Reviews tagging 'Death'

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

104 reviews

andrewfischerr19's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow. I just went into this book knowing that Kubrick adapted it (haven't watched it yet, but planning to). It was very intriguing seeing how Nabokov wrote in the perspective of an abuser, and I found that my favorite parts where Humbert scoffs and spits in your face for assuming the right thing. the character manipulates you and you often catch yourself saying "wait a second, I know what you're doing." Overall, Lolita is beautifully written and if you can handle the subject matter I heavily recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Rape, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Death

Moderate: Xenophobia and Racism

josie_is_missing's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia and Rape

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

krzem's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Pedophilia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual assault, Death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Pregnancy and Gun violence

baker16's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Death

Minor: Rape and Pedophilia

_kaylinconn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I did not enjoy a single page of this novel, and yet I am rating it 4 stars. It was beautiful in a macabre way. The actions are indeed disgusting, and I appreciate that the text acknowledges that even in the twisted mind of Humbert Humbert. There is not a better example of obsession than this. And though I wish it wasn’t about such a horrible topic, I see what it was trying to say. It leaves me with a stomach ache and tears in my eyes for the life Delores Hayes could have lived, the vacant look described her in eyes destroys me. I read this for dear Sally Horner, who deserved so much more than this world gave her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Sexual violence, Stalking, Car accident, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

jalyhn's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I give this a high rating because it is written beautifully and an amazing book to annotate and analyze. I had so much fun picking apart everything Humbert did to find out what was >SPOILER<

an illusion or something he made up and what is real.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Drug use, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, and Child abuse

Moderate: Drug abuse, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Rape, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Mental illness

Minor: Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Murder, Death of parent, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

g1lg4mesh's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I find myself in a pickle of sorts in reviewing this book- I cannot in good faith blindly recommend it, and yet it is simultaneously the most incredible text I have ever engaged with. Lolita simply redefines the standard of the masterpiece, building not a glass ceiling (such tangibilities are beneath it), rather, casting the colloquial “bar” to the very heavens, where it may never be seen again. Only read this book if you are prepared to finish it- know too that this is no simple matter- but read this book, if you may be so bold. It will challenge you, and you may want to hurl it into a fire at times, but still, you simply must make it to that final page. This is a book that redefines the 5th star, and shakes any attempt at literary tier lists to its very core.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Alcohol, Body shaming, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Car accident, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

river69rat's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Probably one of the hardest books to digest and then rate. Deeply disturbing, but a brilliant portrayal of the deluded mind of a disgusting man. Reading this after reading My Dark Vanessa last year creates an additional layer of almost being able to see Lolita's perspective. The amount of people who lack reading comprehension for this book to be commonly known as a romance is crazy to me also!! Anyway, fantastic book whilst also sitting in a deeply uncomfortable space.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Rape and Gun violence

leah_rose24's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Rape

ellisy's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Lolita, that highly controversial novel that set a before and after not only in American literature, but in modern culture as a whole. That love letter to monstrous indulgence, the attempt of a psychopath to redeem his soul and make his and his victim's lives one inmortal story. As he said "I am thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita".

Maybe one of the most remarcable things about this story is the way it's told. We are warned at the beginning of what this text really is: a confession and desperate attempt of a criminal to save himself. One that "should make all of us apply ourselves with still greater vigilance and vision to the task of bringing up a better generation in a safer world". Its narrator, a pedophile that both tries to trick you into beeling his side of the story and recognizes what he's done, one you cannot fully believe since he himself said that "I have camouflaged what I could so as not to hurt people". Which he does in the most poetical kind of way, almost convincing you for some bits until you get to the most sordid parts and comments, that reminds you of what he really is.

Something really interesting about him is the juxtaposition between the romantic and the monster, between "concupiscent co-operation (or the illusion of it) to dirty old man, from romance to self-revolution, from reciprocation to the sordid solipsism of sperm on the hand. Nabokov's subject and Humbert's affliction is the discrepancy between the dizzy desire and the dingy thruth". As Humbert said "Despite the horrible hopelessness of it all, I still dwelled deep in my elected paradise—a paradise whose skies were the color of hell-flames—bit still a paradise". And as well recognized later on, "I loved you. I was a pentapod monster, but I loved you. I was despicable and brutal, and turpid, and everything, mais je t'aimais, je t'aimais! And there were times when I knew how you felt, and it was hell to know it, my little one. Lolita girl, brave Dolly Schiller". He knew that he was hurting her, but he kept on, he knew that he was monstrous, but he kept on, and this would have never ended, if Dolores wouldn't have scaped. 

Maybe that's why that's one of the most heartbreaking parts of the story. The criminal knew how sordidly he had ruined Dolores's live, but he kept on, telling himself that he loved her. He used this little child until she bled, he knew she hated him, and still tried to make himself and us believe that he was the misunderstood poet, the victim somehow. But still he doesn't lay flat, he is not just "the bad guy" he's a monster, but he has dimensions, a story to tell after and before, some humanness in him that still makes us feel sorry somehow, even if after we still feel sick of what he's done. 

Lolita is a terrifying story, in which not only a child was kidnapped but failed by the system that was supposed to protect her, by the people around them who had to have suspission that something was off, and even by the legacy it left, since Lolita became both a sexual figure and a "romance" story, with people commenting on the novel as "a record of Nabokov's love affair with the romantic novel". For me, it's the confession of a monstrous passion from the point of view of the aggressor, one that's written trying to cover what happened and you still see through the lies, one with multidimensional characters and story that fills you with rage, disgust and helplessness, and a narrative that tries to trick you. And for that, it's a masterpiece of the English language, a gem that's hard to look at, but you still should, a classic of American literature.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence