Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by 18ck
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
4.0
Pnin is my second Nabokov book after Lolita. I didn't enjoy it quite as much, but its portrait of academic life is highly entertaining and I had a couple of giggling fits which were all the better for appearing by surprise. It's a campus novel, reminding me of Small World by David Lodge. I see someone on here has compared it with Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amas, and I got a start of recognition a few pages in when I read a description of Pnin having all his teeth extracted and I realised I had read this extract before, in Martin Amis's memoir, Experience, in relation to his own well-known dental adventures.
The central character, a Russian professor at an American college is beautifully drawn and it's a pleasure to spend time with him, even if he isn't really doing much. In fact, the character was the main reason the book was recommended to me. Not wrong there. It's a good book, and small enough to read on a longish train journey if you're lucky enough to have an attention span longer than mine.
Rambling, incoherent review. Sorry.
The central character, a Russian professor at an American college is beautifully drawn and it's a pleasure to spend time with him, even if he isn't really doing much. In fact, the character was the main reason the book was recommended to me. Not wrong there. It's a good book, and small enough to read on a longish train journey if you're lucky enough to have an attention span longer than mine.
Rambling, incoherent review. Sorry.