January & February 2020 - Classic Group Read - Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

[Alannah]

Please discuss our winner here.
If you have already read the book and don't plan on re-reading, we would still love to hear what you thought of it.

[Tom]

This site provides a guide to the French used in the novel, and any other material which might be helpful in better understanding this novel.

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Lolita

[LauraT]

Didn't like this book so much; I don't think I'm going to pick it up again.
Still I'll come and see what you think of it!

[Bargle]

I've read it, but many years ago. I'll give it another read and see what difference a more mature me thinks.

[Nidhi]

It has been recommended by many people so I will be reading this.

[Bargle]

Warning to anyone who ends up with the edition below. The introduction by Martin Amis assumes you've read Lolita before and gives major plot spoilers for the end of the book. It would have been better as an afterword.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

[Patty]

I just got Lolita on my kindle. Will be reading it soon.

[David]

I have wanted to read this book for years. I am definitely IN

[Leslie]

Bargle wrote: "I've read it, but many years ago. I'll give it another read and see what difference a more mature me thinks."

That is exactly what I was going to say!

[Carol]

I read Lolita by Nabokov many years ago and found it very disturbing and creepy. I didn't like it. I know there have been films made of it but suspect it would not be published today.

[Cosmic]

I have been meaning to read this! Please include me.

[Cosmic]

I am also reading The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
What is interesting is how these two books both have an under age girl pursued by older men. Elsmerada is 16 years old.

I wonder if any of you know of other classics with is theme?

[Alannah]

Cosmic wrote: "I have been meaning to read this! Please include me."

Everyone is welcome, feel free to jump in whenever you can.

[Alannah]

Cosmic wrote: "I am also reading The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
What is interesting is how these two books both have an under age girl pursued by older men. Elsmerada is 16 years old.

I wonder if any ..."

All I can think of is Pocahontas as she was only 13 but historical records say that there was no romantic relationship between them.

[Alannah]

I'm hoping to finish 1984 before starting this one.

[Jennifer]

Alannah wrote: "Cosmic wrote: "I am also reading The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
What is interesting is how these two books both have an under age girl pursued by older men. Elsmerada is 16 years old.

I..."

Uhmmm the Bible?

I think it’s important to consider what was perceived at the time as underage by each culture. I remember being in the uk in 1998 and there being a debate on radio about age of consent for women at 16.

[Alannah]

Jennifer wrote: "Alannah wrote: "Cosmic wrote: "I am also reading The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
What is interesting is how these two books both have an under age girl pursued by older men. Elsmerada is ..."

I'm not religious at all so I wouldn't know but I guess you do need to consider how short the average life expectancy was and how it really only seemed to improve when we became aware of infection and how important cleanliness is.
The original age of consent in England and Wales was actually 12, this came about in the 13th Century. It wasn't raised to 16 until the 19th century to combat child prostitution.
I wouldn't have known about this debate in 1998 as I was only 7 but I am aware there has been further debate in the past few years there has been debate around decreasing the age limit to 15. Although as far as I am aware, the age of consent has been the same for both men and women so I am curious about that debate now.

[Carol]

Alannah wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Alannah wrote: "Cosmic wrote: "I am also reading The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
What is interesting is how these two books both have an under age girl pursued by older m..."

Apart from the very young age of both men and women (children) to become married in previous centuries in different countries, presumably partly for reasons of early death, but also I presume because they were seen as commodities to be used to bring wealth or influence to a family, they were also punished by the criminal justice system. Just one example: in the middle of the 18th century a 7 year-old girl from Nottingham was hung for stealing a petticoat.

[Mimi]

Bargle wrote: "Warning to anyone who ends up with the edition below. The introduction by Martin Amis assumes you've read Lolita before and gives major plot spoilers for the end of the book. It would have been bet..."

Thanks for the warning, that´s the edition I got a hold of. Will be reading the lengthy introduction after finishing the book 😉

[Bargle]

And another thing. You may want to keep a dictionary handy. For a person writing in their 3rd or 4th language, Nabokov has quite a large vocabulary.

[John of Canada]

I have finally started this.I have a shelf of to read once and for all that I have put aside for years,and so far I have read Breakfast at Tiffany's.Moby Dick,and the Great Gatsby here I come.

[Bargle]

As good as I remembered. Though, once again, I have missed some of the less obvious things. Reading the Amis foreword shows some things I didn't quite get the full import of when I read them. I need to let it set a while, then read it again.

[Leslie]

Bargle wrote: "As good as I remembered. Though, once again, I have missed some of the less obvious things. Reading the Amis foreword shows some things I didn't quite get the full import of when I read them. I nee..."

I'll be starting this book soon. Thanks to your comment Bargle, I will try to pay more close attention than I might have!

[Cosmic]

I finished this book about two weeks ago. It was a book i was somewhat repulsed to read, but at the same time i wondered why it was a classic. Now that i have read it i understand.

[Alannah]

Just bought the audiobook, I'm hoping to start this later today.

[Leslie]

So having started this a few days ago, I am acutely aware of how much my memory of it has been based on the 1962 film (with the wonderful James Mason)! In the movie, while Humbert Humbert is creepily obsessed with Lolita (Dolores Haze), there is much less of a paedophilia vibe.

While I can't really say that I am enjoying the book, finding Humbert's sexual deviance distasteful, I can admire Nabokov's willingness to write such a book. As the "foreword" (which is actually the first part of the book) says:
"No doubt, he [Humbert Humbert] is horrible, he is abject, he is a shining example of moral leprosy, a mixture of ferocity and jocularity that betrays surpreme misery perhaps, but is not conducive to attractiveness. ... He is abnormal. He is not a gentleman. But how magically his singing violin can conjure up a tendresse, a compassion for Lolita that makes us entranced with the book while abhorring its author!"

[B the BookAddict]

An excellent foreword, Leslie.

[Leslie]

Thanks Bette! Though of course the credit belongs to Nabokov so I don't know why I am thanking you *smile*

And it is good to see you posting!

[B the BookAddict]

Always here, reading comments, Leslie. Just not much reading books at the moment.

[Bargle]

I'm now going through the "Annotated Lolita". Wish I'd known about this earlier.

[Leslie]

B the BookAddict wrote: "Always here, reading comments, Leslie. Just not much reading books at the moment."

I know how that is. I hope that things are going OK with you otherwise.

[Leslie]

I finished yesterday.

Here is my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[B the BookAddict]

Leslie, thanks for asking. Things are good here; not sure how I lost the reading bug but I'm eager to find it again. My family says I now spend too much time on the computer - they could be right about that.

[Leslie]

B the BookAddict wrote: "Leslie, thanks for asking. Things are good here; not sure how I lost the reading bug but I'm eager to find it again. My family says I now spend too much time on the computer - they could be right a..."

LOL! At least that keeps you out of the heat of the Aussie summer :)

[B the BookAddict]

Yes, it does. I am no lover of really hot days as it can re-start my eczema (unless I'm in the pool, of course).

[John of Canada]

Mimi wrote: "Bargle wrote: "Warning to anyone who ends up with the edition below. The introduction by Martin Amis assumes you've read Lolita before and gives major plot spoilers for the end of the book. It woul..."

Thanks Mimi.I have had too many books ruined by overzealous intro writers.

[John of Canada]

I just finished Lolita.I have a whole new list of words added to my vocabulary as well as a major appreciation of Nabokov.TBR here I come.

[John of Canada]

Also,thank you, group, for selecting this book.It would still be on my tbr for God knows how long if you hadn't.

[Suki]

I missed a lot in this novel in previous readings. This time around, I read The Annotated Lolita, and it shed light on a lot of things (and also provides translations of the French phrases). The only "downside" of this edition is that the annotations sent me down a very enjoyable, but totally unplanned Nabokov rabbithole, as many of the annotations refer to passages in some of his other books, and draws connections through common themes and events in the books.

[Leslie]

Suki wrote: "I missed a lot in this novel in previous readings. This time around, I read The Annotated Lolita, and it shed light on a lot of things (and also provides translations of the French phr..."

Oh, I wish I had thought to look for that in my library! I have read several of his books though by no means all of them. I read Pale Fire as a buddy read here several years ago in fact. Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle is still on my TBR...

[Maggie the Muskoka Library Mouse]

I did not enjoy this one very much, though the writing style was nice.