Ever Read Lolita?

Question

Ever read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov?

I thought it was great, but sad too.

Answer 1

I thought it was a very sad story. You cannot help but feel awful for the primary man in the story. A young girl has twisted his mind and his conscience and he is haunted by it. The innocence of the story is instilled in his character, not Lolita's.

Also, considering English was not Nabakov's first language, one must credit the author for writing better in English than in Russian. He is exceptional and a better writer than many English-based authors born in English-speaking countries.

Answer 2

I've read it twice, once when I was maybe 18 and then again a year or so ago by which time I had a daughter much closer to Lolita's age than I am. I remember being shocked by how horrifying it was and how little about that I'd remembered. Fantastic book, and I didn't even catch on to how sad the ending was until someone in my book club told me.

Answer 3

I loved that book. I read it in graduate school as part of a Freudian interpretation of literature course. It's so interesting because it turns some people off so much, while others, like me, become "seduced" by Humbert. I thought it was craftfully written and it's the only book of its kind and caliber I have read. As a matter of fact, it's been 3 years so maybe I'll re-read it. It's amazing that the reader can enjoy a narrator so much, while he is what our society would classify as a monster.

Answer 4

Sure, Humbert Humbert.

BEWARE: SPOILERS!

Humbert is a divorced scholar of French poetry who comes to America and falls in love with twelve-year-old Dolores Haze, who is nicknamed "Lolita." Humbert has been enamored of "nymphets," or attractive pubescent girls, ever since his first love, Annabel, died when they were both in their early teens.

In Lolita, he sees his dead love come back to life, and will do anything to possess her. A relationship forms unbeknowst to her mother, Charlotte. Humbert marries Charlotte, just to be close to Lolita, and after Charlotte dies from being struck by a car, he removes Loita from the summer camp she has been attending for a month, and travels around the country with her for over a year.

Throughout this journey, Lolita and Humbert begin a strong sexual relationship and personify two contrasting relationships; husband and wife, and father and daughter. When Lolita runs off with a playwright. Humbert becomes even more obsessed, determined to hunt her down, win her back, and kill his rival. When he does find her again years later, however, she is no longer the nymphet of his dreams but a pregnant housewife, living in a dead-end town. Realizing he still loves her and finally feeling guilt for corrupting her.

Humbert finds and kills Quilty and goes to prison, where he dies after dictating his life story to his lawyer.

It was a wonderful film as well. I doubt either the book or the film could be made in OC world we live in today...

Answer 5

Twice so far... I'd like to get the annotated edition to find out what all the French phrases are.
I was expecting one kind of story... but got great literature instead.

Answer 6

Its wierd that I found this question. I put it on hold from the library yesterday. I read about it in a magazine. It's kind of old isn't it?

Answer 7

One of the best- superbly written and plotted - a tragedy about human relationships and how they can lead us in the wrong direction.

Answer 8

i have seenthe movie it is pretty full on i would love to know the detail of the book!

Answer 9

i want to read it..a friend of mine is readin it right now.....
even the blurb sounds sad