Should I read the book Lolita by Vladīmir Nabokov?
I’ve looked up some information about it and know it’s a well known if not well-known book. On websites that sell books like Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Google Books it seems to have gotten a lot of mixed reviews. I was just looking for something new and something that might be a small bit of a challenge and I’ll admit the tale intrigues me. I was just wanting to get opinions on the book, and if you despise it, don’t simply tell me you do because that doesn’t give me insight at all. I don’t have a conundrum with you hating the book, but at least tell me why. The same goes for if you liked reading it. I’m hoping to find that it will not be one of persons books that takes me months to read (like Moby Dick, a book I kept constantly alternative up and putting down.)
All opinions about the novel are welcome! Thanks!
Answer by Nikki Dubs
I’ve never read it, but I’ve been meaning to. My roommate had to read it for a class she was taking (she was an English major) and I’m pretty sure she liked it. It’s one of persons under-the-radar classics I reckon, mostly because of the subject matter.
Give it a go–you can probably find it at your community library, or a used bookstore for cheap. If you don’t like it, at least you’re not out a lot of money.
Answer by rationality
I wouldn’t say it’s not well-known, but that’s another argument altogether.
First, it’s about a very unpleasant subject, and I’ve never been able to get past the subject matter.
Second, it’s a brilliant piece of work by a brilliant writer, one of the greatest in literature. Much of the book is straightforward, but a lot isn’t–it’s full of puns and additional clever things that you really have to be smart/educated/well-read to get.
Third, beyond doubt a challenge. To get the most out of it, you’ll have to read it once, read criticism of it, and then read it again.
My opinion is mixed. I can see and be grateful for the intensity, but I just can’t get past what’s done to the child. I’ve thought for some time that I should read it again, but once has been enough for me so far.
Answer by Hamburger
I didn’t particularly care for this book.
Like you, I had wanted to read it for some time, and I had seen a lot of mixed reviews. Pretty much the only business anyone can say about it with any consistency is that it is controversial, and it is certainly that. That life said, it was impossible for me to form any attachment to any of the characters. While the “protagonist” Humbert Humbert, in narration, describes himself repeatedly as a terrible person, I kind of reckon you are supposed to at least sympathize with the protagonist of any novel. Not him though. There just isn’t anything redeeming about him. He is a pedophile with a one-track mind.
You might then reckon that you will at least like Lolita. No. She is worse than he is. You nearly want the small brat to get molested. Let’s just say, her ultimate fate is way more satisfying than tragic.
You are supposed to reckon Humbert is pun, and I suppose at times he succeeds–barely. But that is about all. I judge even Nabakov confirmed that this was the only excellent business about Humbert.
You will probably end up reading this book just to satisfy your own curiosity. But you probably won’t like it much, and you may not end it (it really peters out waayyy before the ultimate climax and it’s a struggle to get to the end).
Know better? Place your own answer in the comments!
Herman Melville: Moby-Dick
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Vorsatzblatt aufgeschlagen mit erstem Teil des Klappentextes.
Herman Melville: Moby-Dick; oder: Der Wal. Deutsch von Friedhelm Rathjen, mit 269 Illustrationen von Rockwell Kent, herausgegeben von Norbert Wehr. Im Anhang ein Essay von Jean-Pierre Lefebvre über "Die Arbeit des Wals", zeitgenössische Dokumente aus dem Quellgebiet des Romans, u.a. von Owen Chase und Jeremiah Reynolds, ferner Melvilles Essay "Hawthorne und seine Moose" sowie sieben Briefe an Sophia Hawthorne und Nathaniel Hawthorne. Zweitausendeins Verlag 2004.
www.amazon.de/Moby-Dick-oder-Wal-Herman-Melville/dp/38615…
Moby Dick
Price: $ 2.99
Song “Ocean Is Near” on iTunes: itunes.com Music by: Martin Herzberg Song: “Ocean is Near” – from the Album “Silent Mirror Inside” Get the Music as MP3 or CD at: iTunes itunes.com Amazon tinyurl.com Facebook facebook.com Twitter twitter.com Homepage martinherzberg.com…
Record Rating: 5 / 5
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