Lolita

Wow…

This book was a literary masterpiece that makes you appreciate one’s love while also making you feel very uneasy.

It’s difficult to believe that Nabokov is not a native English speaker as the vocabulary used in this book was far superior to most books I’ve read, and seeing how versatile his abilities were with sentence formulation was simply inspiring. Jumping from a sequence of short, concise, direct sequences to extremely long winded stream-of-consciousness thoughts that were sometimes hard to follow but very appropriate for the book’s protagonist. Whether it was a simple anecdote, a dialogue, or a poem I didn’t comprehend the full meaning of, I was always impressed at how Nobokov chose to deliver various scenes in the book.

When my friend recommended me this book, he told me that it provides a firsthand view into the mind of a psychopath. He speaks (writes?) so eloquently, and with such prose, that you want to believe and fight for him. You, the “jury”, grow a sense of empathy for him, as a gentleman who wants nothing but the best for his little girl, with one little quirk. You want to believe him, you want to fight for him, but you never stop second guessing yourself as to whether he’s just tricking you like he did poor Lolita. You’re never sure if it’s a trap you’re being lured into, or a haven where all your dreams will come true. It’s difficult to tell what happened exactly, but only what the character’s interpretation was.

For the reasons above, and many others that I have trouble putting into words, this book is definitely a must-read and will not disappoint. The only downside is that it’s not an easy read.