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Review
"The only convincing love story of our century." --"Vanity Fair"
""Lolita" blazes with a perversity of a most original kind. For Mr. Nabokov has distilled from his shocking material hundred-proof intellectual farce..."Lolita" seems an assertion of the power of the comic spirit to wrest delight and truth from the most outlandish materials. It is one of the funniest serious novels I have ever read; and the vision of its abominable hero, who never deludes or excuses himself, brings into grotesque relief the cant, the vulgarity, and the hypocritical conventions that pervade the human comedy." --"Atlantic Monthly"
"Intensely lyrical and wildly funny." --"Time"
"The conjunction of a sense of humor with a sense of horror [results in] satire of a very special kind, in which vice or folly is regarded not so much with scorn as with profound dismay and a measure of tragic sympathy...The reciprocal flow of irony gives to both the characters and their surroundings the peculiar intensity of significance that attends the highest art." --"The New Yorker"
""Lolita" is an authentic work of art which compels our immediate response and serious reflection-a revealing and indispensable comedy of horrors." --"San Francisco Chronicle"

"From the Hardcover edition."

Synopsis
A novel that studies the moral disintegration of a man whose obsessive desire to possess his step-daughter destroys the lives of those around him.

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First Sentence
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've ever read, 9 April 2008

By	B. "go on, take my advice - you know you want... - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Lolita (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Without a doubt, one of the best books I've ever read. It's warm and funny and scary and confusing and (at times) an outright assault on everything polite society brought us up to expect. I liked it so much that the second I finished Lolita, I started right back at the beginning. I was excited... really excited (ok, maybe excited is a poorly chosen word in this case) about what I'd just read, still, I didn't want to hastily declare it one of my favorite novels. So I went back... read it again... re-read my notes and highlighted text, and added even more notes and highlights.

Here are a few random thoughts:
- It seems to be predominately women who love Lolita. I'm thinking this is half because women, by nature, are more likely to romanticize the situation and overlook the pedophiliac angle... and because I imagine very few men are comfortable in any way identifying with the subject matter.
- I agree 100% that Humbert loved Lolita, but I balk at some of the reviews claiming this to be the best love story ever written. Unrequited love? Sure. But reciprocal, healthy and mutual love... what are these people smoking??
- I find it fascinating that a small but vocal faction of women who loved the book feel the need to vilify Lolita for her cruelty to Humbert. It's almost as if - in order to love & approve of Humbert, Lolita must be the persecutor and not the victim. No consideration is given to the possibility that Lolita's circumstances formed her as a person.
- Nabokov is an extremely gifted writer. His long, complicated sentences unfold like exotic hothouse flowers. And kudos to him for taking no prisoners in the telling of a difficult tale. I mean, it took balls to write a story like this. He had to anticipate the backlash. Still, he didn't shy away or give his readers an easy out - a good reason to forgive Humbert. Yet they still did/do. That alone I admire beyond belief.

I honestly didn't feel that Nabokov glorified or sensationalized the subject of pedophilia. He just told a story and told it extremely well. I can appreciate it the same way I appreciate ultra-violent films or novels like A Clockwork Orange: they're all stories that remind us of the fine line between humanity and brutality.

The sexual aspect of Lolita is 100% repugnant, no denying that. And if Nabokov had soft-peddled that part one iota, I'd be pulling up a soapbox decrying the whole thing. Instead what he did was enable the reader to imagine... really imagine... what must go on in the head of a pedophile. He also shows us how these monsters can be (and often are) the school teachers, guidance counselors, Scout leaders, coaches and pastors. They're not all scary, toothless guys in trench coats offering candy to babies in parks. If nothing else, Nabokov shows us this with gusto.

Is it ugly, vulgar at times, and uncomfortable? You bet, and it should be. I'd question it if it were any other way. But it's also beautifully written and something that will stick with you long after you've finished the final page. And that's ok, too. It's possible (though extremely rare) to have both coexist in a kind of uncomfortable harmony... and, credit where it's due, Nabokov, I felt, walked that line better than just about anything else I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

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52 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing , 21 Jun 2006

By	Depressaholic (London, UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Lolita (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

I was interested to see how `Lolita' would read, given the current climate, and was worried that Nabokov, writing in the 1950s, would somehow see paedophilia as being less serious than we would view it today. `Lolita' is undoubtedly an uncomfortable read. It is related from the perspective of a relatively unrepentant paedophile, Humbert Humbert. He documents the origins of his obsession with `nymphets' - pre-pubescent girls - and his pursuit of them. Eventually he meets Lolita, his landlady's daughter, and recounts his (eventually successful) plot to run away with her and take her for his lover while pretending to be father and daughter. Humbert's dual roles, as father and abuser, leads him to obsessive jealousy, and Lolita's accelerated adolescence leave her as a precocious adult in a child's body, scarred and cynical. Both lead to tragic consequences, and wasted lives in more ways than one.
Although Humbert is both the villain and narrator, he doesn't hide the sordidness of his crime, and the effects of abuse on Lolita are acknowledged. Nabokov brilliantly treads a fine line between making Humbert human (and seeing the world through his eyes) and recognising the reality of his crimes. Despite Nabokov's choice of making a paedophile his narrator and central character, there is little sympathy for Humbert throughout the book, and paedophilia is presented as being every bit as repugnant as it is generally viewed today. Where Humbert makes excuses for himself, it is clear that they are Humbert's, not Nabokov's, excuses, and we are not expected to sympathise. Humbert's actions are also not presented as being in any way erotic. There are no graphic descriptions either, the suggestion is enough.
Because Nabokov treats his subject so skilfully, `Lolita' was a fantastic book. It was a balanced psychological portrait of a repulsive man, who watches himself destroying lives. The subject matter was difficult, but Nabokov deal with it brilliantly. The language is lyrical and clever, and there is enough black humour to take the edge off an otherwise disturbing book. Deservedly labelled a twentieth century classic, and not a book to be avoided.

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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars enrapture, 21 Aug 2004

By	Ellie Jones - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lolita (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

I read this book expecting to be sickened. The story of a 40-year-old's obsession with very young girls (or "nymphets") as said 40-year-old calls them) and in particular the beautiful Dolores "Lolita" Haze, there is certainly plenty of material in this book for controversy. However, as soon as I had read the first page I know that this was no deliberately shocking novel, but instead a subtle, enchanting story of enrapture and lust. Everyone can relate to the longing Humbert feels for someone he knows will never lust after him, and the agony and ecstasy of his forced yet somehow tender affair with 12-year-old Dolores is described in absolutely stunning detail. I finished the novel enchanted but also subtly disturbed, as you have to keep reminding yourself that this man is obviously a ruthless paedophile. Read this and prepare to be both symapthetic and disgusted towards your narrator. A beautiful, daring and subversive work of almost-genius.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Pretentious twaddle
This book is one of the most tedious and lifeless pieces of pretentious rubbish I have ever struggled through. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Marc Lyth

2.0 out of 5 stars promised more than it delivered
The main problem for me was the overly dense narrative,this stifled the movement of the actual storyline. Read more

Published 5 months ago by D. Glowacki

4.0 out of 5 stars "You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go"
For as long as I can remember I have resisted reading Lolita. But because it is so often referred to as a "classic" I felt in the end I should put aside my prejudices and tackle... Read more

Published 10 months ago by Wynne Kelly

1.0 out of 5 stars A depraved work of fiction
I bought this book because it always appears in the lists of classic novels and the reviews I read spoke of the beautiful language it is written in. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Mark W

5.0 out of 5 stars Gifted writing style makes this a classic.
I agree with a number of other reviews in that the subject matter - a man's obsession with a 12 year old girl - initially put me off reading Lolita. Read more

Published 23 months ago by MrChance

5.0 out of 5 stars A gloriously satirical look at the frailties of our minds
Lolita probably does not need much of an introduction. In the unlikely event you have never heard of this tome, made into a movie twice, the title gives a substantive hint. Read more

Published on 23 Oct 2006 by J. Potter

5.0 out of 5 stars How do you approach a novel concerning paedophilia?
'Lolita' is probably the most risque novel ever written. Humbert Humbert, the narrator, is addicted to the most deplorable of human sins - worse than murder, even - phaedophilia... Read more

Published on 5 Jun 2006 by Seamus Connor

5.0 out of 5 stars Lo and Behold
Like the protagonist Humbert Humbert, for weeks after finishing the book I couldn't shake Lolita from my head. Read more

Published on 17 May 2006 by Wakey

5.0 out of 5 stars You should read this book
Genius. Everyone that thinks they can handle the theme (which is handled more delicatly than you would think) must read this book. Read more

Published on 21 Jan 2006 by Adam Oliver

5.0 out of 5 stars You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.
Lolita is a book of obsession; both Humbert's and Nabokov's. While Humbert's obsession with Lolita revolves around the physical and vital, Nabokov's insidious delight is crafting... Read more

Published on 31 Aug 2005 by faloolathethird

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Lolita (Vintage International) (Paperback)

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