Review: Vladmir Nabokov's Lolita

While in the first fifty pages its easy to assume that this novel would have been more aptly named 'Annals of a Disillusioned pervert,' the narrator makes it impossible to set the novel aside with Nabokov's wit, humor, and mastery of word play(which falls silent towards the end of the novel). The plot does melt away and dissolves into a rather tedious series of descriptions that should have been omitted since their inclusion seriously places the reader in peril of abandoning the novel just as Nabokov abandons the plot. But by chapter six of the second book the flow of events returns to its usual pace but only now it threatens to launch into an all out run due to the added element of suspense and paranoia the narrator begins to feel. As a warning to those who are not fluent in french, it's frequently frustrating at times during the dialog when the characters begin speaking in french as they try to impress the narrator, whose a student of french literature by trade. My copy didn't offer foot notes for clarity so at times the reader may feel left in the dark, while its ocassionally obvious to get the gist of what they're saying from the context surrounding the quote. While Lolita began with a promising introduction, I found the story to be hopelessly boring and earnestly wished that the narrator would die a painful death for having the reader to endure the final chapters that failed to add up to my expectations.