Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Лолита by Vladimir Nabokov

25 reviews

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

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challenging dark emotional 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

“You know, what’s so dreadful about dying is that you are completely on your own.”

Lolita is the story of obsession and pedophilia that was as revolting as I had expected. At best, it was uncomfortable to be inside the mind of a narcissistic pedophile…at worst, utterly disgusting.

Character development was limited to the highly unlikeable pedophile, Humbert Humbert, but was absolutely masterful. In fact, Humbert WAS the story as there was very little action. (It would be fascinating to read a book from Delores’/Lolita’s perspective.)

To add to my negative feelings about Humbert, I found his pompous vocabulary and frequent use of un-translated French irritating. It also created emotional distance between me and this book.

This was one of those books I read purely out of curiosity and a desire to be better educated. Over the years, it has been regularly referenced in books, movies, and even song lyrics and I was missing out on meanings. Now I get it. I am glad I read it…all knowledge is power, but I won’t miss Humbert one bit.


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

This is literally one of the worst books I’ve ever read and the fact it’s well written makes me hate it more

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challenging dark sad tense 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

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark sad tense slow-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark reflective tense 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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

The ramblings of an unfortunately proud, woe-is-me paedophile. I love how, despite being narrated by the obsessive and delusional Humbert, if you pay close attention the emotions of Dolores Haze (Lolita) break through occasionally. Still, those emotions are clouded through the romanticised lenses of Dr Humbert Humbert. 

People give this book a low rating out of disgust for how he describes a child, but the fact you're so disgusted means the author did their job perfectly. Anyone who reads this book and thinks that Nabokov's intention was to villainise the 'teasing' child and make HH the victim, clearly missed the point.  

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