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readbycandlelit's review against another edition
DNF at 48%
This was a library book and I was given about a month to read it. Despair is not my first Nabokov and it won't be my last because the man's pretentious prose never fails to amuse me. Regardless, it takes a lot out of my time. It's not the kind of book that makes you want to turn the page. So far, this short little novel was giving absolute three stars but those stars are vaguely outlined so I won't be checking it out again.
This was a library book and I was given about a month to read it. Despair is not my first Nabokov and it won't be my last because the man's pretentious prose never fails to amuse me. Regardless, it takes a lot out of my time. It's not the kind of book that makes you want to turn the page. So far, this short little novel was giving absolute three stars but those stars are vaguely outlined so I won't be checking it out again.
mileva_lit's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
nunuseli's review against another edition
4.0
Una pequeña joya de Nabokov. Una variación original del tema del doble. Un cuento moral con una ironía despiadada. Divertido y cruel. Una obra entendida como un enigma que el lector tiene que descifrar.
leviathandreamer's review against another edition
funny
slow-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
its_naya's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
angelmuse's review against another edition
challenging
funny
mysterious
slow-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
kumipaul's review against another edition
3.0
No big surprises here, which is a bit disappointing for a book about plotting and committing a murder. The buildup was a bit slow, but the action sequence and escape was at least interesting. I was entertained by the author's prose and his breaking the fourth wall to talk to the "dear reader". Not time wasted in reading this at all, but not a thrill ride either.
organelle's review against another edition
4.0
a comedic semi tribute to crime and punishment, very fun!
batbones's review against another edition
3.0
Protagonist chances upon who he thinks of as his miraculous uncanny double, and commits a crime that leads him slowly into a funnel of utter paranoia and near-madness. This reader cannot help thinking, hasn't she seen this before? A clever use of tropes and metafictionality (the story is told in the same time-span that it is being written; references to other Russian writers and Russian lit plot conventions, the cinema) but what pleasure that can be felt is confined to the cerebral, the entertainment of paradoxes and potential, the realm of ideas that does not quite stir the heart. For a novel titled Despair, it is the character alone who feels it.
debonairsaltydog's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5