such a great book...