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firstcrybaby 's review for:
Lolita
by Vladimir Nabokov
To the individuals calling Lolita a love story or an erotic novel, did we read two completely different works?
Lots of things I could touch on, all of which have been said before by people smarter than me, but ultimately I choose to focus on Dolores Haze: failed and neglected by those meant to protect her, falling through cracks in a flawed system. Cracks as big as canyons that stretch as many miles as Humbert put on the car in the two years he held her captive. Even Humbert, in all his web spinning and fancy prose penned to justify his perversions and obsession, cannot twist Dolores' condemnation of the crimes he committed against her. Dolores had her innocence stolen; a little girl abused and sexualized, who in turn was forced to use her own body and sexuality as a means of survival when Humbert stripped all other autonomy away from her and loomed over her. A constant, inescapable shadow.
Dolores was forced to survive in the constraints of a life that Humbert put on her. Sadly, I finish Lolita knowing that part of Dolores never escaped the prison in which Humbert held her captive. Humbert even images Dolores saying it: "You merely broke my life."
I believe some of the things Humbert tells us are the truth. I believe all of them are through the lens of his vastly skewed, deplorable, and disturbing perspective. He is a predator. He is a groomer. He can be, in some regards, even funny and charming, and when we find ourselves disgusted over our own amusement at something H.H. said that made us chuckle, we are forced to reconcile the fact that Humbert, and the depraved men like him, are human. Sometimes, other people are the most nightmarish thing we can encounter.
Lots of things I could touch on, all of which have been said before by people smarter than me, but ultimately I choose to focus on Dolores Haze: failed and neglected by those meant to protect her, falling through cracks in a flawed system. Cracks as big as canyons that stretch as many miles as Humbert put on the car in the two years he held her captive. Even Humbert, in all his web spinning and fancy prose penned to justify his perversions and obsession, cannot twist Dolores' condemnation of the crimes he committed against her. Dolores had her innocence stolen; a little girl abused and sexualized, who in turn was forced to use her own body and sexuality as a means of survival when Humbert stripped all other autonomy away from her and loomed over her. A constant, inescapable shadow.
Dolores was forced to survive in the constraints of a life that Humbert put on her. Sadly, I finish Lolita knowing that part of Dolores never escaped the prison in which Humbert held her captive. Humbert even images Dolores saying it: "You merely broke my life."
I believe some of the things Humbert tells us are the truth. I believe all of them are through the lens of his vastly skewed, deplorable, and disturbing perspective. He is a predator. He is a groomer. He can be, in some regards, even funny and charming, and when we find ourselves disgusted over our own amusement at something H.H. said that made us chuckle, we are forced to reconcile the fact that Humbert, and the depraved men like him, are human. Sometimes, other people are the most nightmarish thing we can encounter.