Challenge Corner discussion

Humbert Humbert - scholar, aesthete and romantic - has fallen completely and utterly in love with Lolita Haze, his landlady's gum-snapping, silky skinned twelve-year-old daughter. Reluctantly agreeing to marry Mrs Haze just to be close to Lolita, Humbert suffers greatly in the pursuit of romance; but when Lo herself starts looking for attention elsewhere, he will carry her off on a desperate cross-country misadventure, all in the name of Love. Hilarious, flamboyant, heart-breaking and full of ingenious word play, Lolita is an immaculate, unforgettable masterpiece of obsession, delusion and lust.

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RESTARTING JULY 8TH, 2019

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36%: (view spoiler)[..wait, so no one thought him buying all that was suspicious at all? (hide spoiler)]
60%: (view spoiler)[okay this is weird.. why is he getting jealous about people looking at her? I would get it if he was mad because she's 12.. and I don't care if she acts like she's older than that.. the girl is still 12. (hide spoiler)]
77%: (view spoiler)[hold the phone.. what the hell kind of reaction was that? he almost broke her wrist due to jealousy? Ew. I'm cringing right now. (hide spoiler)]
100%: (view spoiler)[what the heck did I just read? this book definitely had it's weird moments and I felt like it was dragging at parts as well. I still don't understand why he gave them money.. but maybe he still loves her in his weird way? I don't know.. this book.. (hide spoiler)]

25% (view spoiler)[
I don't understand why Humbert was so angry that his wife was leaving him for another man. It is not like he really loved her (or was attracted to her). Yet, he kept talking about how he wanted to hurt her. Valeria clearly wanted to be in a better relationship than to continue to just be tolerated by the Humbert. (hide spoiler)]

50% (view spoiler)[
Wow, did Humbert's wife get hit by a car by chance? That was kind of lucky for Humbert. She was about to expose him and then she miraculously gets struck by a vehicle and dies. It all just seems like everything is going a bit too well for him…

Also, the whole drugging with sleeping pills thing is messed up. It is really messed up because Dolores is twelve, but it would be wrong no matter what her age was. (hide spoiler)]

75% (view spoiler)[
The whole bit about traveling around was boring to read. It was quite long and basically the same thing for paragraphs. This whole section is dragging on. It is just a long, sad montage of the two of them traveling the country and how unhappy Dolores is. Also, perhaps it is just me, but the overuse of the word nymphet is driving me crazy. And Humbert use of it just makes me uncomfortable. (hide spoiler)]

100% (view spoiler)[
Honestly, Humbert was one of the worst main characters I've ever read. He is just unlikable in every sense. I am not sure if that was the point since he is also a pedophile. Humbert's personality alone would make me not like him, but after all the stuff he put Delores through just makes me hate him. He is also crazy enough to hunt down the guy who tossed Lo out onto the street to fend for herself. I am just happy that I am done reading this book! (hide spoiler)]