Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Lolita

I don't have a favourite character and I suppose it wasn't the author's intention for the reader to like the main characters. He did that well. I do dislike both Humbert Humbert and Dollores.

For me, this book was rather boring. Sure the plot was interesting in a way however not gripping enough. Reading this book even felt like a chore at a time. Except for the marvellous writing, there's nothing to highlight. And for the writing and the writing only, this book gets the rating it gets.

Page 300, made up predestined destiny.

I have often noticed that we are inclined to endow our friends with the stability of type that literary characters acquire in the reader’s mind. No matter how many times we reopen “King Lear,” never shall we find the good king banging his tankard in high revelry, all woes forgotten, at a jolly reunion with all three daughters and their lapdogs. Never will Emma rally, revived by the sympathetic salts in Flaubert’s father’s timely tear. Whatever evolution this or that popular character has gone through between the book covers, his fate is fixed in our minds, and, similarly, we expect our friends to follow this or that logical and conventional pattern we have fixed for them. Thus X will never compose the immortal music that would clash with the second-rate symphonies he has accustomed us to. Y will never commit murder. Under no circumstances can Z ever betray us. We have it all arranged in our minds, and the less often we see a particular person the more satisfying it is to check how obediently he conforms to our notion of him every time we hear of him. Any deviation in the fates we have ordained would strike us as not only anomalous but unethical. We would prefer not to have known at all our neighbour, the retired hot-dog stand operator, if it turns out he has just produced the greatest book of poetry his age has seen.

The end of the book was one of the better parts. I did enjoy it.

Overall, I'm glad I read the book. The writing is amazing despite the story being unappealing to me.

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marinarc's review against another edition

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dark sad 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? It's complicated

3.25

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coldcojones's review against another edition

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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

0.25

It’s just gross.

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jmcordero's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad 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

3.0

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ihateketchup's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative 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

3.5

This book needs to be understood better by our generation, the author wrote this book so that we could easily identify people like Humbert. It is sad that a lot of people took this as a love story, it is not a love story in the slightest. This book is a psychological thriller that you find yourself interested in due to the narrator not being reliable, Humbert will contradict himself throughout the book, and you catch yourself being manipulated by Humbert as you are reading the book, the ability to write like that is incredibly impressive. Humbert is such a horrible character, the fact that you can find him trying to manipulate you after telling you all the disgusting things he did is a strange and scary feeling. This book shows you how easy it is for these people to get away with things like this, and shows how to spot them without even specifically saying it. The way the character of Dolores changes so quickly and abruptly makes it so we the readers, are unable to tell whether she changes due to puberty, age, her realizing she is being abused, Humbert being an unreliable narrator, or a mix of them. Having the readers question the authenticity and truthfulness of a fictional story is a rare thing to do. There are so many hidden messages and double innuendos in the way Humbert writes, that having the annotations helps you truly appreciate the amount of dedication that was put into this book.

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vulpexula's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad 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

4.0

A very challenging, yet important read. I wouldn’t recommend to younger readers or people who are triggered by abuse, as there is absolutely no subtlety in how the subjects are handled.

Nabokov use of rhyme and word play is what hooked me in from the beginning. I think the biggest tragedy of Lolita is our culture’s reaction to it. Instead of a vulnerable victim, the name ‘Lolita’ often brings the idea of a seductive, provocative girl to people’s heads, which is, I believe, exactly what evil people like Humbert want. If society can continue to sexualise young girls, abuse can continue to slip under the radar.

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