I've had this book on my bookshelf for years now, and it's one of those books that you're not sure whether you should actually have or want to read - in a moral sense especially considering all the negative press that Lolita has had over the years. The one day I was discussing it with a (male) friend of mine who had been wanting to read it for years so lent it to him, which ultimately made me want to read it too so that we could discuss both male and female points of view.And so we both read it...
And I can honestly say it's one of the worst books I've ever read - in all manner of ways. It left me feeling drained, dirty, deflated and most of all, lonely. It's one of those books like Waiting for Godot that seems to have become a classic for reasons other than what books should become classics for i.e. because they are enjoyable to read. Lolita is in no way enjoyable to read. It's one of those books that you feel like you need to read because a) it's a classic and b) it was originally banned after publishing so you feel a need to find out why.
Well, c) I don't care! It's a horrible book with horrible characters and a horrible, disjointed meandering story-line. At first I thought that this was a book about obsession. 37-year old Humbert Humbert (yes, he is a lecherous as his name suggests) is "in love" (i use that word loosely) with his 12-year old step-daughter Dolores Haze whom he nicknames Lolita. His obsession with her leads them on a journey driving aimlessly and without purpose across the United States, living a nomadic lifestyle in hotels and motels along the way.
At first I thought that Humbert was actually in love with Lolita, and this I could probably have coped with. I'm a 21st century kind of girl - age gaps don't bother me. Okay, granted 12 is definitely in paedophilia territory, but if she'd have been older and had grown up and got married and they were madly in love with each other... well okay... I can deal with that. But no, Humbert is not in love with Lolita, he is simply obsessed with her "nymph" like qualities. In fact there is a particularly horribly disgusting part of the book where he talks of marrying her, getting her pregnant and then lusting after his mini-Lolita daughters and even his grand-daughters. It makes shudder think of it...
But then I can't even bring myself to feel sorry for Lolita either to be honest. You get the impression that she knows what she's doing when she meets him. She's enticing him on too. Not that it's an excuse for what Humbert does but you get the feeling that Lolita is aware of the power her feminine charms have over men and she is not adverse to using them to her advantage. She can hold her own and will do what she needs to to get what she wants as well. To be honest, she comes across as a bit slutty. You are glad when she manages to escape Humbert's clutches though and ends up marrying a redneck and getting pregnant. But then you feel sad too that her life doesn't ever amount to very much. It's all very depressing really.
It's not an easy book to read either and not just because of the distasteful subject. There are whole paragraphs (especially in the beginning) were I found I was just glossing over the words as the prose is so flowery and meandering and... well, boring really as Humbert narrates parts of his life and ideas to the reader. And the parts where he rambles off in french... very pompous and pointless (unless you speak french of course).
So in short, it's a horrible book so do yourself a favour and don't bother. Read Fortunes Rocks instead. Much much nicer :)
