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Originally Posted by desertblues
Nabokov describes Humbert as manipulating the people around him, but at the same time Nabokov himself manipulates the reader by his clever use of words. He seeks an educated, broad minded audience. For me, in a way, the two melt together. Perhaps this is what disturbs me in this book...the use of people in- and outside the book.
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The book is told through Humbert's one-sided point of view and such eloquence that the reader starts to feel lulled into sympathy for his mental state even though you certainly can't condone his actions, and then Nabokov would insert a harsh statement into the narrative that jars the reader back to reality. Because of this style, I was surprised to be less offended by the subject matter than I anticipated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bookpossum
It was uncomfortable reading while I was doing it, but after I finished it, there was such a profound sadness for Dolores that I still feel when I think about "Lolita". Definitely one of those books that you go on living with long after you have closed the book. I suppose that's one of the definitions of literature, isn't it.
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I wanted to know what was really going on in her mind and how much pain she was enduring as opposed to how Humbert presented various situations to the reader.
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Originally Posted by paola
I had completely forgotten the Quigley murder, completely blanked out. The fact that Lolita had eloped with him had completely gone out of my mind, and in some way the path of revenge Humbert was on did surprise me, as he (thought) he knew all along that Lolita could only be "temporary". Then something happens: maybe it is good old jealousy, need to possess - yet I found Nabokov managed to make the last few paragraphs of the book rather moving in a desperately sick sort of way.
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The coming murder built throughout the story such that I kept anticipating when it was finally going to happen and what would precipitate it. It ended up being so surreal and oddly comic yet theatrically dramatic, not at all as I expected!