Lolita

Humbert Humbert, the tortured protagonist of this timeless novel, is a repellent pedophile. What can we do but condemn the immorality of his pursuit of a twelve-year-old girl (“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul”) and eventual success in snaring the not-so-innocent girl in his deceitful web?

At the same time, Nabokov pulls out all the stops and creates in his deplorable narrator a charm and vocabulary that can't help but draw avid readers into the story. The subterfuge involved suggests also what life must have been like for gay men and women in… show more.

I remain astonished at how Nabokov could write a novel with such an objectionable premise (in essence, of an adult man sexually attracted to a 12 year old girl) and yet write it in a talented and compelling way such that I as a reader felt involved and even sympathetic to Humbert.

On re-reading the book, I am impressed by the author's ability to write about a forbidden sexual relationship without dwelling on the erotic. Humbert is witty, intelligent, and self-aware. He is damaged in everyone’s judgment and unaware of the effect of his actions on others. 

I love how the protagonist conceals the truth through his sophistication and charm. His pedophilia and rape are hidden behind an extensive network of lies about his alleged obsession with nymphets. ‘Between the age limits of nine and fourteen, there occur maidens who, to certain bewitched travelers, twice or many times older than they reveal their true nature, which is not human, but nymphic (that is, demoniac).’

With a simple two-faced name, Humbert Humbert is a narrator with many faces, one of the more complex and discussed in literary studies. He writes his story in prison, forever imprisoned ‘between the… show more.

This is one of the most famous books in literature that everyone should read.

Lolita is the rare literary character that transcends time and has even evolved to become an adjective, and the protagonist is the perfect example of “the character you love to hate.” This is a book that has been both banned and revered. 

I have always shied away from reading Lolita, not having the slightest desire to read about a middle-aged man’s sexual obsession with a twelve-year-old. Still, I could not compile a list of books about girls in inappropriate relationships without including this novel, the most famous book of all time on the subject.

I now fully appreciate why it has stood the test of time. I loved the dark comedy, often tipping into farce, the fabulous turns of phrase, the elaborate yet pin-sharp descriptions, and the blending of such sinister subject matter with the banalities of American post-war consumerism. Humbert… show more.

Lolita isn’t usually thought of as a crime novel but it is.

Thirty-seven-year-old Humbert Humbert stalks 12-year-old Lolita, then breaks all kinds of laws, moral, ethical, and legal, as he transports her across state lines.

The first time I read Lolita, I was dazzled by Nabokov’s stunning use of language—and remember, English was not his native tongue—word-play, and his ability to create full-blooded characters that leap off the page.

Nabokov pulls off this morally compromised tale with wit and humor, while dealing with the serious topic of pedophilia.

Reading Lolita gave me license to create morally challenged characters like… show more.

This book is an astounding and disturbing look into the mind and heart of a pedophile. Humbert Humbert, with his pretensions of literary brilliance, his ornate use of the French language, and his justification of his illegal and immoral actions, will fascinate the reader. What makes a man make terrible choices? Why can’t he fit into the mold of human respectability? And the victim, Lolita, what makes her go along with his depravity? Written in 1958, Lolita is heavy with internal ramblings but still fascinating.

Like the previous books in this list, the main character, in this case Humbert Humbert, seeks to justify the unjustifiable. The writer skilfully weaves around our expectations as a reader and attempts to subtly subvert them. Humbert’s skill of manipulation, using his standing as a professor to seduce and subsequently control a minor, can never be described as an easy read, and it’s a tribute to Nabokov’s beautiful, unapologetic, delicately poised prose that we even consider hearing the bastard out. 

I was leery of this book when it was assigned in a college class. The first lines “Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul”—intrigued me. One page later, I was hooked. Or seduced. Lolita drew me into a place where I would not have chosen to be—the psyche of an unregenerate pedophile-turned-murderer. Yet this man proves to be a learned romantic too, desperately in love. Because the prose is brilliant and offers access to the deepest inner longings of the man, I found myself torn between rooting for him and hoping he would die… show more.

Once hailed as a masterpiece, today Nabokov’s novel is condemned for its subject matter, paedophilia. Some now feel it should never have been written, but I include it for two reasons. Firstly, the narrator knows his behaviour is evil and he doesn’t shrink from describing how his obsession has ruined his own life as well as Lolita’s. It is an exposure of poisoned obsession, not an endorsement, certainly not a defence of perversion and in any case, censorship of one literary fictional work wouldn’t deter paedophiles. Secondly, it is disturbing to read because it is so well written. It includes… show more.