Pat - I found the writing and story fascinating, but difficult. It was a disturbing trip inside a very disturbed mind. Hard to believe that English is not his native language.
I read this book in college and thought it a ‘work of art’ as I described in my class paper. That Humbert sets the trap, but Lolita walks right into it. Naive musings of a young woman. Now as a parent I had a really hard time reading this book. It was upsetting, it was abuse, pedophilia, and bordering on the insane mind of a sociopath.
Early sexual experiences often play into your own sexual identity. It was clear that Humbert was in love with his first girlfriend Annabelle who was lost too young. The woman he marries next, he wasn’t attracted to, or in love with. He just saw her as a way to have a consistent and regular life.
How he describes his longing for girls between 9-14 Nymphic- gross! Like serial killers- spending time at the parks trying to be nonchalant but having a full agenda was very much like that of a serial killer. Very methodical, taking his time, making his plan- pit in my stomach.
Then he goes on the arctic trip- I don’t even know why this was included. The relevance? He comes back and has several stints in the sanitorium. I wondered if he would be called manic-depressive in today's world. And the celebrity at his Sanatorium having believed you witnessed your own conception- Freud?
His sociopathic tendencies were so obvious when he’s swimming with Charlotte(Lolita’s Mom) at Hourglass lake, dreaming of drowning her then her death to be a simple accident of getting hit by a car while trying to post some letters ‘outing’ him of his obsession with nymphets. Another reason I saw him as sociopathic when he thinks of the future to 1950 where he would have to kill Lo, but they would have a child who could be his next nymphet- disgusting!
I found both cross country road trips mostly boring. Trying not to talk too much to people, give away too much. How did they not get caught? Then on the 2nd trip to Hollywood for a “movie project”. Lo gets sick and ends up in the hospital, where she leaves with her “uncle.” Who took her, was it the man in the red car who had been following them. I actually kind of liked this part of the story until we find out the person who took her was Clare Quitley (who I don’t remember from any other part of the story-I had to go back and look him up & I was reading this online, so very hard to find) actually is a pornography film maker who wants Lolita to be part of a child orgy. Barf!
The next two years Humbert looks for her and when he finally finds her, at age 17, pregnant and not with Quitley I felt like he was still attracted to her a little bit. Even though no longer a nymphet.
Creepy, cringe-worthy, story of a sociopath. It pained me to read this book. Pit in my stomach every time I picked it up.
Comments
I read this book in college and thought it a ‘work of art’ as I described in my class paper. That Humbert sets the trap, but Lolita walks right into it. Naive musings of a young woman. Now as a parent I had a really hard time reading this book. It was upsetting, it was abuse, pedophilia, and bordering on the insane mind of a sociopath.
Early sexual experiences often play into your own sexual identity. It was clear that Humbert was in love with his first girlfriend Annabelle who was lost too young. The woman he marries next, he wasn’t attracted to, or in love with. He just saw her as a way to have a consistent and regular life.
How he describes his longing for girls between 9-14 Nymphic- gross! Like serial killers- spending time at the parks trying to be nonchalant but having a full agenda was very much like that of a serial killer. Very methodical, taking his time, making his plan- pit in my stomach.
Then he goes on the arctic trip- I don’t even know why this was included. The relevance?
He comes back and has several stints in the sanitorium. I wondered if he would be called manic-depressive in today's world. And the celebrity at his Sanatorium having believed you witnessed your own conception- Freud?
His sociopathic tendencies were so obvious when he’s swimming with Charlotte(Lolita’s Mom) at Hourglass lake, dreaming of drowning her then her death to be a simple accident of getting hit by a car while trying to post some letters ‘outing’ him of his obsession with nymphets. Another reason I saw him as sociopathic when he thinks of the future to 1950 where he would have to kill Lo, but they would have a child who could be his next nymphet- disgusting!
I found both cross country road trips mostly boring. Trying not to talk too much to people, give away too much. How did they not get caught? Then on the 2nd trip to Hollywood for a “movie project”. Lo gets sick and ends up in the hospital, where she leaves with her “uncle.” Who took her, was it the man in the red car who had been following them. I actually kind of liked this part of the story until we find out the person who took her was Clare Quitley (who I don’t remember from any other part of the story-I had to go back and look him up & I was reading this online, so very hard to find) actually is a pornography film maker who wants Lolita to be part of a child orgy. Barf!
The next two years Humbert looks for her and when he finally finds her, at age 17, pregnant and not with Quitley I felt like he was still attracted to her a little bit. Even though no longer a nymphet.
Creepy, cringe-worthy, story of a sociopath. It pained me to read this book. Pit in my stomach every time I picked it up.