A book about a man in love and
having sexual relations with a 12 year old girl. Strange for the 21st century and
it was even stranger for the 20th century (1955 to be exact) when it
was written. Then add a metafiction spin
on the whole thing and BAM! With a
metafiction novel, the reader is often addressed by a character or the author themself. Throughout Lolita, the reader is addressed.
For example, the main character, Humbert Humbert, says “let me remind
the reader that…” and then describes the statutory rape laws in England
compared to Massachusetts. Some people
do not like this because it takes the reader out if the fictitious world that a
novel creates. However, for a story of
such disturbing and creepy content, being pulled out of the story is a kind of
relief.
The strange
plot aside, the novel was extremely well written. Even with long paragraphs and random short
chapters, the whole novel flowed perfectly.
I found myself reading it out loud without hesitation. Although Humbert Humbert, an obsessive,
possessive pedophile, does many illegal and just plain disturbing things, I found
myself still attached to him. For me,
having a good relationship with the characters of a book is of number one importance. So being able to feel for such a questionable
character was quite a feat for Vladimir Nabokov.
Overall, I
would recommend this book. Even though
the ending was unsuccessful, (like the endings to almost any book) this book was
successful in every other aspect. It is
not your typical love story, but it is indeed a love story. At parts I found myself wanting to walk away
in disgust, but there is something about the language and style of the story
that pulls you in. Vladimir Nabokov
certainly deserves to be on the 100 list.
No comments:
Post a Comment