Sign in with Facebook
Sarah (Presto agitato)'s Reviews > Lolita
Lolita
by
by
Sarah (Presto agitato)'s review
bookshelves: russians, road-trippin, trust-me-im-the-narrator
Mar 18, 2012
bookshelves: russians, road-trippin, trust-me-im-the-narrator
Someday, maybe I’ll feel up to writing a worthy review of this 20th century masterpiece.
For now, though, I’ll give the reasons I gave it 4 stars instead of 5:
1. Pedophilia. There is no way around the inherent creepiness of this topic.
2. The road trip. The seemingly endless ride through 1950s Americana did not do it for me. At least no one sang �99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,� but they might as well have.
3. Eyeball licking.
Those quibbles aside, there is little to equal Nabokov’s playful dexterity with the English language, his nuanced and perceptive depiction of a character who is both truly repulsive and disturbingly charming, and his ability to entertain. Lolita is worth reading for the neologisms alone.
For now, though, I’ll give the reasons I gave it 4 stars instead of 5:
1. Pedophilia. There is no way around the inherent creepiness of this topic.
2. The road trip. The seemingly endless ride through 1950s Americana did not do it for me. At least no one sang �99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,� but they might as well have.
3. Eyeball licking.
Those quibbles aside, there is little to equal Nabokov’s playful dexterity with the English language, his nuanced and perceptive depiction of a character who is both truly repulsive and disturbingly charming, and his ability to entertain. Lolita is worth reading for the neologisms alone.
Sign into ŷ to see if any of your friends have read
Lolita.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
March 18, 2012
–
Started Reading
March 18, 2012
– Shelved
March 25, 2012
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
B0nnie
(new)
-
added it
Aug 19, 2012 08:16AM
Eeeeek...now I've linked Lolita with Un chien andalou - I think I have an eyeball phobia.
reply
|
flag
B0nnie wrote: "Eeeeek...now I've linked Lolita with Un chien andalou - I think I have an eyeball phobia."Ugh, I haven't seen that, but I just read the Wikipedia entry. I'm with you on the eyeball phobia.
Your reason #1 is a strong deterrent, but then so many people rave about this one. I thought maybe I'd start with Pale Fire instead. (I won't feel as self-conscious reading it on the train. You see, most Chicago commuters have an aversion to eyeball licking.)
Steve wrote: "Your reason #1 is a strong deterrent, but then so many people rave about this one. I thought maybe I'd start with Pale Fire instead. (I won't feel as self-conscious reading it on the train. You see, most Chicago commuters have an aversion to eyeball licking.) LOL, as well they should. Seriously, though, it's actually a great book, despite the distasteful subject matter.
Agree with your review. It is a pivotal book.
