by Vladimir Nabokov
This is the classic that we chose to kick off our book club last year, with the hope it would provoke heated discussion--which it certainly did. Is Humbert Humbert a monster in his pursuit of the twelve-year-old “nymphet” Lolita? Or is he a victim of his own obsessions? How much of Lolita do we really know, since the story is told entirely from Humbert’s point of view? This is probably the most unusual and incendiary love story of the 20th century; Nabokov’s unsurpassed wit and style leave the reader dazzled. But underneath the beauty of the writing and his sardonic take on 1950s America lies a devastating tragedy. This tale of the theft of innocence and identity is as unsettling now as it was when it was first published fifty years ago.
--Corrie
This is the classic that we chose to kick off our book club last year, with the hope it would provoke heated discussion--which it certainly did. Is Humbert Humbert a monster in his pursuit of the twelve-year-old “nymphet” Lolita? Or is he a victim of his own obsessions? How much of Lolita do we really know, since the story is told entirely from Humbert’s point of view? This is probably the most unusual and incendiary love story of the 20th century; Nabokov’s unsurpassed wit and style leave the reader dazzled. But underneath the beauty of the writing and his sardonic take on 1950s America lies a devastating tragedy. This tale of the theft of innocence and identity is as unsettling now as it was when it was first published fifty years ago.
--Corrie
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