From the Bookshelf of Reading the Classics…

Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov

Start date: May 1, 2012

Finish date: May 31, 2012

Discussion leader: Jenn

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Dec 24, 2012 Susan from MD rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. First, on the technical side, this is a beautiful book. The writing is fluid and, in many ways, seductive. The pacing of the story and the character development are both so well done - I felt like I could see the story unfold. The only thing that I did not like was the Foreword, which lays out the overall structure of the book as the stepfather Humbert's account of all that happened but also indicates that Lolita dies in childbirth. I don't really need a happy ending to a book, but I really want First, on the technical side, this is a beautiful book. The writing is fluid and, in many ways, seductive. The pacing of the story and the character development are both so well done - I felt like I could see the story unfold. The only thing that I did not like was the Foreword, which lays out the overall structure of the book as the stepfather Humbert's account of all that happened but also indicates that Lolita dies in childbirth. I don't really need a happy ending to a book, but I really wanted one here! I wanted Lolita to find happiness and move forward.

The content of the book has been called erotic, but I did not find it to be. Similarly, there has been a long-standing debate about whether this is about sex or love. This is a challenging question. From Humbert's perspective (and it is from his perspective that the story is told), it is about both. He has an obsessive love for Lolita, but his actions are selfish. He needs the physical/sexual contact and is not concerned with her experience - or he views it as positive for her, despite the fact that she cries frequently after sex and is often sullen and moody (suggesting that she would rather be anywhere else).

However, as I step back from the narrative, to me the book is about unhealthy obsession and coercion. Even setting aside the changing times and increased knowledge we have now about how such a relationship affects the child (short- and long-term), this is not some great love affair. I'm really surprised to see it sometimes characterized this way because, although Lolita goes along with Humbert and sometimes even seems supportive of having sex with him, she is overall an unwilling victim of this man's obsessive feelings for her.

Told from Lolita's perspective, it would have been a story of survival and the confusing relationship between a child and those upon whom she depends. Lolita is a flirt and not a particularly easy child. She sometimes says and does outrageous things and is physically pretty expressive with Humbert, to whom she has a 12-year old's attraction. This is taken by him to mean that she wants to be his lover. She refers to their relationship as rape - in part to express her feelings and in part to annoy him. In his mind, she initiates the relationship. IMO, he sees what he wants to see and disregards anything that doesn't fit his view of the relationship as wonderful, loving and mutually beneficial. She goes along with it until she is able to extricate herself from the situation.

It is a fascinating character study of a man whose life view is so myopic that it all centers around this girl. What is even more frightening is that he also keeps looking at other little girls, even when he's with Lolita, and talking about what happens when she gets "too old". ...more

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