Review: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Erotic, Tragedy
Summary:
Awe and exhilaration - along with heartbreak and mordant wit - abound in Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Most of all, it is a meditation on love - love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.
My Thoughts:
To start with I would just like to say that while I have a great deal of praise for Lolita, please do not mistake my praise of Nabokov's brilliant writing and style for praise of Humbert Humbert. I praise Nabokov's creation and use of the character, not the character himself who is, indeed, a most un-praiseworthy man.
Lolita is a novel written so that the narration of the story comes to the reader in the form of a conversation. Personally, I tend to shy away from that writing style because while it can be marvelously done, it can also be done very poorly. In this case, however, Nabokov's use of a conversational narrator gripped my attention and refused to let go until the very end. Throughout the book I was reminded of Interview with the Vampire, a novel by Anne Rice, particularly of the character Claudia, a child-turned-vampire who would seem to Humbert Humbert an eternal nymphet (a characteristic addressed and despised by Claudia herself in the novel).
The gripping writing style serves not only to keep the reader interested but also serves to set up Humbert Humbert, one of literature's most controversial figures, as a likable, sympathetic character. If you find yourself understanding and pitying Humbert, thank Nabokov for his wonderful writing and don't judge yourself too harshly. Part of what makes Lolita such a masterpiece is exactly that, the way that a reader can know the awful truths and motivations of Humbert Humbert and still find him to be a character worth understanding. Nabokov knew what he was doing when he wrote Lolita and he did it very well.
I think what most impressed me was the way in which Nabokov makes it very well known that Humbert, a slave to his desires, negotiates favors from Lolita while putting forth scarce few scenes which actually contain details of said favors. In a world too often over-saturated with material on and beyond the borderline of pornographic, a little subtlety was a breath of fresh air. If you're looking for a book about morality, love, and all the ways that both can go wrong then this is the book for you. As I mentioned earlier if you enjoyed Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (published after Lolita but taking place in a much earlier time frame) then you will likely enjoy Lolita, which has significantly fewer vampires but some similar themes and the conversational writing style.
Happy Reading!
Zach