Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita

Pros: A once in a lifetime reading experience.
Cons: A once in a lifetime reading experience.

Even if you've never read Lolita there's a better than average chance you've heard of the book and have some sense of what it's about. Two movies have been made based on Vladimir Nabokov's novel, and its notoriety has assured it a place in the ...

Pros: written very beautifully; thought-provoking
Cons: disturbing; middle seemed to drag a bit

Night. Never have I experienced such agony. I would like to describe her face, her ways--and I cannot, because my own desire for her blinds me when she is near. I am not used to being with nymphets, damn it. If I close my eyes I see but an immobilized ...

Pros: Shocking conclusion, interesting premise, well written.
Cons: Difficult yet beautiful wording, dull middle section, unsympathetic characters

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten ...

Pros: The language! The comedy! The tragedy! That sad sap Humbert Humbert always gets to me.
Cons: The annotated version is a must-have for many.

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

So opens Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, a...

Pros: Language and, to my second-time-reading surprise, the story
Cons: Overly obscure, hides its pedophilia (which will upset the smut-seekers and the reactionaries).

The novelist and critic Martin Amis, in his collection of essays and reviews entitled "The War Against Cliche" (which sadly, as of this writing, is not available through Epinions), wrote an 8000+-word dissection/paean on Vladimir Nabokov's controversial...

Pros: 15 words aren't enough: this book is amazing.
Cons: You might find yourself sympathizing with a murderer.

Humbert Humbert got into my head. It wasn’t that I started obsessing about nymphets. It wasn’t a fundamental psychic shift. But Humbert started to inhabit my mind in a way no other narrator has been able to. It first happened as I rode on an ...

Pros: Clever language
Cons: Obsession, horrible narrator, instead of puzzle, we are given confusion for no real reason

I have wrestled with the difficulty of writing reviews for “classic” novels (this paragraph deals only with this topic, jump to the next paragraph for the review to start in earnest). How do you take on a novel that is part of the culture, even ...

Pros: Nabokov has an impressive prose style and vocabulary.
Cons: Reads artificially, feels insincere, is boring.

On the official website of the Nobel Prize (and more specifically, in the section devoted to the literary prize awarded by the Nobel Academy every year) there is a very poorly written article entitled "Topping Shakespeare" and penned by Professor Sture ...

Pros: lush, loopy prose
Cons: be warned--it's sympathetic to a pedophile

You've all heard about this one. You probably have an opinion of the book just from the subject matter, if you haven't read it. But get over your reluctance and give it a try: the book hardly encourages pedophilia.

Humbert Humbert (a...

Pros: Everything - a literary masterpiece
Cons: A lot of French which can be confusing to some

Upon first reading of Lolita, I was swept away by the caricature of Humbert Humbert. His awkward bumblings, his twisted tormented desires and his hesitant actions brought forth my contempt, but his old world manner, his cool, self-justifying...

Pros: Each and every word is divine.
Cons: The French is confusing, but is effective.

I have titled this synesthesia, because Nabokov was "afflicted" by it and it shows in his work. For those not familiar with the term (and I wasn't until about a month ago), it is defined by Sir Webster as, "n. Physiol. sensation felt in one part of the...

Pros: A very fast read. Intoxicating language. Nothing like you've ever read before.
Cons: Material is suitable for adult audiences.

I picked up this book, thinking, "why haven't I read this yet?" It is definitely worth the read to find out what all the commotion is about. I warn you though,at times you might be disturbed, you might be disgusted, you might want to rescue Lolita and ...

Pros: A great, complex work
Cons: Read the book carefully...

Nabokov's greatest, best-known novel is great because it doesn't push any social or moral message on the reader - Nabokov just expects you to examine this particular creative construct of reality with the prejudices one may expect the book to instill....

Pros: Has some funny moments.
Cons: It's puerile nonsense that doesn't really explore the depths of pedophilia.

*Please read my additional comments about this review.*

How I discovered this book should have been a clue to its worth. I was leaving the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library one day when I noticed a small box filled with a few books....

Pros: Beautifully written, sometimes humourous
Cons: Verbose at times

I don't read a lot of fiction, but I decided to read LOLITA after several of my friends sang its praises. When a professional dominatrix friend of mine told me she had read this masterpiece four times, I immediately placed LOLITA at the top of my...