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Lolita
Lolita
Author: Vladimir Nabokov
When it was published in 1955, Lolita immediately became a cause celebre because of the freedom and sophistication with which it handled the unusual erotic predilections of its protagonist. But Vladimir Nabokov's wise, ironic, elegant masterpiece owes its stature as one of the twentieth century's novels of record not to the controversy its mater...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780679723165
ISBN-10: 0679723161
Publication Date: 3/13/1989
Pages: 317
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 420

3.6 stars, based on 420 ratings
Publisher: Vintage
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Lolita on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 10
Despite its lascivious reputation, the pleasures of Lolita are as much intellectual as erogenous. It is a love story with the power to raise both chuckles and eyebrows. Humbert Humbert is a European intellectual adrift in America, haunted by memories of a lost adolescent love. When he meets his ideal nymphet in the shape of 12-year-old Dolores Haze, he constructs an elaborate plot to seduce her, but first he must get rid of her mother. In spite of his diabolical wit, reality proves to be more slippery than Humbert's feverish fantasies, and Lolita refuses to conform to his image of the perfect lover.
Leigh avatar reviewed Lolita on + 378 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 10
This is a relatively quick-reading gem of a book that may surprise you. Don't go into it thinking it's the story of a predatory man lurking after a young girl. Think of this as a glimpse into the mind of man who finds himself feeling emotions he knows are wrong, but chooses to ignore them based on reciprocity.

Nabokov fills this book with puns and anagrams galore, and having dear Humbert Humbert poke fun at the names of Lolita's classmates at one point. This is a word lover's dream if you pay close enough attention.

Additionally, this novel contains my favorite sentence in all of literature, describing the death of Humbert Humbert's mother; again, an example of Nabokov's command of words and sentences. Definitely recommended.
reviewed Lolita on
Helpful Score: 9
This is one of the best novels I've ever read. It is a horrific story that is elegantly written. I find it fascinating how many people consider Lolita a love story. I personally found it to be a disturbing tale of unrequited obsession, and the lengths one man is willing to go in order to possess the object of his desire. But one of the great things about this book is how many ways it can be interpreted. The reader is left to decide whether the narrator, Humbert Humbert, can be trusted to accurately relay the events that occur between himself and Lolita. Is he just a man desperately in love, or is he a monster trying to seduce the reader into empathy?
karee avatar reviewed Lolita on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
I tried to like this book, I knew what it was about going into it, but I just couldn't finish it. It is the story of a pedophile who takes advantage of the vulnerable state of his step-daughter after the death of her mother who he only married in order to have the opportunity to drug her daughter and take advantage of her then. I decided to read it because it was billed as a love story, maybe it ended that way, but I couldn't make myself finish it to find out.
reviewed Lolita on + 224 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Wow, this was a tough one for me. I guess I thought the seduction/relationship was more pure, silly me. This was a beautifully written book, but the subject was uncomfortable for me. I read it to the end because it keeps showing up on "best novels ever" lists and I just thought I should slog through. I guess I'd rather not have read it, all things being equal. I almost feel like I should apologize for that, given the quality of writing, but I just can't get beyond the story. Disturbing and unsettling...
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mandalovbesbooks avatar reviewed Lolita on + 2 more book reviews
I have to say it was a very disturbing book. Its usually not something I read but I did kinda liked it. NOt something I would read again but it was ok


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