Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

70 reviews

kerrence30's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

4.0

Of course it’s disturbing to read first person as a self-aware paedophile. There are details shared which, while shocking and at times graphic, would leave a gap of insecurity in the author if left unsaid. Some of the choices made are brave, some are unexpected, but are all are beautifully written. I’m left perplexed now I’ve completed the book. I’m neither saddened by the final position of either lead character nor mollified. Throughout, neither character was likeable, and yet you felt obligated to root for their personal best interests, and berate yourself for it just the same. I see how it is a much admired novel. In this particular reading Jeremy Irons plays an excellent Humbert Humbert in reprise to his role in the film adaptation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Confinement, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, and Rape

bi_n_large's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Incest, and Murder

Moderate: Racial slurs, Fatphobia, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Racism and Mental illness

opheliacomplex_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Pretentiousness and subject matter aside, the writing was lovely. And while I don't believe the author wrote this to innocently fulfill a perverted fantasy, I understand why someone else would. It's not for the light-hearted. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Stalking

Moderate: Death of parent and Misogyny

saylaa's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.75

pretty sure the first book i had to put down for a while for being too disturbing; also missed a lot of wordplay since english isn't my first language
beautifully written, content made me scream every other paragraph 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Rape, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

josierosser's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Alcohol, Medical content, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

bellamp's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Trafficking, Incest, Rape, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, and Misogyny

rayne_1906's review against another edition

dark 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

4.25

5 hours 9 minutes - I normally find classic books incredibly hard to read, but oddly I didn't have much trouble in that regard with this book. It is artfully written in such a way that you are disgusted with the actions and thoughts of Humbert Humbert, and yet driven to continue reading darkly fascinated by the twisted way his mind works and his calm justifications for his desires, and the way he spirals into paranoia and panic. It is definitely one of those books that you hate the content but love the execution. A difficult, challenging read but one I'm glad I did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Stalking

slimepuppy's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Scary, disgusting and incredibly well written. Vivid storytelling and fleshed out, believable characters - even at their worst, most despicable. The sheer sadness I felt for Dolores and her tragic, doomed fate made me want to cry and at times I just had to drop the kindle and take a breather.

Only major complaint I can think of right now is: too much French. There are whole passages written in French, and no translation was provided in my cpoy. As a result, entire sentences were lost to me, because I was not about to transcribe whole phrases into google translate at one in the morning. As Dolly amusingly put: "But do you mind very much cutting out the French? It annoys everybody." I am everybody!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Death, Rape, and Misogyny

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Vomit, and Infidelity

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Racism, and Incest

salome_veils's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Rape, Child abuse, Stalking, Kidnapping, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Death of parent, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse

bubblyfemme's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Fist of all, heavy trigger warning: This book is not for the faint of heart, I struggled a lot with parts of it, and if you somehow don’t know the premise of Lolita please check the trigger warnings.

This is one of those books I would never had imagined myself giving a high rating, due to the nature of the content. However, the writing is so poetic and the author is able to masterfully manipulate words to perfectly convey meaning. 

I read this novel under the impression that Nabokov sought to portray to the reader a psychopathic rapists mind. I view this as a character study of a very twisted man who is trying to manipulate the reader, and perhaps himself into believing that he wasn’t ‘that bad’. 

I think having some rudimentary knowledge of the psychological field of the 1950’s is helpful when reading this book, so I’d recommend reading up a little  on Freud, and perhaps Bowlby (who studied in the 60’s after the book was published) as some of his theories could be applied to the characters within the book. I think, despite our narrators hatred for psychoanalysis, analysing H.H makes the book far more interesting, and also highlights many of the books linguistic themes.

Despite the frankly disgusting nature of the book, I was in awe of the writing and I have always been drawn to books with an unreliable narrator. This book is an enigma to me, I hated the content but on the other hand have never spent so long trying to ‘understand’ or analyse a book I was not studying for school. The sheer impact this book has had on me currently warrants the 5 star rating, this may change in future if I re-read it though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Murder, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Incest, and Kidnapping

Minor: Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Alcoholism