Nabokov's fourth novel, The Eye is as much a farcical detective story as it is a profoundly refractive tale about the vicissitudes of identi...
read full description
reviews
May 12, 2011
Adam
rated it: 
One of Nabokov's earlier works, The Eye is an amazing harbinger of what is to come. Completely obsessed (the character and the novella itself) with identity and, as such, the confines of one's own conscious self, The Eye foreshadows Sebastian Knight, Transparent Things, and The Original of Laura (plus, to a lesser extent, much more of his canon). (Oh, and it reminded me of Poe's William Wilson, too.)
The book is an exemplar exploration of how perception shapes reality as it questi More...
The book is an exemplar exploration of how perception shapes reality as it questi More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Mar 08, 2011
MJ
rated it:
And again, forgoing the chance to spend a week souping through Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle, I chose this 90-page quickie, written not by Nabokov but by Naboko, as the cover confirms, a dazzling novella (filed in my shelves under novels, I find sub-shelving a tedious business) involving a nameless narrator who shoots himself and hovers around the story waiting for the penny to drop.
Naboko's prose is at its rippling glorious peak in the suicide scenes: never has a writer scalped More...
Naboko's prose is at its rippling glorious peak in the suicide scenes: never has a writer scalped More...
3 comments
like
(5 people liked it)
Jan 14, 2012
Corey
rated it: 
To read my full view of The Eye, check out http://coreysbook.wordpress.com/2012/01/...
The first half of The Eye is enthralling and curious. It begins witha familiar Nabokovian archetype: the maladjusted emigre. Such characters dominate his writing, from The Gift to Glory and some extent to Humbert Humbert of Lolita (the Englishman abroad). He passes through life with a benumbed detachment, taking on odd jobs to keep himself fed, and engages in affairs that hardly please him. Then, not More...
The first half of The Eye is enthralling and curious. It begins witha familiar Nabokovian archetype: the maladjusted emigre. Such characters dominate his writing, from The Gift to Glory and some extent to Humbert Humbert of Lolita (the Englishman abroad). He passes through life with a benumbed detachment, taking on odd jobs to keep himself fed, and engages in affairs that hardly please him. Then, not More...
May 20, 2010
Behrang
rated it:
با این حال من باز هم خوشبختم . بله، خوشبخت ، قسم میخورم ، قسم میخورم که خوشبختم . من دریافته ام که تنها خوشبختی این دنیا نظاره کردن است . تحت مراقبت داشتن ، مشاهده و بررسی خود و دیگران . در اینکه هیچ چیز نباشی بجز چشمی درشت ، کمابیش شیشه مانند ، چشمی خون گرفته و خیره . چه اهمیتی دارد که من کمی حقیرم ، کمی چندش آور ، و اینکه هیچ کس قابلیت های فوق العاده ام را درک نمیکند – قدرت تخیلم ، فضل و کمالم ، قریحه ادبی ام...خوشحالم که میتوانم به خودم چشم بدوزم ، زیرا هر مردی جذابیت های خیره کننده ای دارد –
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 12, 2011
Casey
rated it:
Plucked this from a library shelf after finding, to my frustration, that there was not a single Murakami title in stock. Regardless, after I started The Eye I was far from disappointed. This book is brilliant, clear evidence of the remarkable career that Nabakov was just beginning when this title was published. The book is obsessed with self-image, and its cycles of reflexivity reach points of remarkable beauty. The protagonist is obsessed with the character of Smurov, and tries to pull through
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 23, 2011
Fahad
rated it: 
العين
يعرف فلاديمير نابوكوف الكاتب الأمريكي من أصل روسي بروايته (لوليتا)، التي ظهرت سنة 1955 م، وتناولت موضوعا ً محرما ً، لا تسهل الكتابة عنه، ألا وهو علاقة تقوم بين رجل ناضج وفتاة صغيرة عمرها 12 سنة، الرواية وصلت إلى الكثير من قوائم التفضيل المعروفة، وصارت من الروايات الكلاسيكية التي تمثل أدب القرن العشرين.
لم اقرأ لنابوكوف شيئا ً خلاف لوليتا، ولكني حصلت على نسخ الكترونية لبعض كتبه، ومنها هذه الرواية القصيرة جدا ً (العين) – بمعنى الجاسوس، لا بالمعنى العضوي -، وبما أني حص More...
يعرف فلاديمير نابوكوف الكاتب الأمريكي من أصل روسي بروايته (لوليتا)، التي ظهرت سنة 1955 م، وتناولت موضوعا ً محرما ً، لا تسهل الكتابة عنه، ألا وهو علاقة تقوم بين رجل ناضج وفتاة صغيرة عمرها 12 سنة، الرواية وصلت إلى الكثير من قوائم التفضيل المعروفة، وصارت من الروايات الكلاسيكية التي تمثل أدب القرن العشرين.
لم اقرأ لنابوكوف شيئا ً خلاف لوليتا، ولكني حصلت على نسخ الكترونية لبعض كتبه، ومنها هذه الرواية القصيرة جدا ً (العين) – بمعنى الجاسوس، لا بالمعنى العضوي -، وبما أني حص More...
Apr 07, 2011
Stuart
rated it:
The Eye is much more the Nabokov I know and love.
The identity of the eye in question is revealed in the final two pages, and I must say that the Penguin edition does spoil Nabokov's game rather by giving away Smurov's identity from the outset.
<spoiler>Is Smurov dead? Yes. And no. His disembodiment as a watcher of his own fate is handled brilliantly in the switches from first to third person. It took me a while to realise that he was talking about himself, despite Na More...
The identity of the eye in question is revealed in the final two pages, and I must say that the Penguin edition does spoil Nabokov's game rather by giving away Smurov's identity from the outset.
<spoiler>Is Smurov dead? Yes. And no. His disembodiment as a watcher of his own fate is handled brilliantly in the switches from first to third person. It took me a while to realise that he was talking about himself, despite Na More...
Aug 28, 2009
Brian
rated it:
After reading a crazy Japanese book of short stories I jumped into this Nabokov and sputtered and paused and reread sections just to get my mind on the right track. Nabokov is a genius when it comes to stringing words together and I didn't want to skim over them. His words deserved my utmost attention. I loved some of his sentences.
The story was interesting. As I type this I'm wondering who I am, who I really am. The Brian that people see. I know what I see but I'm biased. I liked th More...
The story was interesting. As I type this I'm wondering who I am, who I really am. The Brian that people see. I know what I see but I'm biased. I liked th More...
Dec 18, 2008
James
rated it:
Nabokov's handling of the metaphysical is much better in this novel than in TRANSPARENT THINGS, which I read a few a months ago. This is the story of a man who commits suicide and finds that he has been allowed to continue his life as a ghost. Of course, we assume that his suicide failed and he isn't really dead, but Nabokov never allows us to be sure. The narrator believes he is free from the ethical and social constraints of the living world and becomes obsessed with a member of his social
More...
Oct 30, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
A man decides to kill himself after a confrontation with a lovers husband leaves him feeling humiliated.
He awakes from death, and while believing he is still dead, feels empowered to observe the small group of Russian emigres in Berlin he has become acquainted with, especially the perception they have of a man named Smurov.
And so is the story of The Eye.
An interesting examination of the perception we have of ourselves and the importance we put on others perceptions of o More...
He awakes from death, and while believing he is still dead, feels empowered to observe the small group of Russian emigres in Berlin he has become acquainted with, especially the perception they have of a man named Smurov.
And so is the story of The Eye.
An interesting examination of the perception we have of ourselves and the importance we put on others perceptions of o More...
Dec 08, 2009
Jared
rated it:
I didn't know what to think of this until toward the end, where a couple of passages I won't spoil for anyone made me laugh and the Nabokov that would one day write Pale Fire revealed himself.
My favorite passage from early on, one that I will definitely always recall when I think of this novel:
"Standing in the middle of the dark room, I unbuttoned my shirt, leaned forward from the hips, felt for and located my heart between my ribs. It was throbbing like a small a More...
My favorite passage from early on, one that I will definitely always recall when I think of this novel:
"Standing in the middle of the dark room, I unbuttoned my shirt, leaned forward from the hips, felt for and located my heart between my ribs. It was throbbing like a small a More...
Aug 11, 2011
ErynnMarie
rated it: 
Both times I've read Nabokov (this and Pale Fire), I've found myself about 3/4 of the way thru, utterly confused and equally weirded out, ready to swear off Nabokov forever. And then, at the last moment, the story twists around on itself and makes me laugh out loud. Both times, I realised I had been wrong about everything. And that if I could have, perhaps, paid closer attention to the plot and gotten less distracted by the sidelines and strange descriptiveness, I might have better understood
More...
Dec 14, 2011
Ensiform
rated it:
Translated by Smitri Nabokov. This very short novel tells the story of Smurov, a man in unrequited love and obsessed with knowing what others think of him. The narrator is a man who thinks he has killed himself, and that the world is a dream; he writes of the characters with detachment but is actually Smurov, a fact unstated til the end but obvious from the first mention of Smurov. This is a brilliant little tale, showing precisely and cruelly how an aloof detachment from involvement in life
More...
Oct 04, 2011
Erin
rated it:
Top 3 Reasons Why I Like This Book:
1) I read the majority of it during a single trip to the laundromat. There's something to be said for short gems of literature that can be enjoyed in the amount of time it takes wash the towels.
2) It's Nabokov...so really it's hard for me not to like it.
3) It deals with the concept of identity and the idea of multiple perspectives of self, including the "ghost self" that lives on through other people's memories. T More...
1) I read the majority of it during a single trip to the laundromat. There's something to be said for short gems of literature that can be enjoyed in the amount of time it takes wash the towels.
2) It's Nabokov...so really it's hard for me not to like it.
3) It deals with the concept of identity and the idea of multiple perspectives of self, including the "ghost self" that lives on through other people's memories. T More...
Dec 01, 2011
Jason
rated it:
An interesting examination of identity. At times, I wondered at the relevance of some of the events in the story, and especially of the narrator's obsession with Smurov, before the climax informed me that they were one and the same man (I'd thankfully forgotten the back cover blurb that gives everything away).
I can't help wondering how differently the story might have read if Nabokov hadn't dropped the "narrator" a third of the way in, and treated the story more as a third More...
I can't help wondering how differently the story might have read if Nabokov hadn't dropped the "narrator" a third of the way in, and treated the story more as a third More...
Dec 21, 2011
Black Elephants
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jul 22, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
(2.5 stars)
The Eye is Vladimir Nabokov’s fourth novel (more of a novella, really). It is told from the point of view of a tutor, who, towards the beginning of the book, is beaten up and humiliated in front of his students by the jealous husband of his mistress. He then goes home and attempts suicide. Now, whether the suicide is successful can be debated; suffice to say that he “recovers” and thinks of himself as dead, afterwards forming a new life among people he hasn’t known before. M More...
The Eye is Vladimir Nabokov’s fourth novel (more of a novella, really). It is told from the point of view of a tutor, who, towards the beginning of the book, is beaten up and humiliated in front of his students by the jealous husband of his mistress. He then goes home and attempts suicide. Now, whether the suicide is successful can be debated; suffice to say that he “recovers” and thinks of himself as dead, afterwards forming a new life among people he hasn’t known before. M More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Mar 27, 2008
Allen
rated it:
Tremendous, existential, crass, lyrical: you can read this book in two sittings and it displays wonderful focus of characterization, what a treat. As in his other works, the mind of Nabokov's character warps the reality of the narrative as the events unfold - are these events 'true'? Are they 'imagined'? (I have a take on this, but I swore I'd never tell.) What I can say is that the plot points contain and in fact seem birthed by a fully redacted subjective truth of this damaged persona, whom Na
More...
Aug 25, 2011
Wayne
rated it:
Sometimes the shortest books are the greatest pleasure to read, thanks not only to their brevity. A short novel can be a fine experiment. The Eye had me with its narrator, a failed suicide who believes himself witness to the afterlife, curiously similar to sixties Berlin. The author's facility is deployed beautifully if only too briefly, but that is part of what makes this a joy, like a passing image of beauty that remains hours afterward, all the more poignant for its fleetingness.
Sep 25, 2010
Mahmood666
rated it:
ناباکف مانند همیشه عالی است.البته این کتاب به خنده در تاریکی و زندگی سباستین نایت نمی رسه ولی باز هم عالی است.البته این کتاب بسیار سرگیجه اوره واگه میخواین یه کتاب خوشخوان دستتون بگیرین ،این کتاب رو توصیه نمی کنم.حس طنز موجود در کتاب فوق العاده است...
Sep 05, 2010
pardis
rated it:
داستان این رمان همزمان با جنگهای داخلی روسیه و مرگ لنین اتفاق میافتد. ناباکوف در «چشم» داستان فردی را نقل میکند که از روسیه گریخته و به آلمان مهاجرت کرده است و در کنار نقل داستان زندگی او به مسائل سایر مهاجران اهل روسیه میپردازد.
Jan 22, 2010
The personal life of "A wretched, shivering, vulgar little man in a bowler hat" is unraveled in an unusual manner. The poor guy, despite some similarities to Dostoyevskian neurotic protagonsits, is in real fact a pathetic liar. You have a lot to discover as you go on turning the pages. Here is the hint: dont trust what you are told, because the whole thing is too much subjective.
Mar 10, 2011
Nick
rated it:
I read this book in the course of a day. Now, 2 years later, its plot hasn't stuck with me. But a few lines have. Like:
"Midnight would soon close completely the acute angle of time."
Stylish, well-written, though the twist is predictable and, I think, somehow unbelievable at the same time. But on the other hand this was an early work by the master.
"Midnight would soon close completely the acute angle of time."
Stylish, well-written, though the twist is predictable and, I think, somehow unbelievable at the same time. But on the other hand this was an early work by the master.
Mar 24, 2009
Andrew
rated it:
Haven't read any Nabokov for a while and must I pick up some more stuff again soon. It's a slight book, a little over 100 pages, but so much is crammed in it's a great read. Seemed to go off at a tangent halfway through but when it came back it packed a punch, and as usual the language was sublime. Won't give the plot away, because the opening section which sets it up is excellent.
Dec 23, 2007
Núria
rated it:
"El ojo" es otra de las primeras Nabokov que saben a poco. Es una obrita sobre la identidad, como la mayoría de novelas de Nabokov. Realmente se nota que es de sus primeras obras: la ironía y el estilo aún no han llegado a sus cuotas máximas, y el truco de esconder la identidad del narrador es muy burdo, porque ya se viene a venir desde el principio, aunque el mismo Nabokov en el prólogo es lo suficientemente astuto como para descalificarlo él mismo. Sin embargo, tiene una reflexión in
More...
Jul 30, 2011
Robin
rated it:
In my opinion, this is a well written book about a trapped man who just cannot let himself go. He's torturing himself and getting himself stuck within his own memories. In the end, I don't feel sorry for the main character, he got what he deserved.
Apr 28, 2011
Ismael
rated it:
Miroir de personnages, dédoublement d'événements. Intrigue forte et prenante. Un malaise subsiste à la lecture dans le caractère ambigu du point de vue narratif et la nature imprécise du protagoniste.
Oct 17, 2011
John
rated it:
farcical yet deeply insightful story about self and identity, but almost forced and clumsy in its execution compared to his later masterpieces. still, definitely not a waste of time, esp given its brief length.
Oct 17, 2011
Jean-pascal
rated it:
Roman très compliqué qui, à force de jouer avec les conventions du genre, finit par être un exercice plus qu'un roman.
Jun 06, 2011
David
rated it:
I was going along with this and I thought it was OK. I mean, it's my first Nabokov and I don't really know his style of writing yet; but, towards the end it all came together and I really was impressed.
