Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Lolita

no book has ever made me want to throw up this much

BUT

I can't say that the book was bad. The writing was repulsive yet undeniably compelling, it made me want to bleach my eyes AND hopelessly keep reading as if I could save the little girl by turning pages. I wanted to know, I needed to know — yet still, I now wish I knew nothing at all.

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_jasper_394's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I think if you are going to read this book you must be aware that there are certain things described so lyrically so you start picturing the scene then you remember the narrator is speaking about a child and a pang of disgust hits you and you want to violently hit your head against a wall. But if you're okay with that then it's a pretty easy book to get into classics if that's what you're looking for (which is why I read it). Overall, I personally didn't like it but I think that's more of a me issue as I didn't do enough research into its contents before reading.

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lguzzie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

“I looked and looked at her, and I knew, as clearly as I know that I will die, that I loved her more than anything I had ever seen or imagined on earth. She was only the dead-leaf echo of the nymphet from long ago - but I loved her, this Lolita, pale and polluted and big with another man's child. She could fade and wither - I didn't care. I would still go mad with tenderness at the mere sight of her face.”

An amalgam of the utterly depraved and the poetically beautiful. Nabakov's prose is nothing short of stunning, sometimes distracting the reader from the disgusting content and even moving them to briefly sympathize with HH. I will say, the French was very annoying, Nabakov acknowledges this, but I am not smart enough to understand the purpose aside from showing HH is an obnoxious intellectual. I get it.

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kmae314's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Would not read again. I’ve seen enough.

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jessn924's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Nature of characters keeps you reading to find out what will happen to the characters. Twists were unexpected and dark. Very tense and hard to read at some points, somewhat slow in between tense moments

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lisvxdro's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I will admit that I had some trouble getting through this not because of the subject matter, but by my lack of focus. Nabokov’s writing is descriptive, delicate, tongue-in-cheek, and funny at some points. One misread and the next few sentence (even words) become confusing. That is to say that you must pay attention, which I had trouble with. Not because of his writing, but of my own focus. I will need to re-read this at a later time with more focus.

This book is considered by many one of the greatest pieces of modern literature. Im failing to understand why or how it’s celebrated. Is it due to the psychological deep dive of Humbert Humbert and his way with words or the portrayal of such a topic that is now obviously incredibly repulsive. I was hesitant to give it 4-stars for my first read but I feel like it’s mainly due to my understanding.

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nina_mk's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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accidentalfolklore's review against another edition

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Couldn’t do it. It’s well written but I couldn’t get past how much detail is gone into the subject. It was also a bit boring and I found myself putting it on in the background just to mindlessly get through it. At about 44% through I gave up on it.

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