Review: Lolita
/2019 CHALLENGE: 1 YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT YET?! PER MONTH 08 / 12
5 stars. I feel like my whole life I've been hearing about what this book is - what it is, what it isn't, why it's genius, why it's criminal, why it's controversial. And now I can absolutely understand the urge to pick it apart, word for word; it certainly inspired a bit of obsession in me. I'm super unsurprised that readers and writers everywhere blindly grasp at Lolita's coattails trying to feel, at least, genius-adjacent.
So here's what Lolita is, for me: a profound, brilliantly-written profile of a rapist and his horrendous crimes. It's unlike anything I've ever read. And it's a captivating read.
[And because the world is ridiculous, I feel like I also have to spell out what Lolita isn't, for me: a tragic romance depicting forbidden love. I'm actually shocked it has been interpreted this way. Not once - not for a single sentence - did I experience any sympathy for the narrator. Not once did I consider Lolita seductive or complicit or consenting. Probably because I read this at an older age, and/or because I'm an ice cold unromantic, but also because, as we can define more easily now, there are many different types of rape, and rapists, and nonconsensual situations.]
The writing in Lolita is just so ... unexpected. The word choice. The dialogue. The completely distinct voices. It exceeded my very high expectations. I feel fulfilled. I feel like opening it up to page 1 and starting over. I feel like opening it up to a random page and dissecting a random paragraph. There are images here that will stick with me forever. I'm gushing and obnoxious and I know everyone already knows how great it is but I just loved it.
There is a thread of a fascinating theme here that I think is left unexplored sometimes: people, naturally, can't really be cleanly categorized into good and evil. There are certain extreme acts of great generosity or great harm that can put an individual in either, but for the most part, good people are quite capable of bad things, and criminals are quite capable of good things. I AM NOT EXCUSING A RAPIST, I'm trying to point out that Nabokov painted Humbert Humbert as a layered monster. Peeking into his brain is just so damn interesting. Lolita explores his inner nature ("He is horrible, he is abject, he is a shining example of moral leprosy...") with utter delight.
I think I'm going to read this again. Soon. It’s absolutely gorgeous.