Reviews with content warning for Murder - Lolita

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

163 reviews

katherineellen's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

4.0

“Life is just one small piece of light between two eternal darknesses.”

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batrick_pateman's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective 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

5.0

Where to start?
This is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read, maybe even the most beautifully written. Nabokov was a master at playing with language, it's amazing that he only started writing in English in the middle of his life and career. I'm in awe of the writing, and the plot makes me feel filthy. Like a stain I can't remove.
In a lesser writer's hands, Humbert Humbert would be a stock character and this book would be worse than worthless - but Nabokov turns it into a dissection of not just a predator's psyche, but the reader's idea of a predator's psyche. At every turn, H. H. is trying to win the reader's sympathy - he never lies, but he obscures, justifies, begs, contrasts himself with

Quilty

, and does everything else he can to hide the fact that he is a monster. Thanks to Nabokov's writing, it almost works - recognizing H. H. as a monster and a predator forces you to reject the popular image of The Pedophile and re-think your idea of what predators are like. Brilliant, disturbing, important, gorgeously written, and a book I'll definitely return to someday.

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carinaisabelle's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

It's quite disturbing reading something this beautifully written about something so truly disgusting, disturbing and abusive.

Over the years I've heard that this is a love story. It is not (!). This is a story about repeatedly abuse. It tells the story of a young girl who has her childhood brutally taken away from her by a middle aged man, told from his perspective.

HH is not a reliabl narrator, and we can't trust him to tell us the truth. He tries to hide Dolly's fear from us,and he doesn't even use her real name. He calls her Lolita.

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moominenjoyer's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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euannn900's review against another edition

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challenging medium-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

0.5

There is no doubt this novel is elegantly and well written but it is entirely impossible to enjoy reading it. Humber Humberts is an awful, piece of shit specimen of a person. Outside of the obvious fact that he is a pedophile

who rapes a 12 year old

, he spends the whole book defending his actions and obsessions, he's a male manipulator, controlling Lolita through blackmailing and physical abuse and is a mysoginist, not only to Lolita but to numerous other women throughout the book. All the while he claims that his disturbing, creepy and disgusting obsession with Lolita is love. Vladimir Nabokov should never have written this book.

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bookshelfbybub's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The text is profoundly disturbing, but written in a prosaically beautiful way that one almost forgets it is so. Almost.

The novel is strongest in part one, but wanes a bit in part two. The narrative tension is less, and my interest suffered for it.

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fabianu's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense 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

5.0

Dear reader, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, please don’t look down upon H.H’s actions against Dolores. For a lepidopterist will take a beautiful creature and pin it to a wall to observe its beauty but taking away its life creating nothing more than an object. H.H. sees no difference from his Dolly to a scientists butterfly. (I am not defending H.H. In any way shape or form just making light in the community of such a depraved book). I absolutely loved how lyrical this book is narrated however, I will forever praise Nabokov’s writing. And I only wish the general public understood this book when released back in the 50’s. It’s a serious book that deals with serious matters and yet no matter how much Nabokov plead to get his readers to understand his book. He was forever misunderstood as they thought he was H.H. My only wish is that this book did not-and still is- perverted and normalized with a minor or adults acting like a child. However, the way the public took this book does not under any circumstance ruin my “enjoyment” of this masterpiece. I understand what Nabokov was writing about and I will never defend H.H.’s actions. Only condemn. (This was fun to write, read the book if you’re curious and if you’ve already read it maybe read it again?

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gerdalnrmj'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

3.5

Finally finished reading it. Took me ages as it’s the pace is really slow. It was just difficult to read because of, well the main theme. Although Nabokov’s use of English is mesmerisingly beautiful.

H.H is disgusting but … quite funny at times.

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jjisntstraight's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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yjd's review against another edition

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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

4.5

Hmmmm. I was rather surprised to see so many bad reviews calling the book disturbing and describing Humbert as a creep. That is the point?? This book was a challenging foray into the insidious manipulation an abuser can wield. Not just over their victim but themselves too. It was really interesting to see the self-manipulation Humbert engaged in in order to delude himself and justify his abuse. It was equally fascinating to see his desire to present himself as a "tempted," "weak" man to the reader. An absolute masterclass in an unreliable narrator - you could never take anything at face value in the book. The prose was beautiful and created a fascinating juxtaposition against the content.

I feel bad saying the book dragged in parts, but it definitely felt like that at times. For me, the fascinating narrative choice also had its drawbacks. Seeing things from Humbert's perspective was incredibly challenging and made this book what it is. Yet, it left me with a feeling of curiosity regarding Lolita. I really just wanted one glimpse into her psyche that was not coloured by Humbert's garbage perspective. But I suppose that's for a different book.

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