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jenmcmaynes 's review for:
Pnin
by Vladimir Nabokov
Vaguely disappointing. I was expecting something along the lines of Pale Fire, but Pnin was lacking the brilliant satire and unreliable narrator that made that book brilliant. Instead, it is a tepid tale of the pathetic but gentle Pnin and his life as a teacher in a small, Eastern college in the 50s. The story is told in mostly unrelated vignettes, whose main point seems to be to make fun of Pnin's faulty English, sentimentality, and general cluelessness. All of which left me cold and unimpressed.
The one interesting aspect of the book is the last chapter, when the undisclosed narrator takes up the tale. We are left with some interesting questions (who is the narrator? why does Pnin appear to dislike him, when one of his defining characteristics is that he likes everybody? what do we really know about Pnin, given his tale is told by a removed, unknown, and disliked narrator?), but they are not dealt with and, for me, it was a case of "too little, too late".
This is my 4th Nabakov and I think I have reached the conclusion that Pale Fire was amazing and everything else, not so much. I doubt I will be reading any more of his works.
The one interesting aspect of the book is the last chapter, when the undisclosed narrator takes up the tale. We are left with some interesting questions (who is the narrator? why does Pnin appear to dislike him, when one of his defining characteristics is that he likes everybody? what do we really know about Pnin, given his tale is told by a removed, unknown, and disliked narrator?), but they are not dealt with and, for me, it was a case of "too little, too late".
This is my 4th Nabakov and I think I have reached the conclusion that Pale Fire was amazing and everything else, not so much. I doubt I will be reading any more of his works.