Lolita

Rating:
Summary: Writing at its best
Review: The review immediately below speaks of "literary gymnastics". Where I come from, such mastery of words is known as artistic talent, and books where this skill attains such rare heights as in Lolita are called "masterpieces".

If you are after a "thrill", some sort of support for your particular moral stance, or a deeper understanding of human nature, please refrain from purchasing this book and being thoroughly disappointed. If, on the other hand, you have any taste whatsoever for good writing, then you will (oddly enough) get a "thrill" after all from reading Lolita.

Rating:
Summary: The Disney Musical Was Better
Review: While Nabokov's literary gymnastics are impressive, the overall experience of reading Lolita is an empty one. You're better off listening to the audio version (narrated by Liberace) or watching the Disney Cartoon Musical featuring the voices of Val Kilmer, Anna Paquin, and Red Auerbach.

Rating:
Summary: One of Civilization's Great Works of Art
Review: I felt I was in the presence of great genius while reading "Lolita". Nabokov's prose style is reason alone to read this stunning work of art; it was to me the closest thing to "singing" I have ever come upon. The Dolores 'Lolita' Haze character was so tragic and compelling that I cannot understand why anyone who actually read the book would think of it as pornography; and ditto to the masterfully realized Humbert and Quilty. My only complaints were the need to consult a dictionary so often and the sometimes rambling narrative.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and Scandalous
Review: Vanity Fair, in the blurb on the back cover of this book, called Lolita the only convincing love story of the 20th century. After reading it, I'm not so sure that 'love' really describes the feelings that Humbert had for Lolita, but I was thoroughly convinced that Nabokov was one of the best writers of the 20th century. This is some of the most beautiful prose ever written. It is amazing to consider that Nabokov was not even a native speaker of English. What's more, he asserted that his novels written in Russian, which never have been widely read in the West, were his best books. All in all, that's a pretty good reason to learn Russian!

Rating:
Summary: One of THE Great Books of American Prose Literature...
Review: ...which needs no further comment from me. My only recommendation is that one read THE ANNOTATED LOLITA: Revised and Updated, Vintage Books Edition 1991, which "assiduously glosses the novel's extravagant wordplay and its frequent literary allusions, parodies, and cross refereces." A must-read for new or committed lovers of LOLITA. Very illuminating and entertaining. Not to worry; this is no straight-jacketed academic foot-note tome. To quote (or paraphrase) some of my favorite ads, "Amaze your friends [and/or yourself] with your encyclopedic knowledge of the literary allusions in LOLITA!" Seriously, THE ANNOTATED LOLITA provided me with a new layer of consciousness; an enlightenment, if you will, that I otherwise would have missed, and ennabled me to enjoy what may be loosely called some of LOLITA's "methods of composition."

Rating:
Summary: Love story!
Review: In reading these customer reviews, I was not surprised to hear about the genius of the prose. I do think the book was poetic, and some of the descriptions were quite beautiful and memorable. However, I'll admit I was bored by some of the travel scenes.

I was surprised to find that people found it "hysterical". I suppose I thought it was witty in a few instances, but not even "funny".

I enjoyed the idea of the "unreliable narrator". And looking through the world through HH's eyes cerainly displayed how unreliable his views were. As a detective, I enjoyed picking apart his madness.

But what pushed me to write this review was my amazement that anyone could call this a love story! Certainly the relationship was horribly one-sided, Lo had no love for HH. And I strongly believe he did not love Lo. The obvious being that he is a kidnapping pedophile, aroused by all nymphets. But beyond his glaring sickness, he didn't even KNOW Dolores (I don't think that any of us did). Near the end, he overhears Lo talking to a friend, making an intellecutal comment on death, and realizes he knows nothing of her. Other than her physical features and her movements, he has no interest in her. He hears her cry herself to sleep, and doesn't react! This is nothing like any definition of love that I know.

The book may be genius because it could make people believe he DOES love Dolores, but it did not strike me as such.

I would never want to re-read this book. I didn't feel sympathy for HH. Because of this, I struggled through a book in which I found no one I could care about (I never found Lolita to be fleshed-out enough as a character).

Yes, it was creepy. I've read creepy books that I've also found fascinating. This book was creepy and only mildly interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Appreciate Beauty in its Naked Form
Review: Despite continuous obsession with what beauty signifies, <Lolita> is still captivating readers worldwide w/ its pure stroke of genius, its glamorous yet clandestine charm, and most of all, the startling beauty of the English language mastered by a Russian. Of a tragically "romantic" and disturbing nature, <Lolita> captures the essence of perversion and obsession through the story of Humbert Humbert and his pre-teen nymph Dolores Haze, aka Lolita. The nature and consequence of Humbert's doomed passion is not meant to be judged; as a lost European romanticist, Humbert comes to encompass the fading European sensuality as he attempts to grasp his own lost innocence. His troubled adulthood is, according to Freud, the distorted extension of a nightmare never fully awaken from. After the failed romance in his childhood, Humbert grows into a tattered frame looking for protection in a daughter figure--Lolita. The true disturbing aspect of this masterpiece is the concept of "double seducer". Instead of presenting the mere form of child molesting, Nabakov further highlights the darkness of obsession and perversion by having Humbert seduced by a blossoming American girl eager to weave her net of "amor". The combination of Europe's weakening sensuality and America's burgeoning sexuality proves to be deadly as Humbert marries Lolita's mother in vain. What exactly make a nymph?

"Slightly feline outline of a cheekbone, the slenderness of a downy limb, and other indices with despair and shame and tears of tenderness forbid me to tabulate-the little deadly demon among the wholesome children; she stands unrecognized by them and unconscious herself of her fantastic power"

Lolita is not a mere juvenile character; the darkness of her soul, unclouded by Humbert's blind passion is of such shattering force that she transforms from the offended to the offender, the tormented to the tormentor. When I mentioned how Humbert was seeking a daughter-figure to assuage his anguish and incomplete development, Lolita is at the same finding the father figure in her "lover". Nabakov may not have intended a propaganda message through his bewitching prose, yet lurking hideously between the lines is the truth about children's seemingly untainted hearts. Oh no, no one is born free of sin, it takes only a spark to unleash the demonic nymph who is made to woo, to be wooed, to destroy, and to be destroyed. Humbert on the other hand, is far more than a mere spark; he sought the undying flame of beauty. Truly, unlike common criminals who consciously shatter the bounds of law and order, Humbert commits "crime" to attain beauty in a very ignorant yet sincere fashion that the disturbing way he accomplishes his goal appears pitiful.

If there were a boundary to love, would it have been drawn far far away from where Humbert and Lolita lay? Although the brutality of Humbert's passion eventually drives Lolita into the arms of another man, and consequently a different hell of ignorance and of pain, their story might as well been labeled as a surreptitious romance about a man and a woman finding SELF in each other, except the man is a middle-aged European and the woman a teenage American. Many argue that <Lolita> is a work of mere mental games and psychic labyrinth with an added advertisement for the American highway system, depended on which Humbert and his child-love traverse the entire country in order to escape and to embrace "beauty". But what Nabakov intended was an art piece, destined to dazzle and to puzzle the world with its bold exploration into some forbidden corner of the heart, and Hummy and Lo no larger than two mere figureheads made to laugh away down the highway of immoral passion. "The hell with morals," they sing.

Rating:
Summary: good, but I wouldn't fawn over it
Review: Nabokov does an excellent job of turning a potentially repulsive narrator into a sympathetic character whom most readers will actually pity. However, Nabokov loses points for convoluted prose and unnecessary uncommon words.

Rating:
Summary: Please don't show face in educated society until...
Review: ... You've read this contemporary masterpiece. The use of allterations and allusions, metaphors and subtle play of words is pure genuis. An unsettling book, to be sure, but it must-read. Although the topic is taboo, this book will be appreciated by the well read and the insightful.

Rating:
Summary: A grizzly book despite the narrator's eloquent style
Review: Make no mistake, this book will make you unsettled, and if you have children it will make you terrified. Nabokov follows a rich Russian tradition of quiet intensity, the writings of Dostoevsky being, perhaps, a classic example. However, while Dostoevsky would allow a reader to step back, so to speak, and observe the action from a comfortable distance, at least once in a while, Nabokov never relinquishes his grip. More than any horror fiction, this book is guaranteed to give you a sleepless night or two. In a word, it's so scary because the narrator appears so sane and reasonable. Not only he finds justifications for all his actions, he often engages a reader in a sort of "and what would you do?" debate. While those familiar only with the movie might answer simply "get help, you pervert", those who read this book will find themselves scrambling to find an answer. Are there psychologists out there capable of determining let alone treating such a despicable illness? At the same time, the second less obvious theme is what can the parents do to ensure that their children don't share Lolita's behavioral patterns? Not allow them to watch MTV? That alone won't solve anything since at the time the novel takes place there was no MTV with its teenage idols.

The book poses many questions and gives very few answers. This is not a love story, the word "love" has nothing to do with it, however after reading it you will see why so many reviewers saw it that way. My only quarrel with Nabokov would be his making Humbert not only European, but also Russian, as it is indicated by the belittling suffixes that he uses for certain names. Even his use of French is indicative of Russian high society in 19th century. I could not see the reason for that other than the writer's own way to express himself, identifying with the character and playing the role.

I suggest reading this in small portions; being totally immersed in Humbert's world can't be healthy for one's mind. There are a few surprises, such as introduction of a man in a convertible and a series of shocks delivered with impeccable timing. Overall this work is definitely one of the 20th century most towering accomplishments and most bizarre puzzles.