Lolita is not a love story. Lolita is a story about one man's obsession and how far he'll go to pursue that obsession. To say that Humbert Humbert loves Lolita is like saying Ken Starr is fond of Bill Clinton. One of the truly brilliant things about Lolita is how Humbert Humbert charms the reader into thinking that what he is doing--pedophilia and murder--might just be ok in this case. This book does not promote pedophilia, but it does delve deeply into a sick man's mind.
(A side note: While watching the new movie version of Lolita with my wife and some friends, about halfway through, everyone was shocked and disgusted but me. I said, "Remember, this man is insane," and that helped to settle my fellow viewers. Nonetheless, we all agreed that Humbert is not a bastion of mental health.)
Despite the title, this book isn't about Lolita. It's about Humbert's obsession for Lolita when she was a nymphet. Wackyboy finds fault with the novel because it doesn't deal with the psychological after effects on Lolita. But this novel is narrated by Humbert and after Lolita is no longer a nymphet, she of less concern to Humbert. Humbert is, through the entire book, a man who thinks mostly of himself. He, and not Lolita is the focus of the book.
I will agree with wackyboy that Lolita is a powerful and brilliant book. It is beautifully written with Nabokov's dense and poetic prose. Also, Nabokov was the consummate verbal game player. You can read this book once for the story and reread it forever to find the puns, puzzles, and wordplay he put into this book. (I recommend the Annotated Lolita for the truly adventurous.)
Lolita may be shocking, but it is also a brilliant book, deserving of its stature in American literature.
Addendum: My public apologies to Wackyboy. I misread his review of Lolita and attempted to contradict his statements when, in fact, we agreed. Oops!
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