Author(s): Vladimir Nabokov

Classic Books | Staff Picks- Read our reviews

The story of Humbert Humbert, poet and pervert, and his obsession with 12-year-old Dolores Haze. Determined to possess his "Lolita" both carnally and artistically, Humbert embarks on a disastrous courtship that can only end in tragedy.

Lolita is disgusting, perverse, vile, repulsive, but my god is it brilliant. Nabokov shows us this story as a bouquet of dead flowers, shriveled, dried-up, and pitiful to look at- but beautiful, beautiful in all its aroma of death. Is it shameful to admit that this book is perhaps my favourite novel ever? Then, if so, gentlemen of the jury, consider me shameful. We are introduced to Humbert Humbert, a man who is so famously claimed to be unreliable narrator, this I agree with. He is easy to hate, but it is also easy to find yourself feeling sorry for him- it is twisted. You feel sick, when you, the supposed jury, observer of this story, begin to allow this man to plea his case. The eloquence with which he is written is hypnotizing. Yet any well minded individual would quickly snap out of this illusion and proceed with the verdict we all know is true- because of Lolita. Oh Lolita.
I love this novel because Nabokov’s verbal tongue carries me away with an ethereal current, and I allow myself to drown in this dangerous water. The prose is my favourite aspect of ‘Lolita’, and when I read it, I just want to prance down a hill overflowing with flowers and butterflies, with my arms high up in the air, screaming with laughter and glee. Beauty! God how it is coated in beauty! However- let me hastily add that this is not an easy book to stomach, so I do suggest proceeding with caution before turning to that first page. “Look at this tangle of thorns..” Ella