letters2vera's review
4.0
rest in peace vladimir vladimirovich nabokov, the king of being pretentious /affectionately btw
spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
2.0
Author and translator, huh? Couldn't be satisfied just being the best at one occupation? God what an asshole. This would be five stars if I weren't petty, but I am, so it isn't. Still absolutely floored by everything Nabokov ever wrote though.
eggp's review against another edition
4.0
Willfully obtuse
get your nose out of the air
and look at yourself.
get your nose out of the air
and look at yourself.
talfireworker's review
adventurous
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
bookem's review against another edition
3.0
I'm glad I read the foreword before reading the novel itself, as I found a pair of interesting facts. First: the few existing copies of Despair were originally destroyed in a WWII bombing before Nabokov heavily revised this work nearly 30 years later. Second, (and more interesting to me, at least) is that Nabokov finds himself defenseless against his readers and their "inevitable attempts to find in Despair something of the rhetorical venom that I injected into the narrator's tone in a much later novel."
The novel in question, of course, is Lolita. Despair's Hermann and Lolita's Humbert are two beasts so alike in their voice that one may find them indistinguishable. It's funny reading this earlier work after having read Lolita several times over, because you can truly see the tinkering and fine-tuning of Nabokov's geniusly misleading narrators. In truth, Despair feels like it is bashing you over the head to let you know its narrator is a liar and a make-believer, where Nabokov's later narrators are more subtle (and, by rights, more powerful) in their approach.
That aside, Despair's plot ambled in a way that I was not expecting. It was slow in the tedious sort of way I tend not to enjoy. I can't say I'm upset I read this novel, though—it was playful, lyrical, and witty, and entirely lived up to the usual literary treat you come to expect from Nabokov's masterful mind.
The novel in question, of course, is Lolita. Despair's Hermann and Lolita's Humbert are two beasts so alike in their voice that one may find them indistinguishable. It's funny reading this earlier work after having read Lolita several times over, because you can truly see the tinkering and fine-tuning of Nabokov's geniusly misleading narrators. In truth, Despair feels like it is bashing you over the head to let you know its narrator is a liar and a make-believer, where Nabokov's later narrators are more subtle (and, by rights, more powerful) in their approach.
That aside, Despair's plot ambled in a way that I was not expecting. It was slow in the tedious sort of way I tend not to enjoy. I can't say I'm upset I read this novel, though—it was playful, lyrical, and witty, and entirely lived up to the usual literary treat you come to expect from Nabokov's masterful mind.