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Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov

Start date: March 1, 2023

Finish date: March 31, 2023

Discussion: Lesser Know/Wilderness Classics

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Lesser Know/Wilderness Classics

* 2025 Must Read Lesser Known Classics: Scheduled Reads
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 72 posts · 196 views

last updated Sep 06, 2025 07:14AM

Wilderness Classics
By Lesle , Appalachain Bibliophile · 78 posts · 113 views

last updated Sep 26, 2025 05:58PM

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What Members Thought

Feb 05, 2015 GONZA rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read

La prima volta che l'ho letto non mi ha disturbato tanto quanto questa, forse perché non ero ancora diventata mamma. Stavolta arrivare in fondo mi é costato molto di piú, nonostante sia scritto in modo eccezionale. La storia si conosce, ma sarebbe il caso di fare piú attenzione alle descrizioni delle sensazioni, degli stati d'animo e anche dei luoghi, perché Nabakov é stato uno dei migliori scrittori del mondo e credo lo rimarrá per sempre. Lolita, luce della mia vita, fuoco dei miei lombi. ...more

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May 08, 2014 Suzan (Suus Leest) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

From my blog athousandwhirlingdreams.blogspot.com

4.5/5

"Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged, fastidious college professor. He also likes little girls. And none more so than Lolita, whom he'll do anything to possess. Is he in love or insane? A silver-tongued poet or a pervert? A tortured soul or a monster? ...Or is he all of these?"

Now, I do not feel like I should be saying too much about this novel, because so much has already been written, but I do want to get some things off my chest.

I had, as From my blog athousandwhirlingdreams.blogspot.com

4.5/5

"Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged, fastidious college professor. He also likes little girls. And none more so than Lolita, whom he'll do anything to possess. Is he in love or insane? A silver-tongued poet or a pervert? A tortured soul or a monster? ...Or is he all of these?"

Now, I do not feel like I should be saying too much about this novel, because so much has already been written, but I do want to get some things off my chest.

I had, as I assume most people do throughout their lifetime, heard many things about this novel. I had heard it was brilliant, but more prominently, I had heard people talk about how terribly appalling it was. The latter, I could not quite comprehend: it is only a novel, merely a made-up story - how could such a thing ever be so horrifying?

Boy, was I wrong. This was the first novel that I ever had to put down because the writing was too brilliant. Let me explain this. The perspective this novel takes on is that of the pedophile Humbert Humbert. The novel is written as a kind of plead to the jury who are about to decide whether he is guilty or not. Therefore, the narrator tries to justify his actions. He does this by explaining how beautiful Lolita is in his eyes, and how she supposedly seduced him - He couldn't help himself, it was her fault. Readers will at this point understand that Humbert is not a reliable narrator at all, and that he truly is a pervert. Despite his effort to defend himself, he will never mislead the audience. However, because of Humbert's excellent command of the English language (as it is not his first language, and nor Nabokov's), and impeccable description of feelings, we will understand exactly what he is feeling, and we will believe it is real. This is, I then started to understand, why so many people had a hard time reading this novel, and I must admit, I was too. Because of Humbert's grusome imagination and Nabokov's brilliant writing, I had to put the novel down at some point - just to cut myself loose from this mesmerising pedophile.

Even though Nabokov's writing style is flawless, and the story is over all incredibly fascinating, I somehow felt it was at times repetitive. Also, towards the ending I got rather confused, but I will not spoil that on here, assuming some of you may not yet have read the novel. Therefore, along with the fact that I could not read it in one go and had to take a reading pause of about a week, I 'only' rate it 4.5 stars, rather than 5.

I have never before read a novel like Lolita, and believe I never will again. ...more

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Jul 02, 2020 Annette rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-read, catching-up-on-classics-read, classic-challenges-2020, 2020, everyone-read-but-me-grp

My takeaway is that some stories don’t need to be written. Also, taking responsibility for myself along this line, some books don’t need to be read! This was a tough read for me and I was only able to finish because I made the commitment to read it. The language was attractive but the subject repelled more.

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