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Despair

Vladimir Nabokov

Start date: September 1, 2013

Finish date: September 30, 2013

Discussion leader: Miriam

Why we're reading this: Contemporary Classic Group Read, September 2013
[close] Contemporary Classic Group Read, September 2013

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What Members Thought

Jun 04, 2009 Brad rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: russian-lit, lost-reviews, to-read-again

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 -- Hermann and ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jun 04, 2016 Michele rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Nabokov's fun with language and his ability to "play" the reader is on full display in this book, with phrases like "My heart itched" and "a shoe with a hole in it basking under a fence," and a narrator so unreliable that he's even unreliable in conveying just how unreliable he is. An excellent read that will leave you wondering what really happened on more than one level. ...more

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Oct 07, 2014 Melanti rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, 2014

I feel bad giving a Nabokov novel less than 4 stars but it's not Nabokov's fault, it's mine! I'm just not well-read enough to appreciate this one, unfortunately.

It's amusing but I feel like I'm down at ground level and all the best jokes are way up there in an airplane, way way over my head! I get the feeling that this is supposed to be to the Russian classics what Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey is to the Gothic genre and since I've never read the majority of what it's a parody of, there's just ...more

2 likes · Like · see review