Reviews with content warning for Racism - Lolita

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

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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frmeden's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

"In the infinite run it does not matter a jot that a North American girl child named Dolores Haze had been deprived of her childhood by a maniac, unless this can be proven."

it is so hard to put into words the way this novel affected me, other than we've done a great disservice to it by peddling it as a 'love story' for all these years. nabokov can say this story has no moral but the authorial intent reads very clear to me! i do almost feel like i could go back and read it again and catch new things because it kind of reads like a very overwritten horror/mystery novel, because HH is lying to you constantly and covering up his crimes with flowery prose. dolores haze you deserved better, who the fuck is "lolita" anyway!!!

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bearwhocanreadbecauseofmagic's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I read this book because I wanted to know how such a strong focus on maybe the most taboo subject of our time could be a classic. I understand why now.

The brutal look into the mind of the Humbert Humbert was chilling, funny, tragic, and so horrendously uninhibited that it was difficult to not be sucked in when dressed in some of the best prose I’ve read.

Don’t expect to walk away from this read feeling like sunshine. Naturally, it is a very disturbing book, but it is also intoxicating and beautiful and deserves its place.

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g1lg4mesh's review

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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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gvstyris's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

I need you, the reader, to imagine us, for we don’t really exist if you don’t.

There’s no doubt that Nabokov’s Lolita is a timeless classic, and I finally understand why. Primarily, the prose is gorgeous. I’ve never been so in awe of an author’s writing style and paused repeatedly to jot down quotes or dog-ear pages. Nabokov’s manipulation of narration (and the strength of Humbert Humbert’s personal voice) is similarly masterful, and I was struck by how fundamental the novel’s foreword is to understanding the story. It must also be noted that Humbert Humbert is a well-crafted, terrifying character whose gaze aptly reflects our society’s obsession with young girls, a messaging still of undeniable relevance in the 21st century.

Before reading, I was both fascinated by Lolita’s cultural impact and confused by the purpose of such a novel. It seemed perplexing that an author would want to tell such a viscerally uncomfortable story, and it’s a question I couldn’t properly answer until reading Nabokov’s afterword. He argues that “I am neither a reader nor writer of didactic fiction, and, despite John Ray’s assertion, Lolita has no moral in tow.” Instead, its purpose is realism, a cautionary tale that stands the test of time because of how it is continually misconstrued by paedophiles and victims alike. I’m glad to have finally read it and will be thinking about its cultural relevance for a long time.

I’ve (pretty superficially) knocked half a star off for the verbose descriptions. Humbert Humbert’s excessive ramblings while traipsing the country with Lo were unnecessary and arguably detrimental to the flow of the narrative.

Overall a powerful read, and I highly recommend giving it a shot if you’re in the right mental place. Definitely look up the content warnings, though.

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ellisy's review against another edition

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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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halaagmod's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad 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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sombies's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense

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

5.0

nabokov was crazyyy for this one. its wild how laser targeted his read is of the kind of joyless motherfuckers who fantasize about having complete control over little girls to avoid taking control of their own lives. ive known a humbert humbert and it's likely you know one too

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