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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
not the best thing i’ve read but MAN nabokov might be my literary soulmate he’s like the BILLY WILDER of literary fiction #if you get it you get it
3.5 stars.
Nabokov is one of my top ten authors of all time. This is the first book I've read of his that was just okay. His beautiful prose was present, but the story never grabbed me like most of his.
I still enjoyed it very much, just not as much as the others.
Nabokov is one of my top ten authors of all time. This is the first book I've read of his that was just okay. His beautiful prose was present, but the story never grabbed me like most of his.
I still enjoyed it very much, just not as much as the others.
An interesting examination of identity. At times, I wondered at the relevance of some of the events in the story, and especially of the narrator's obsession with Smurov, before the climax informed me that they were one and the same man (I'd thankfully forgotten the back cover blurb that gives everything away).
I can't help wondering how differently the story might have read if Nabokov hadn't dropped the "narrator" a third of the way in, and treated the story more as a third-person POV, if he'd given us Smurov for the entire thing. But then again, he's dealing with identity, and disassociation after Smurov's suicide attempt, an act I still find difficult to understand. Okay, yes, the man he'd been cuckolding beat the shit out of him, but why would that drive him to want to kill himself? Was the embarrassment really so severe?
And so I get that after he recovers, and keeps telling himself that he's in the afterlife and that everything around him is a phantom of his former life, some kind of connecting bridge to move him from life into the great unknown, and he can justify becoming the "eye" that observes but doesn't participate. Everything that follows makes a sort of sense, but I'm still nagged by the attempted suicide. Maybe I'm hoping for sense within the mindset of a nonsensical narrator, but it just seems too much like a convenient plot device of Nabokov's so as to set the rest of the events in motion.
Anyway, once it is revealed at the end that the narrator is, in fact, Smurov, the text does feel more satisfying. The psychological journey he's taken in order to examine his identity seems to come full circle, although he's keen to point out that even the Smurov who tried to kill himself is not the real Smurov. And so I'm left at the end with all the different versions of the man, yet no objectively "real" version, which is quite an astute observation. We all wear masks depending on the situations we're in or the people we're around; is there really a "real" me? Nabokov seems to think not, and I'd tend to agree with him.
I can't help wondering how differently the story might have read if Nabokov hadn't dropped the "narrator" a third of the way in, and treated the story more as a third-person POV, if he'd given us Smurov for the entire thing. But then again, he's dealing with identity, and disassociation after Smurov's suicide attempt, an act I still find difficult to understand. Okay, yes, the man he'd been cuckolding beat the shit out of him, but why would that drive him to want to kill himself? Was the embarrassment really so severe?
And so I get that after he recovers, and keeps telling himself that he's in the afterlife and that everything around him is a phantom of his former life, some kind of connecting bridge to move him from life into the great unknown, and he can justify becoming the "eye" that observes but doesn't participate. Everything that follows makes a sort of sense, but I'm still nagged by the attempted suicide. Maybe I'm hoping for sense within the mindset of a nonsensical narrator, but it just seems too much like a convenient plot device of Nabokov's so as to set the rest of the events in motion.
Anyway, once it is revealed at the end that the narrator is, in fact, Smurov, the text does feel more satisfying. The psychological journey he's taken in order to examine his identity seems to come full circle, although he's keen to point out that even the Smurov who tried to kill himself is not the real Smurov. And so I'm left at the end with all the different versions of the man, yet no objectively "real" version, which is quite an astute observation. We all wear masks depending on the situations we're in or the people we're around; is there really a "real" me? Nabokov seems to think not, and I'd tend to agree with him.
"El ojo" es otra de las primeras Nabokov que saben a poco. Es una obrita sobre la identidad, como la mayoría de novelas de Nabokov. Realmente se nota que es de sus primeras obras: la ironía y el estilo aún no han llegado a sus cuotas máximas, y el truco de esconder la identidad del narrador es muy burdo, porque ya se viene a venir desde el principio, aunque el mismo Nabokov en el prólogo es lo suficientemente astuto como para descalificarlo él mismo. Sin embargo, tiene una reflexión interesante sobre cómo en realidad ninguno de nosotros no tiene una identidad entendida como tal, sino que nuestra identidad sólo está configurada por la opinión que tienen los que nos rodean de nosotros. Y como siempre, no tiene nada de piedad con ningún personaje.
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Récit mystérieux et réflectif qui m’a fait penser, sur certains points, à ceux de Dostoievski. Le personnage principal, Smourov, se regarde lui-même, se guette, s’admire. Ca lui donne une certaine liberté d’être et d’agir comme il le souhaite. Une réflexion intéressante sur la vie et sur notre perception de la réalité.
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-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
Ooo, I liked this one a lot. Nabokov is a master of prose, I read some of these sentences over and over, revelling in the syntax. This plot was short and punchy although the blurb spoilt the twist for me. I want to re-read this as I'm sure there are clever philosophies that I missed the first time around. A new must read author!
challenging
dark
funny
slow-paced
short story collection - only the titular story is actually worth your time and effort. bizarre and dark to the point of looping back to being funny and light hearted. oh nabokov you silly little man…
I alone do not exist. Smurov, however, will live on for a long time.
I love u Russian lit <3 Definitely superior to [b:Lolita|7604|Lolita|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377756377l/7604._SY75_.jpg|1268631]. Not sure what these authors are on but I'm obsessed with the most cynical man in the world suddenly becoming idealistic for the last 2 pages of every Russian lit novel.
I love u Russian lit <3 Definitely superior to [b:Lolita|7604|Lolita|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377756377l/7604._SY75_.jpg|1268631]. Not sure what these authors are on but I'm obsessed with the most cynical man in the world suddenly becoming idealistic for the last 2 pages of every Russian lit novel.
challenging
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
unreliable narrator my one true love, also they should have fucked