Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Лолита by Vladimir Nabokov

234 reviews

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I will be coming back with my thoughts...

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark sad tense slow-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Painful, dark, appalling. Evokes emotion and critical thinking about the human condition. Unreliable narrator with similar internal conflicts that parallel other great works like American Psycho. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Gosh. I don't think I've ever read something so sinister. The foreword and first few pages really frame what you're about to get into, and I knew the premise going in, but that was one nasty narrator. Incredibly skillful on behalf of Nabokov to write convincingly from that unreliable, violent POV. 
HH's obsessive thoughts and self-awareness of his actions and psyche were physically sickening to realize. My stomach turned more than once. 

So many times, I found myself imagining scenes from Dolores' perspective -- wondering what she would've had to say, what she would've told us. Her suffering is so evident, even if it's only vaguely referenced by HH. I'd call this a horror book, honestly, because 1) We read what HH is telling us directly, 2) we are inside of an abuser's mind, and 3) we can imply that he's leaving things out because his perspective is skewed... so where does that leave us? 

The writing in this is admittedly very lyrical, poetic and enjoyable, which became increasingly conflicting and distressing for me. Also, some longer sections and dense digressions in HH's stream-of-consciousness were hard to follow. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The writing itself and the narrative is incredible. That being said, the subject matter itself often made me feel physically ill. The end of part 2 is terribly drawn out.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging reflective medium-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

3.8 ★
this is such a difficult book to rate, because .... man i don't even know. i am very excited for our discussion in class tomorrow, and i really wanna hear more about this. i found the second 'kidnapping' a bit meh, and i didn't really enjoy that part of the story as much; even if it's supposed to be a mirror of the protagonist, it fell short, to me. it is kinda crazy how much the writer (humbert, not nabokov) tries to manipulate the reader, and does his best at trying to gain sympathy, because if we weren't aware of the severity of his actions and be able to tell apart what he really did from how he tells us, someone could really be tricked into understanding and justifying his actions

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was a re-read for me. Lolita is still one of the best books I have ever read. However, I feel it is deeply misunderstood. Nabokov is not romanticising the relationship between a 12-year-old girl and a 37-year-old man, nor is he trying to justify it. In contrast, Nabokov uses irony and references to well-known cultural, literary, and aesthetic discourses to ridicule the predator. He fills the character of Humbert Humbert with parodied self-justification. This poses a challenge for the reader, who must make a continuous effort to see through Humbert's self-perceived worldview. If you manage to do so, this book is a real adventure! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I think that the perspective of first-person was disgustingly and impressively utilized.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings