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tartt's review against another edition
his family should’ve listened to him about having this burned. just kidding. mostly. it truly is just pieces of a shadow of a novel, and maybe there’s just nothing grand enough here to justify going against nabokov’s wishes
leathehatless's review against another edition
5.0
Originally from GIP
The Original of Laura is not a book, it's a memoir. It's a look into the life of Nabokov and the creative process of an author while creating the embryo of a book. It's great to see the ideas, the construction of the text in the many phases of writing.
Sadly, Nabokov never finished this novel but we got a peek on the mind of a very controversial author and the love he had for his work.
It's a good book to read lightly.
The Original of Laura is not a book, it's a memoir. It's a look into the life of Nabokov and the creative process of an author while creating the embryo of a book. It's great to see the ideas, the construction of the text in the many phases of writing.
Sadly, Nabokov never finished this novel but we got a peek on the mind of a very controversial author and the love he had for his work.
It's a good book to read lightly.
ecari's review against another edition
3.0
It's difficult to rate the novel that is not-quite. I love Nabokov and their is something thrillingly voyeuristic about turning the pages of the heavy, hardback book with its reproduced notecards of the great author's scribbles - a feeling that I would like to think Nabokov would himself appreciate (and, no doubt, represent more eloquently, appropriately, than I ever could). But this is not a novel, not the great, perfection of language and story, illusion and allusion, plot and digression that Nabokov is known for. It is a peek into the process that he used to get there. I have no doubt that other authors will find this book a bit like candied pills they can take to inspire their own creative processes. I, on the other hand, love the finished product, so the dipping into the draft was fleetingly titillating, but ultimately unfulfilling. I admit to some slight, undefined guilt, as well, given Nabokov's expressed desire that the cards be destroyed by his wife upon his death. All that said, the concept of self-deletion or -destruction through mental will alone captured me and scared me a bit. I'm left regretting the death of this great thinker and writer before he could finish his thought(s) and write them all down.
ps-I recommend setting aside a couple of hours to read this in one go. It would also be interesting to take the cards, shuffle them and re-read - a plan for my future.
ps-I recommend setting aside a couple of hours to read this in one go. It would also be interesting to take the cards, shuffle them and re-read - a plan for my future.
bibliobethreads's review against another edition
Finished this very quickly due to the fact it is incomplete and written on index cards which can be popped out and rearranged as the author did nice touch! Not sure how I feel about this book, maybe it was meant to be destroyed for a reason? Beautiful language in parts though.
svea505's review against another edition
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? N/A
3.25
pagesofnectar's review against another edition
5.0
A novel in fragments? More like perfection in fragments!
Honestly, though, did you really not expect that the one and only Vladimir Nabokov would absolutely serve even in the case of a few pages of text and the marginalia of a book he was working on before he died? I mean, literary genius at their best!
The concept would've been so cool it breaks my heart, the fact that we get to see some of his notes on his writing while putting his words together glues my heart back together and the fact that I found gorgeous quotes to fall in love with even within such a small amount of sentences proves my point that Nabokov just rocks!
Honestly, though, did you really not expect that the one and only Vladimir Nabokov would absolutely serve even in the case of a few pages of text and the marginalia of a book he was working on before he died? I mean, literary genius at their best!
The concept would've been so cool it breaks my heart, the fact that we get to see some of his notes on his writing while putting his words together glues my heart back together and the fact that I found gorgeous quotes to fall in love with even within such a small amount of sentences proves my point that Nabokov just rocks!
mugren's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not quite sure about the story, but I loved the reading experience. In the copy I own, each page contained a notecard with its text printed out below it.
gwimo's review against another edition
4.0
The novel - written on index cards which were scanned and used in the book (as evidence, I suppose), which are also detachable (which is annoying) - doesn't follow anything linear. That's to be expected, of course, as it appears the book is consisting of notes by the author. However, its deviation - per se - of conventionality doesn't keep it from consuming its reader. At once I was sucked into his prose, very much in the same way that Lolita drew me in when I first read it.
But because of its - should I say unique? - style, it's hard to come up with an accurate description of the story, let alone a review that would do it justice. The prose - much like that of Lolita - being the only other novel I've read by Nabokov, not including a few short stories here and there during my college years - is quite poetic and well structured. The wording hypnotic at times. It's hard to ignore the aspects - the potential - of how great the novel would have been if Nabokov was able to complete it before his death. The novel mixes in the erotic and a sort of dark comedy of morality - hence the subtitle Dying is Fun.
While it was never meant to see the light of literary world, I'm glad that Dmitri Nabokov went against his father's wishes and published the novel rather than burn it. And now I but sit an wait until the letters of James Joyce are finally allowed to see the light of day. It's just another year, right?
But because of its - should I say unique? - style, it's hard to come up with an accurate description of the story, let alone a review that would do it justice. The prose - much like that of Lolita - being the only other novel I've read by Nabokov, not including a few short stories here and there during my college years - is quite poetic and well structured. The wording hypnotic at times. It's hard to ignore the aspects - the potential - of how great the novel would have been if Nabokov was able to complete it before his death. The novel mixes in the erotic and a sort of dark comedy of morality - hence the subtitle Dying is Fun.
While it was never meant to see the light of literary world, I'm glad that Dmitri Nabokov went against his father's wishes and published the novel rather than burn it. And now I but sit an wait until the letters of James Joyce are finally allowed to see the light of day. It's just another year, right?