Lolita - Richard Corliss

Advantages: beautifully written; fascinating story mostly
Disadvantages: middle dragged for me; disturbing

...reflection of days with his Lolita gone by forever, calling it his miserable story, offered as a confession to disapproving readers. Infused with tragedy and pathos, written in elegant style and grace, Lolita’s hopelessly poignant beauty causes stunned reactions in its readers, including myself. I couldn’t help but become captured by the pedophile’s unhappy tale of his obsession, although in the middle I was floundering my way through and either ...
...mind how obsession has infected so many of my relationships with men and I don’t want to go through that again, so why am I reading this book? I’ll tell you why. As Nabokov explains in comments after Lolita, he writes--or reads--a novel for its aesthetic bliss, ’that is a sense of being somehow, somewhere, connected with other states of being where art (curiosity, tenderness, kindness, ecstasy) is the norm.’ It doesn’t need to have a meaning, but ... Read review

Advantages: Strong story, stunning style
Disadvantages: Reputation can put people off

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs envied. Look at this tangle of thorns." (from ‘Lolita’ - chapter 1, part I) Come into the mind of Humbert Humbert. 'Lolita' is his memoir, but more than that, it's his soul and his secret - his tangle of thorns. Nabokov allows Humbert to tell his story and confess his sins without censor, and what the reader is privileged ...
...and murder, delivered in the most sublime poetical style. Humbert’s story (and possibly his obsession) begins in his teens, when Annabel, his childhood sweetheart enraptures him and tragically dies before she reaches adulthood, and Humbert is plunged into grief. Moving on, his adult life is preoccupied by his infatuation with ‘nymphets’ - that is, young pre-adolescent girls. Moving from Europe to America Humbert is given board at ... Read review

Advantages: n/a
Disadvantages: n/a

...after its publication the book Lolita is still an object of scandal. Few consider this novel as an encouragement to paedophilia and it was refused in its time by the whole lot of American editors. Nabokov knew what he was writing and by telling the love affair between a man of 40 years old and a girl of 12 he dragged much more than attention but also criticism. Lolita is a cheeky, vulgar and spoiled girl (who considers the sexual act belonging to ...
...to an international classic level. Lolita made him famous in the 50’s after decades of hardship. Vladimir provokes in a very subtle manner and is considered in Russia as a perverse. I used to work with a Russian girl before and as she came across the same book, we talked a bit. She first read it in Russian and then in the English version. It is amazing because she was saying it meant more to her in her native language. The language belongs ... Read review

Advantages: an amazing story
Disadvantages: has a bad reputation for some

...her and kicking her, with Lolita he takes pleasure in bribing her to please him. Humbert may be cruel, but Nabokov is crueler to Humbert – the fact that his whole life has been such a turmoil makes us pity him rather than loathe him. In my opinion, and in the opinions of many others, this novel is an attack on America. Nabokov, born in St Petersburg, seems to dislike the country intensely, denouncing many (albeit stereotypical) American ideas ...
...it possible that this novel, the story about a middle age man seducing a young girl, represents the relationship between America and Europe, with the more powerful America wanting to completely dominate the weaker Europe? It is widely thought that this is the purpose of the novel, but, according to Nabokov himself, he happens "to be the kind of author who, in starting to work on a book, has no other purpose than to get rid of that book”. This ... Read review

Advantages: One of the most peculiar love stories ever written
Disadvantages: The language is rather difficult to get into, but once you get the gist of it, it's hilarious

Lolita has come through a lot of criticism and has caused much controversy. Voted as one of the most compelling pieces of literative ever written, and deemed as a romantically perverse story. Nobakov's use of language is totally amazing, even though English was his third or fourth language (Russian is his mother tongue). The French phrases and references throughout the novel was a little bit furstrating for me because I know next to no French at ...
...he is pathetically funny. Lolita is the object of Humbert's desires and affections. She is showered with attention, though often sexual, gifts and love. Humbert comes across in such a way that he would die for her. The reason why this novel captivates us so is partly because of the mystery that enshrouds Lolita. What does she make of this? Does he even *like* Humbert.. let alone love him? Is she using him as a way of getting what she wants, in return ... Read review