Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

 

I chose this book for my Reading Dangerously Challenge 2009 because it was a controversial book, but I had no idea just what a challenge it would be to read it.

 

It wasn't the subject matter that made it hard for me, since I kind of already knew what to expect. I've heard so many references to Nabokov's Lolita to the point that I almost didn't appreciate that the book was about pedophilia, in fact.

 

What made the reading of this book hard for me, was the writing style. Nabokov tends to write in long sentences and paragraphs, and more often than not, I found my eyes struggling to stay open.

 

The truth is, although the book was amusing at times, mostly I just didn't like it at all. I didn't like Humbert Humbert, and neither could I like Lolita. I probably would've given up completely on this book if it wasn't because it was meant to be a challenging read. But again, I didn't realize that it would be challenging in this sense.

 

The last part of the book is even worse, because it just went on and on without much happening at all, and me just thinking, get on with it already! Even the ending was anti-climatic.

 

The best thing I can say about having read this book, is that at least I'll be able to have 'intellectual literary discussions' about it. Honestly speaking, I think the only reason this book is popular at all is because of the subject matter, if Nabokov had written about anything else, we probably wouldn't even know his name now.