Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

92 reviews

a_epistemological_crisis's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Drug use and Death of parent

Minor: Incest

joaura's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Did not finish. Stopped reading at 63%.
 
Reading this book was not only higly triggering and disturbing, but felt so pointless in trying to analyse it on a higher level.

I read a plot summary for the last third I had left and I'm glad I did that instead of pushing through the remaining pages of this novel.

I understand why it's a classic.
But!
I don't understand how it's described to be dangerously decieving the reader into sympathizing with Humbert.

~

I don't want to add anything to my initial review explaining why I didn't finish this novel, even though I managed to read the remaining pages after cooling down a bit.

This book was a tough read, expecially for me as a survivor myself.
Please be careful reading this piece of work if you've had experiences regarding child sexual abuse yourself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Car accident, and Pregnancy

gingerlarue's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

manybees's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Despite its reputation I found it more sad than disturbing. Dolly Haze is probably one of my favourite characters in all of literature. I’m gonna be thinking about this one for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Biphobia, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

There is only one abuse scene that could be considered sexually explicit and it is written in such an abstracted and poetic way that it’s almost kinda hard to tell what’s going on. There is also period-typical racism and racial slurs.

gabriella_'s review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

3.0

This is literally one of the worst books I’ve ever read and the fact it’s well written makes me hate it more

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

kelisabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.5

It feels wrong to rate this high, though it was incredibly well written

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

taelights's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I was honestly a bit worried going into this book because I have seen people in the past have bad takes on this book saying it's a love story or that it romanticizes pedophilia or that it's suppose to make you sympathize with a pedophile. But this is also a book that I've always been morbidly curious about and wanted to form my own opinion of so I decided to give it a try. 

Now I honestly think anyone who believes this book romanticizes pedophilia is either 1) fucked up, 2) has not read the book and is making assumptions, or 3) doesn't have an ounce of critical thinking skills and no ability to analyze a book. You can tell that Nabokov doesn't agree with Humbert's character or actions. 

Honestly this book was lowkey kind of a masterpiece. Vladimir Nabokov's writing style is beautiful and this is such a good genius example of an unreliable narrator story. The subject matter was of course disgusting and so many lines made me feel nauseated but it was such an interesting read. I kind of want to read it through again in the future to better analyze the book now that I have a picture of the whole story arch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

sarahaile's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense 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

4.0

Definitely on of my favorite classics, and easier to read. Many people miss the point as we are not suppose to sympathize with Humbert but we are shown how he thinks what he’s doing is not wrong. Really messed up but good read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

mahtab's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Murder

lavendercookie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Lolita is completely misinterpreted in pop culture (which I knew going into the book) as many people romanticize it; so I want to make it very clear that this book is about child abuse. Dolores Haze’s story takes place in the late 40’s and early 50’s but it is still very relevant today as child abuse is not talked about enough. It is truly heartbreaking that the book got twisted so much by adaptations and misinterpretations but I can appreciate that Nabokov was attempting to shed light on an under discussed problem in a time where these matters were not discussed in public. The writing is done in such an intentional way that caused me to feel extreme disgust while at the same time finding the poetic quality of the prose beautiful. I personally liked Lolita but anyone interested in reading it must check the list of trigger warnings. Read with caution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment