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alexcannotread's Reviews (224)
Alright, so after sitting on it, I think I would rate this as a 4 star. As a constant reader of horror and adult lit, I always like to have the occasional "light read" I get from YA novels to relieve me from dark and deep themes, and this book was absolutely PERFECT for that purpose and just a fun read in general. Historical fiction + romance combined always has a grab of interest to me, and I especially loved how it was set in place in the Gentleman's Guide.
One of the things I really loved was how the romance immediately began in the beginning! I don't mind being patient through anticipation, but so often when reading romance you just think "When is it gonna start already!?" So just getting straight on with it was great.
I was also super glad that this was not a love triangle kind of novel. Reading the description of this book, I jumped in thinking that probably Monty and Felicity would both be in love with Percy (am I the only one??) But thankfully, it's just Monty and Percy being stupid about there feelings and lack of direct sharing, and of course Felicity rolling her eyes a million times when she's not out being a bad ass.
I originally wasn't a fan of Felicity, but eventually, once she stopped being portrayed as annoyingly shrewd and obnoxious (this was only for maybe the first 50 pages) and began being shown more as the strong, perceptive female leader, I began to seriously love her. She was awesomely portrayed as a female during this time era in a way that wasn't overpowering or inaccurate.
Monty was also just great! In general I love protagonists who are sassy pretty boys, the way he was written perfectly fit this time of criteria. Ex., how he hides his emotions with humor, how he really doesn't know any life skills because he's always partying and living off his family wealth. And of course how hilariously over dramatic he could be at times.
I also loved Percy, of course. However, I did think that there were a lot of flaws going into the being of his whole character. I appreciate how the author tried to point out racial discrimination of the time by making Percy half-black, however, I feel like she didn't deal with the topic very well. For the most part, I read the story and often forgot that Percy wasn't white. When his point of race was brought up, it was mentioned or talked about very briefly, then the story continued on. If Percy was not black, (or darker toned, since he's not fully African-American), it literally would not have affected the story one bit.
A lot of events in the story that took place were also more less like "this happened, and now we're going to move on," (for example, Percy briefly talking to a guy and making Monty jealous, Lockwood trying to get in communication with Percy, Monty, and Felicity after getting separated, etc.). This didn't matter so much I guess, but I kinda just wish they would have been brought up sometime throughout the story to add some auxiliary information to the story.
The romance I would say was 'nice.' Most of it involved Monty pawning over Percy without actually taking initiative. However, I do love how to Monty, Percy's feelings appeared to be confusing and inconclusive, but to the reader there are many times moments where you just NOW they're both hopelessly in love with each other without knowing the other is as well. You'd think Monty would have seemed soooo obvious, but honestly, Percy was looking pretty obvious too. (Of course, Felicity knew something was up)
Also, (this might be a spoiler?), how did Percy ACTUALLY manage to hold on to his fiddle through out the ENTIRE journey? Once again, not a-big-deal kind of thing, but every time there was a juncture where someone could have SO EASILY taken that darn fiddle, they decided to leave it! Like, seriously! No body thought "Hey, I could probably pawn this at the least!"?
Anyways, this was overall a great read that I seriously enjoyed and will probably pick up during bored moments in the future.
One of the things I really loved was how the romance immediately began in the beginning! I don't mind being patient through anticipation, but so often when reading romance you just think "When is it gonna start already!?" So just getting straight on with it was great.
I was also super glad that this was not a love triangle kind of novel. Reading the description of this book, I jumped in thinking that probably Monty and Felicity would both be in love with Percy (am I the only one??) But thankfully, it's just Monty and Percy being stupid about there feelings and lack of direct sharing, and of course Felicity rolling her eyes a million times when she's not out being a bad ass.
I originally wasn't a fan of Felicity, but eventually, once she stopped being portrayed as annoyingly shrewd and obnoxious (this was only for maybe the first 50 pages) and began being shown more as the strong, perceptive female leader, I began to seriously love her. She was awesomely portrayed as a female during this time era in a way that wasn't overpowering or inaccurate.
Monty was also just great! In general I love protagonists who are sassy pretty boys, the way he was written perfectly fit this time of criteria. Ex., how he hides his emotions with humor, how he really doesn't know any life skills because he's always partying and living off his family wealth. And of course how hilariously over dramatic he could be at times.
I also loved Percy, of course. However, I did think that there were a lot of flaws going into the being of his whole character. I appreciate how the author tried to point out racial discrimination of the time by making Percy half-black, however, I feel like she didn't deal with the topic very well. For the most part, I read the story and often forgot that Percy wasn't white. When his point of race was brought up, it was mentioned or talked about very briefly, then the story continued on. If Percy was not black, (or darker toned, since he's not fully African-American), it literally would not have affected the story one bit.
A lot of events in the story that took place were also more less like "this happened, and now we're going to move on," (for example, Percy briefly talking to a guy and making Monty jealous, Lockwood trying to get in communication with Percy, Monty, and Felicity after getting separated, etc.). This didn't matter so much I guess, but I kinda just wish they would have been brought up sometime throughout the story to add some auxiliary information to the story.
The romance I would say was 'nice.' Most of it involved Monty pawning over Percy without actually taking initiative. However, I do love how to Monty, Percy's feelings appeared to be confusing and inconclusive, but to the reader there are many times moments where you just NOW they're both hopelessly in love with each other without knowing the other is as well. You'd think Monty would have seemed soooo obvious, but honestly, Percy was looking pretty obvious too. (Of course, Felicity knew something was up)
Also, (this might be a spoiler?), how did Percy ACTUALLY manage to hold on to his fiddle through out the ENTIRE journey? Once again, not a-big-deal kind of thing, but every time there was a juncture where someone could have SO EASILY taken that darn fiddle, they decided to leave it! Like, seriously! No body thought "Hey, I could probably pawn this at the least!"?
Anyways, this was overall a great read that I seriously enjoyed and will probably pick up during bored moments in the future.
"I loved you. I was a pentapod monster, but I loved you. I was despicable and brutal, and turpid, and everything, mais je t'aimais, je t'aimais! And there were times when I knew how you felt, and it was hell to know it, my little one."
Lolita was one hell of a trip. The story follows Humbert Humbert, a decently handsome man, who tries to refrain from his perversions but finds himself absolutely incapable after finding and falling in love with 12 year old nymphet Dolores Haze (AKA Dolly, Lo, Lolita).
Of course, Humbert is an unreliable narrator, writing this story, with the intention of publication, in a jail cell for committing murder. That, plus the fact that in the end Dolores left him and had no romantic feelings toward him whatsoever probably made him want to fudge the story a bit. So most likely, certain emotions carried out throughout the novel were probably written more in his favor. Ex.: Lolita coming on to him, Lolita being exuberantly bratty, Humbert being as kind and patient as he claimed to be. Although, many miss-evaluations through his perspective could have also been due to the fact that his love-blindness wouldn't let him see through to the fact that while he was relishing in her company, Lo was for the most part abhorred by him as well as depressed by the situation and growing loneliness.
From the beginning to around the middle of this novel, I continued sympathizing with Lolita, giving the reasons that she was a child, she was the victim, and she was the orphan prey of a pervert. However, I ultimately couldn't help hating her completely after their first journey around the states began. The reason for this, once again, is because of the way she was viewed by our unreliable narrator. Still, her bratty-ness did make me cringe a lot, especially during the chapters leading up to her escape.
Also she does deserve sympathy, she was not a perfect or more less even good person either. Molded by the relationship her and Humbert ensue upon, she grows up with ill ideals and no appreciation for her what possible joy could be in the miserable life she must leave. Arguably, it could be said that Lolita had more control in the relationship then Humbert had. Constantly working to appease her as to give her as much comfort possible so she would not run away, Humbert was practically tied around Lolita's finger. This was another reason why I found myself sympathizing more towards our protagonist then towards Lolita; he was just so utterly controlled by his love for Lolita and therefore Lolita herself.
Talking aside from the plot, this book was absolutely beautifully written. I have a feeling the way it was so intricately composed was due in part to the original writing being in Russian, but still, I couldn't help continously asking myself while reading "How does a human know how to compile a bunch of words so gracefully?" The vocabulary was sometimes big and the passages could also be in very long paragraph, which is why I'd say this is a very mature read, alongside the plot itself of course.
At points this book did get a bit boring for me, but that feeling usually only lasted for a chapter, and then the story went back to being interesting again.
Overall, I rate this novel 3 stars ★★★☆☆
Lolita was one hell of a trip. The story follows Humbert Humbert, a decently handsome man, who tries to refrain from his perversions but finds himself absolutely incapable after finding and falling in love with 12 year old nymphet Dolores Haze (AKA Dolly, Lo, Lolita).
Of course, Humbert is an unreliable narrator, writing this story, with the intention of publication, in a jail cell for committing murder. That, plus the fact that in the end Dolores left him and had no romantic feelings toward him whatsoever probably made him want to fudge the story a bit. So most likely, certain emotions carried out throughout the novel were probably written more in his favor. Ex.: Lolita coming on to him, Lolita being exuberantly bratty, Humbert being as kind and patient as he claimed to be. Although, many miss-evaluations through his perspective could have also been due to the fact that his love-blindness wouldn't let him see through to the fact that while he was relishing in her company, Lo was for the most part abhorred by him as well as depressed by the situation and growing loneliness.
From the beginning to around the middle of this novel, I continued sympathizing with Lolita, giving the reasons that she was a child, she was the victim, and she was the orphan prey of a pervert. However, I ultimately couldn't help hating her completely after their first journey around the states began. The reason for this, once again, is because of the way she was viewed by our unreliable narrator. Still, her bratty-ness did make me cringe a lot, especially during the chapters leading up to her escape.
Also she does deserve sympathy, she was not a perfect or more less even good person either. Molded by the relationship her and Humbert ensue upon, she grows up with ill ideals and no appreciation for her what possible joy could be in the miserable life she must leave. Arguably, it could be said that Lolita had more control in the relationship then Humbert had. Constantly working to appease her as to give her as much comfort possible so she would not run away, Humbert was practically tied around Lolita's finger. This was another reason why I found myself sympathizing more towards our protagonist then towards Lolita; he was just so utterly controlled by his love for Lolita and therefore Lolita herself.
Talking aside from the plot, this book was absolutely beautifully written. I have a feeling the way it was so intricately composed was due in part to the original writing being in Russian, but still, I couldn't help continously asking myself while reading "How does a human know how to compile a bunch of words so gracefully?" The vocabulary was sometimes big and the passages could also be in very long paragraph, which is why I'd say this is a very mature read, alongside the plot itself of course.
At points this book did get a bit boring for me, but that feeling usually only lasted for a chapter, and then the story went back to being interesting again.
Overall, I rate this novel 3 stars ★★★☆☆
