A review by halaagmod
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Nabokov is, hands down, my favorite author, so it's no wonder that one of my favorite books of all time happen to be by his hand. Lolita is a novel that is brilliant and captivating in every way—the impeccable prose, the Americana aesthetic, the sardonic humor, and the all-too-real story it represents. Humbert Humbert attempts to immortalize his all-consuming obsession with Dolores as a catastrophic but beautiful instance of star-crossed lovers, a whirlwind, passionate romance that entwines them both. What he fails to take into account are the cracks in his narrative that reveal it as a heartbreaking, disturbing, and terrifying account of a deranged criminal, the young girl he takes advantage of being failed and manipulated by all those in her life that were meant to protect her, and the way he utterly destroys them both in the process. Every word is poetry; every word is a confession of guilt. Lolita is important as a way to understand the complexities of abuse, trauma, and victimization, especially as it comes to children, and urges the reader in its tragedy to prevent such a story from ever having to be written again. I cannot recommend it enough.
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