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Feb 10, 2012

Shan rated it:

Mr. Nabokov is not to be trusted. If you enjoy your sanity don't believe a single word he pens. He is the Great Deceiver, and he's pulling one over on you. Yes, he's that intriguing, eloquent stranger you meet at the pub who spills tales as tall and golden as the jug of frothy beer that rests on the table between you. His eyes glisten, a thin knowing smile on his face. You want to believe what he tells you, because damn he's jovial and he makes you laugh. In fact, you don't even blink when he ex More...

3 comments like (20 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2007

Sarah rated it:

Only one author on earth can produce from me the following sentence: “Yeah, I’m reading this book called Despair about an insane murderer with no respect for human life, and it is HILARIOUS.” That author is Nabokov.

In this, one of his lesser-known works, the egotistical and foppish narrator confesses to murdering someone who looks exactly like him in an attempt to collect his own life insurance money (and, more subconsciously, to rid the world of his weird doppelganger). Of course, V More...

3 comments like (18 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2012

Brad rated it:

This review was written in the late nineties (for my eyes only), and it was buried in amongst my things until recently when I uncovered the journal in which it was written. I have transcribed it verbatim from all those years ago (although square brackets may indicate some additional information for the sake of readability or some sort of commentary from now). This is one of my lost reviews.

A deconstructionist's dream text, Despair presents a classic play between signifier and sign -- H More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 30, 2007

RJ rated it:

The spoils of Nabokov's love of language are in fine form in "Despair," complete with the wordplay, metafictive elements, and literary devices -- all exaggerated to an impressive and hilarious extent -- that you'd expect from our literary genius/mad scientist.

"Despair" in a nutshell: at one point, the novel's author -- who never published the novel himself, but merely sent the manuscript to Mr. Nabokov -- weighs the benefits of this or that name for his novel. More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 20, 2008

Disco rated it:

Don't play with yourself.

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2009

Abe rated it:

A shining example of post-modern literature. Commendably self-aware! A confessional tale told by a man who has found his double and murdered him in an effort to collect his own insurance money. Nabokov's obsession with mirrors and doubles here reflects beautifully on the spirit of writing post-modern fiction itself. The narrator tells a tale as does Nabokov, one kills a man, the other hacks to pieces the experience of reading - both are murderers. Nabokov draws attention to each literary device, More...

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Jan 10, 2011

Jasmine rated it:

So I don't really know about this book. I mean I've read books where the plot is secondary, but in this book it feels a bit more like the plot is not only irrelevant but fighting to be included. You know that slime you play with as a kid that when you hit it it's hard as a rock, but when you go slow you kind of ooze through it. Well the plot of this book is exactly like that. It is trying really really hard to get through the sort of weird rambling, I think I am the best thing since well anythin More...

13 comments like (7 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2009

T rated it:

Nabokov is officially one of my favorite writers. This book doesn't really have the best plot of all time, the cover said one of his most challenging books, which I took to mean I wasn't going to understand what was happening. With this in mind I was thinking it was going to take some crazy twist, but no, the back of the book really does give it away pretty much.

This however means nothing to me, the way he writes is beautiful. The way he breaks the fourth wall and always (in my expe More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 06, 2010

Madhuri rated it:

Nabokov, in most of his fiction, has used many devices. Be it use of doubles, dubious narrators, word games, playful use of language, etc. And his favorite themes, often, are dark humor and obsession with an idea.
In the compact volume called Despair, he introduces us to all these devices which will later become his signature. Strangely, all the devices appear in a rather awkward manner, as if straight out of a class of Literary writing, and still come together to make a great read.
More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 28, 2011

Perry rated it:

I know that this is hardly the weightiest, nor the cleverest of Nabokov's novels, but its one of my favourites none the less.
The (highly) unreliable first person narrator Hermann Karlovich must surely be one of the most despicable toe rags in the history of literature! The dramatic irony to be enjoyed in the narrative as he talks us through his risible insurance scam is almost too juicy to ingest, and the depths of his delusion and emptiness are chilling.

This is indeed a despair More...

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Mar 13, 2011

Matthew rated it:

I love the narrative voice in this novella. It has really influenced my own writing.

The narrator is insane…enough said. Right!?

But, anyway, I admire the more seductive elements of Nabokov’s prose. The work is very subtle. And only as the story unfolds does the depth of the narrator’s insanity become apparent.

-- L. Fine

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 10, 2011

Emily rated it:

Wow. My perceptions of this book changed hugely from the first 70 pages to the end. Initially, I found it extraordinarily dull and extremely frustrating. I struggled to wade through the muddled plot and character descriptions.

However, once things really got going, I was astonished. Again, Nabokov skillfully crafts a story and characters that constantly surprise you. Everything, every action was shocking and unexpected.

I had blindly trusted Hermann from the first word on t More...

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Feb 10, 2009

Raven rated it:

Readers of Camus will really enjoy this book. Short, engaging, witty and very funny. The characters are believable and the story flows well and swiftly. I only wish I read Russian so that I could read it in it's original language.

A well-to-do man meets a man who looks very much like him, a vagabond and immediately comes up with a brilliant plan (which I won't spoil for you). He inadvertently involves his complacent and slow witted wife. You often wonder if the first-person dialog is More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 01, 2011

Elisabeth rated it:

Reading Nabokov is like a good, hard work out--while I don't always enjoy the process, I always feel good about myself after...though I don't always feel so good about humanity as a whole. With literary links to Dostoyevsky, Gogol, and pretty much anyone else who has dabbled in the doppleganger/evil twin/spiral into insanity issue, Nabokov explores and blurs the lines between lucidity and insanity, good and evil, and all of those other topics of which he so expertly blurs the lines. While I'm More...

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Oct 23, 2007

Bryan rated it:

Excellent story. The film based on this book is worth watching for the difference. Would have loved to see a Luis Bunuel adaptation... oh well.

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2011

Aishwarya rated it:

I hate Nabokov. He's a bleedin' megalomaniac interested in nothing other than proclaiming the invention of paper and ink as an exclusive gift to himself.

I take deep breaths of exasperation reading every fourth sentence this guy writes. What, can he just go on playing with my feelings? As if he's never gonna call back? He's not, is he?

Despair was just such a declaration. Fool tries to fool people, and you say, "Ah! This is his first book. It'll show his immaturity and I'l More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 19, 2009

Kit rated it:

It has been many years, okay, decades, since I read this book but it has stayed with me mightily since then - the delusion of the narrator that he has found his exact double is both funny and profound. Seeing Despair listed on another reader's site makes me want to reread it. For some reason, perhaps because I was a less critical reader then, this book seems to me more genuine in some ways and less precious than Palefire, which I also liked. Nabokov's depiction of narcissism in both books mak More...

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Apr 06, 2009

Melody rated it:

I should have liked this story better than I did: Witty writing and all that. Not sure why I didn’t.

Hermann (the main character) is one like some running amok in these troubled financial times. He's living beyond his means, caught up in superficial things and quite full of himself. And then, bam!, his business crashes and suddenly he is not going to be able to tootle around in his little Icarus sports car (named for the god Icarus who tried to escape Crete by making some wax win More...

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Nov 03, 2007

Gabrielle rated it:

Scary and sublime. Another great portrait of an unreliable narrator with a love for alliteration, sibilance, puns and synesthetic descriptions. And here Nabokov has a blast with a classic storytelling technique, the found manuscript, and literary devices. He subversively comments on himself as a writer, and you can hear him snicker-snackering like a schoolboy as he does so. There are some subtle pokes at Doestoyevsky (and not so subtle: the narrator thinks of calling his book Crime and Pun). N More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 03, 2009

Kinga rated it:

The first part of it was tedious. I could see Nabokov was a great writer but still, it was tedious. I struggled through first 80-90 pages and was awarded for my efforts with a brilliant second part of the book. I was actually sitting on the tube going to work, reading it and muttering to myself "Oh, brilliant, brilliant".

Hermann is such a perverse narrator. He plays with you and he is not to be trusted. One of the very few books when I felt I created a relationship with the More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 19, 2008

Phillip rated it:

I read an essay earlier this year discussing polyglot authors, Nabokov included. The basic argument was that their familiarity with multiple languages made them better writers.I bring this up because I wonder how much it affected Nabokov. I think it would help to explain why his prose feels so artificial to me. Even polyglot writers that I love(Borges) don't always have the most organic style. Then again maybe I just don't like his stuff.

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May 26, 2011

Skrach The Goblin rated it:

When I discovered this great book, it had yellowish peach pages and slightly mildew stench. Nothing but the words 'Despair' barely etched on its black empty hard cover. I was so surprised. A very few parts could be boringsome but other than that the crazy main character had me bawling like a ticklish naked baby. You could read this old man book today 'cause I doubt anyone borrowed this treasure at any library.

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Jan 17, 2011

xo rated it:

" Not knowing what to do with myself I paced the rooms and snapped my fingers; then sat down at my desk with the intention of writing a bit of fine prose, but all I managed to do was beslobber my pen and draw a series of running noses; so I got up and went out, because I was in sore need of some sort - any sort of intercourse with the world, my own company being intolerable, since it excited me too much and to no purpose. "

" Let us suppose, I kill an ape. Nobody touches More...

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Feb 08, 2012

Brett rated it:

Having started with Lolita, I realize now I was spoiled. It is not hard to see that this book comes from his earlier days as a writer. There are hints at the beauty and splendor and expertise of language he uses in Lolita, but not enough of it to make me enjoy this tale. I understand having an unreliable narrator, but at some points it felt more like he was rambling with no point to the ramble at all as compared to rambling that would later serve a purpose to the story. I just kept waiting f More...

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Jan 12, 2009

Jeremy rated it:

The only complaint I have about this book is that it seems to lose its way and meander a little in the middle, but maybe that's just how Nabokov manages to distract you long enough so that you're shocked by this surprise outcome that you get slapped in the face with all along.

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Jul 16, 2010

Julie rated it:

Another untrustworthy protagonist from Nabokov. Though less fluid than Pale Fire and Lolita (at times, the "doppelganger metaphor" seemed hammered into one's brain with brute force), Despair is well worth a read for any burgeoning Nabokov fan.

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Mar 31, 2009

Lori rated it:

Hm.
I like Nabokov. I do. And I wanted to really love this novel.
It was a tough one to get into, kind of dry and meandering.
About 3/4ths of the way in, it starts to get interesting, and finally became un-put-downable.

If it turned out to be un-put-downable, then why the 3 stars, you ask?
Well, for two reasons.
1- It wasn't until the last 3rd of the book that the author turned up the heat.
2- I had read Saramago's "The Double" about a year ago More...

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Dec 24, 2011

Brandon rated it:

I would not recommend this if you've already read Pale Fire. What I found endearing about the narration in Lolita and Pale Fire (a pretentious narrator) was off-putting for me in this case. I guess I'm done with Nabokov.

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Feb 06, 2011

Monica rated it:

Another journey into the mind of the criminally insane. This is the book that solidified in my mind that Nabokov was more than just a one hit wonder, he really does have a way with words and an insight into minds of crazies.

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Nov 04, 2010

Aaron rated it:

3.5 stars. What I think is most interesting about this novel is that it is a revision of a novel by the same name that Nabokov published in 1934. It made me wonder if, and when, a work of art is ever finished in the eyes of the artist.

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