Reading the Classics discussion

I have always been disturbed by the topic (at least what I think it is) of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Is it sick ,explicit or pedophilic? Or is it worth the read?
Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Why don't you look up a resume (Cliff notes) or scholarly review which you can find on Google? Then if it passes your individual test, you can download a sample from Amazon and see whether it rings your chimes. The author is deservedly famous, came close to a Nobel Prize for literature, and is unlikely to do anything but improve your understanding of whatever themes he - Nabokov - discusses.

I actually read the book in high school for my AP Lit free read. It did not scar me and to this day is one of those books that changes the way I think about what a novel should be.

Yes, the subject is risque, but the language is so beautiful and Nabokov writes with such literary style, I would say that it is a must read.

It is more, so much more than what appears on the surface. Amazingly, English was Nabokov's 3rd language, yet his English prose is perhaps the best, or at least one of the best examples of sheer beauty in the English language.

Thanks all. I'll give it a whirl.

I only just read this for the first time a few weeks ago. I thought it was brilliant. Definitely worth reading if only so you can appreciate Nabokov's use of language. Also, once you've read it, you can have a laugh at all the reviews on GR which carry on about this being a romance and how Lolita was deliberately seductive. Hilarious.

Now I must read it. Thanks

Hope I'm not too late to put in my pennyworth.
I read Lolita' a few months back and wish I'd read it thirty years ago - simply because that would mean I could have re-read it a couple of times by now!
It's not just brilliantly written but a seminal text. It changed American/English writing. You can see the influence in people like Franzen.
The book is disturbing - mildly pornographic - and challenging.
Enjoy!

Thanks for this discussion. Lolita is on my list of books to read this year (for a challenge in another GR group). I haven't read it - or any Nabokov actually - so this will be a treat ... I hope!

Just because I have to add my two-cents....
Lolita is so fabulous that I've read it twice, and readily lend my copy to anyone seeming interested in it. The way Nabokov writes is just so...unf. Love it. Humbert's rationalization and the way we get inside his head is nothing short of absolutely fascinating. A definite must-read.

I have just purchased it and am clearing the decks so that I can dig in.

I read "Lolita" in a class on Narrative Form, and it was a chore. :/ I found the content disturbing and Humbert Humbert as a character was not my cup of tea. It is not a novel I will ever read again, or recommend.