/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.11002619]

I finished this for the very first time recently.

Tell me about the first time you read it, where you were, and what you thought when you put it down, anons.

[Anonymous No.11002697]

I liked the first three quarters of it. The resolution really dragged on though. It should have ended right after his encounter with grown-up braphog Lolita.

[Anonymous No.11002706]

>>11002619
I read it when i was 15 from the library, my mom wouldn't stop asking me about it

[Anonymous No.11002722]

>>11002697

>grown-up braphog Lolita

this was a feel I didn't want to have to feel

[Anonymous No.11002920]

>>11002619
Im on part 2 where lola gets in the ladies school

[Anonymous No.11002928]

I remember wishing I hadn't seen the Kubrick film first. Ruined what would have been an almost perfect reading experience.

[Anonymous No.11002983]

did he like fug her that once and then like never again? I haven't read it for a few years now but I seem to remember she basically kept the pussy locked away from him and he just pined after her like a beta

[Anonymous No.11003112]

>>11002928
Same, still enjoyed it and it's one of my favorites, but wish I had read it first

[Anonymous No.11003125]

>>11002983
I think it's implied they have sex more than once
>"Her brown rose tasted of blood"

[Anonymous No.11003951]

>>11002983
>another pleb falls for Humbert's dastardly tricks

[Anonymous No.11003970]

>>11002983
It was clear that they traveled around America and fucked every day
>>11002697
This, I thought the whole killing the dude at the end arc was stupid as fuck, only thing I disliked about the book

[Anonymous No.11004367]

I found her being sidetracked by Quilty really strange. If she was traumatised by Humbert's treatment of her and just wanted any escape, I would have thought the idea of jumping onto another even stranger man's merry-go-round her worst nightmare. If however she was crazy about Quilty, and perhaps he was more charming and handsome than Humbert let on, and she saw him as a white knight, then you'd conclude she isn't damaged or traumatised by the trip, and was either just severely bored or wasn't attracted to H.H and jaded by having to deal with him. If the latter, I don't see why that white knight role couldn't have been done by a less creepy and manipulative force, putting the focus back more intensely on H.H and Lo's actions rather than the actions of some repulsive schemer pulling all the strings for part 2. Have I underestimated how much Quilty adds to the book?

[Anonymous No.11004412]

>>11002619
I was 11 when I first read it and it was my introduction to reading more books. Now I still think its very good, but solely for the language, not the plot.

[Anonymous No.11004441]

I recommend Pale Fire. It's a bit more of a hoot than Lolita.

[Anonymous No.11004445]

>>11002697
>>11003970
That whole section probably didn't happen since the dates of composition given by Humbert and John Ray are off by a few days.

[Anonymous No.11004459]

>>11004367
No Quilty is very important to the narrative. Humbert hates him but Quilty is just like him right down to the random French. On another note, how do you think Lolita got over both experiences to live a somewhat normal married life by the end of the book?

[Anonymous No.11004475]

>>11002619
I also did audibook version with Jeremy Irons.
Can't get enough of his voice.
Exactly that sardonic tone I wanted it to be.

[Anonymous No.11004744]

>>11004475
yes, the excellent jeremy irons reading is the only good thing to spawn from the otherwise wretched 1997 adaptation

[Anonymous No.11004783]

Reading it now, it's difficult to keep reading instead of going on exhentai and searching loli

[Anonymous No.11004786]

>>11002619
It's trash that you only read for pseudo-cred

[Anonymous No.11004808]

>>11003970
I actually like the murder sequence
>H.H. gets drunk so he'll be able to bring himself to pull the trigger
>accidentally gets too drunk and shoots Quilty in the foot
>Quilty is too wasted to even remember him

[Anonymous No.11004856]

>>11002619
I want to read this, as I plan on reading through every renown Russian writer as I'm quite new to fiction and really enjoyed the brothers, so I've purchased all of Dostoyevsky works and have just finished the idiot that has also left me wanting more. I'm pretty heart broken over the prince, I feel as that was the most tragic ending there could be for him

I really want to read Tolstoy too but I'm going to finish Dostoyevsky's literature first, going to leave crime and punishment to last though.

I buy my books from Everyman's libary as they are really good quality but even with the cover off I reckon i'll be nervous reading lolita outside of my house

[Anonymous No.11004956]

>>11004856
>but even with the cover off I reckon i'll be nervous reading lolita outside of my house
it has sold 50 million copies and rests comfortably among the top 5 books of the 20th century. you're good, dude

[Anonymous No.11004981]

>>11002619
Is it possible to buy this without getting put on a list?

[Anonymous No.11004997]

I borrowed it from a friend after his finished reading it. He was discussing it with another friend of ours that had read it. They both agreed it was amazing read, that the subject matter was disturbing but the writing was beautiful and that made it an interesting, if uncomfortable, read. It was all very normal and literary.

I dropped it after he slept with the girl because it got boring after that

[Anonymous No.11005014]

>>11004856
>nervous reading lolita outside of my house
don't be silly

[Anonymous No.11005020]

>>11004981
Yes, it's a very popular and well-known book

[Anonymous No.11005026]

>>11004856
I read this proudly over the course of two days of travel on planes and in terminals. Nobody gave me so much as a sideways glance

[Anonymous No.11005070]

>>11004459

I think it was Lolita's personality that let her get past both. I don't get the impression she was feeling inside herself any kind of serious trauma. She's totally indifferent to taboos as a child and still doesn't gain much perception of the weight of their seriousness as she goes through the trip and so doesn't gain a sense that she's a victim, instead just feels frustrated and upset by her predicament. As a result of her indifference to those taboos I think she doesn't feel abused, and probably looks at back on both experiences as her being on the recieving end of shitty relationships. She calls it muck at the end, I think she thinks it's just something murky that happened that can be swept under the carpet, allowing her to still interact with H.H in a frank way. That was what I came to.

[Anonymous No.11005755]

>>11002619
The reveal at Lolita's house was so good. All the word plays came together. Felt proud for knowing it right away when he pulled the "and she said---"
It's a good filter since you can immediately tell that if someone didn't like it they're too low level to keep up with the logodaedaly.

[Anonymous No.11005803]

>>11004441
Just picked this up, looking forward to it

[Anonymous No.11005823]

>>11005070
To be fair we can't really know how she takes it all. Everything is from Humberts perspective and he likely distorts much of it. But also this line shows it's likely she's not 100%

>"We had been everywhere. We had really seen nothing. And I catch myself thinking today that our long journey had only defiled with a sinuous trail of slime the lovely, trustful, dreamy, enormous country, that, by then, in retrospect, was no more than a collection of dog-eared maps, ruined tour books, old tires and her sobs in the night—every night, every night—the moment I feigned sleep."

[Anonymous No.11005854]

I liked it least of the Nabokov novels I had read. Humbert Humbert was not particularly menacing or sympathetic and didn't strike me as in any way real. Dolores being complicit in the relationship removed any aspect of intrigue or gravity which might have given the novel something to think about. I know N isn't fond of moralizing, but I guess I'd rather read him on writing or chess or surreal little detective stories. Lolita felt like a dirty old man's sex fantasies that slipped through the cracks of the literary establishment. Maybe there's more to it, I will probably reread it one day.

[Anonymous No.11006071]

Does Quilty follow them to Beardsley expressly hunting Lo, and make contact with her even during those pre-Beardsley roadtrips? Or was it a chance second encounter in Beardsley through his play that allowed him to get his claws in her? I will have to fetch my copy again some time to revisit the details.

[Anonymous No.11006093]

>>11002619
Didn't understand it. Surprised I finished it. If I did understand it I probably still wouldn't have liked it

[Anonymous No.11006166]

>>11002619
I've never read it through. I find Nabokov's writing extremely dense and a chore to read - I realise that's part of its charm for some people. I've often wondered if Nabakov's writing resembles Russian literature.

[Anonymous No.11006372]

>>11006093
>Didn't understand it
You must be stupid

[Anonymous No.11006704]

>>11006071
iirc quilty is a friend of her mother so he has probably met her before

[Anonymous No.11006817]

>>11005823
Also when Humbert visits the school.

[Anonymous No.11006873]

>>11006704
also, in 'mourning' after charlotte's death humbert throws the farlows a couple of weepy lies to suggest that he is, in fact, lolita's real father, merely to win their sympathies. much later there's an implication (which i believe was fleshed out in nabokov's mostly-unfilmed script) that quilty might actually be her dad

[Anonymous No.11007226]

>>11006704
He definitely did. He got to Lolita before Humbert did.