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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
This was my first ever Nabakov, and it was a challenge. I wish the religious and socio-economic parallel universe had been explained more.
I spent the better part of a month wading through Vladimir Nabokov's novel "Ada, or Ardor." I generally found this a struggle to get through (though it got somewhat easier by the end) and a bit disappointing. I couldn't help comparing this to "Lolita," which was brilliant in the ways it attempted to make the reader sympathize with a totally repugnant character and this novel just manage to get there.
This book is about man named Van, who has a lifelong incestuous affair with his sister Ada (whom he initially believes is his cousin, which doesn't make it much better.)
I found the bulk of the novel -- which sets up the relationship between the two characters to be a bit boring. It got better when the story got moving (except for that weird time section, which was way over my head.) Overall, I just found this to be disappointing.
This book is about man named Van, who has a lifelong incestuous affair with his sister Ada (whom he initially believes is his cousin, which doesn't make it much better.)
I found the bulk of the novel -- which sets up the relationship between the two characters to be a bit boring. It got better when the story got moving (except for that weird time section, which was way over my head.) Overall, I just found this to be disappointing.
Just finished rereading this. While I love Nabokov's style, innumberable alliterations, this convoluted novel has too much French and Russian interspersed for me to really enjoy it. In the end, it just made me feel inadequate.
A sexy, sprawling narrative about a family riddled with incest. Growing up in a multicultural family, the ways the main characters seamlessly transition between English, Russian and French felt very familiar to me. Minus one star for the sci-fi elements, which felt underdeveloped and bit out of place.
Naughty Nabokov and the dirty word games and labyrinthine layers of lies and lust. The swirling sentences as secrets, but shouted with confidence and fist fulls of confetti.
Nabakov is just such a pure sensual and intellectual pleasure to read. Almost 700 pages and i still wanted more...
I love Vladimir Nabokov's writing. His command of language always astounds me. That said, I had a hard time with this book. Perhaps my brain power isn't what it used to be, but I feel like I would need to take a university course to understand what this was all about. I got bored. I skimmed the last 120 or so pages and really didn't care what happened at the end. Given the other rave reviews, I feel like I must have missed something, lots of things. Oh well. I tried. I won't try again.
Such a beautiful work of art, it provided endless inspiration and I feel as if I have a void to fill now that I'm finished.It was very difficult to read though, not wanting to miss anything I re-read passages and went back to translate the Russian and French a few times. It was definitely worth the time and effort
Bohaté, hravé, zábavné, vzrušující. Překladatel Pavel Dominik odvedl neuvěřitelný kus práce.