I did not pick up this book because it was a classic nor am a reader who enjoys a book just for its complex language. The only impression I had of this book before I started it was a vague memory of a drew barrymore movie and a couple of great reviews. I picked up the book with a lot of trepidation because of the subject matter. Sexual crimes against children evoke a very strong reaction in me. (If it does not then there is something not normal I guess) BUT I came away very pleasantly surprised and wanting to go back and re-read the beginnings of the novel again.
About 1/3rd into the book, I wanted to throw it away and never look back. The term 'passionate father' just wanted to make me puke! But curiosity made me go on and I am glad I did. Nabokov's word play, his ability to conjure a scene so realistically in front of you (for example, when Humbert comes back from his stroll leaving Lolita in the Chestnut Castle, his account of the girl carrying the linen, a couple checking out, a young man loading his truck, a pregnant lady rocking her toddler and ignoring the cries of her older one), a trace of comedy (in mediocre hotels, how after JUST achieving the perfect balance between hot & cold in your shower, it suddenly turns shockingly hot or cold based on what your neighbor has turned on) made for a fantastic read. His ability to weave impossibly long sentences in the narration adds to the joy of reading.
This book is an account of an older man Humbert Humbert - H.H - obsessed with sexual thoughts about girls between 9 to 14 years of age – whom he calls as nymphets. This fascination with nymphets in general turns into an obsession towards Lolita, a 12 year old precocious girl whose mother he marries to gain access to her daughter. When the mother dies in an accident, he picks up Lolita and drives around America hopping from one hotel to another, raping and molesting her. Lolita finally manages to escape and H.H becomes deranged and finally goes to jail for murdering her accomplice. He views his sexual intercourse with Lolita as lovemaking, but that of the other older man as ‘sodomizing his darling’.
I am infinitely curious to know Lolita’s perspective through this ordeal. I am amazed that not only did she go back to have a normal married life but also writes to H.H a ‘Dear dad’, letter asking for financial help. It either speaks of great survival skills or she was not traumatized by the incestual relationship.
As the author's note reads readers who picked up the book expecting a lewd pornographic account of an older man’s obsession towards a child-woman will be disappointed after the beginnings. That being said, however classy the package is, the contents of it did give me a sleepless night and made me hug my daughters tight and never let them venture out into this big bad world.
Posts
