Lolita review

Lolita review

Lolita, or the Confession of a White Widowed Male by Vladimir Nabokov is frequently cited as his most important novel, and is at any rate his most widely known on. Honestly, it’s kind of hard to write a review of such a classic which has millions of reviews. So, I’m going just to write about my thoughts.

According to my account on Goodreads, It took me about six months to finish reading Lolita, (a very long time to finish a book, I know). Despite the fact that Nabovoc’s writing is beautiful, persuasive   and intricate wordplay, yet the main character’s actions are despicable that they made me feel uncomfortable while reading (I didn’t feel like this when I read Fifty shades of grey or Crossfire).

The book is about an author whose name is Humbert Humbert or H.H. (pseudonym) who sends his book manuscript to John Ray, Jr., Ph.D. through his lawyer. In the manuscript the author tells his life story from childhood till death. H.H. starts with his first love the twelve-year-old Annabel Leigh. Annabel and the thirteen-year-old Humbert never consummate their love, due to her death which hunts him to make him grow to be obsessed with sexually desirable and sexually aware young girls, nymphets as he calls them, because they remind him of his lost love Annabel, however, there is no one like her, till he travels to United States and meets Lolita.

What I love about the book is the language , the wit , the wordplay ,the use of French and I was amazed when I knew that English is just Nabovoc’s third or fourth language (surprise). Through the language he made the character compelling, charming, and at some points I felt like sympathizing with H.H. (I hate this fact).

However, there was a conflict between morality and aesthetics; my morals and my sense of righteousness felt disgusting while reading. H.H.’s memoir is a journey, into a pedophile's psyche made feel sick in the stomach.

Overall, the language effectively triumphs over the shocking content and gives it shades of beauty that perhaps it does not deserve.