Lolita

By: Vladimir Nabokov

Narrated by: Jeremy Irons

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.'

LOLITA is the story of Humbert Humbert, poet and pervert, and his obsession with twelve-year-old Dolores Haze. Determined to possess his 'Lolita' both carnally and artistically, Humbert embarks on a disastrous courtship that can only end in tragedy.

Initially, Nabokov was unable to find an American publisher willing to take the book on. It was finally published in Paris in 1954 but its notoriety spread quickly. Graham Green, in an interview in THE TIMES later that year, called it 'one of the best books of 1954'. When G.P. Putnam's Sons published in the US in 1958, it was a bestseller; the first book since Gone with the Wind to sell 100,000 copies in the first three weeks of publication.

©1955 Vladimir Nabokov (P)2005 Random House Audio

A Literary Symphony...

...Composed Within That Magical Place Called Genius. Very few books are like the universe's hand reaching down to grab hold of you, to yank you up by the soul and bring you into its absolute grandeur, where you are truly left in nothing but awe. This literary masterpiece does just that.

Perfect

Perfect! Nabokov a giant in literature. Great performance by the reader. Captivating story and engaging language it is worth your time.

Wonderful narrative

I struggled at the beginning of the book, with the never ending narrative, with no 'speech', but stuck with it an was very pleased I did. Jeremy Irons' narration was great... How could one fail to like his voice? I am also pleased to have discovered Nabokov, as his blend of wit and darkness was wonderful. Excellent.

I tried not to sympathise, I really did.

First of all, Jeremy Iron’s performance is devilishly brilliant. I cannot imagine that anyone could have done a better job. It was like watching the movie, but better. His voice and diction were part of what made you want to listen and care for this troubled character.

Phenomenal storytelling. Without giving the plot away, I want to say that the brilliance of this novel is the way beauty and ugliness, humour and sadness, tenderness and violence, exist in an inexplicable harmony. Nabokov’s words appear to bounce off this novel like a poem. Almost like you can see them dancing along, whirling and hypnotising, to a strange song that you fixate on and feel it’s rhythm.

This novel is a mushroom cloud: so beautiful and destructive. And it is nothing but sheer terror, but you can’t look away.

I managed to keep a clear head about the character, and I succeeded, right up until the final minutes of the book, where a pang of the deepest sadness, his sadness, that Gad need slowly building up over the course of this novel, overtook me.

An exceptional book...

An exceptional book elevated yet further by the performance of Jeremy Irons. The combination of story and performance brought me to and from the disturbing subject with constantly changing levels of acceptance and abhorrence. Abhorrence for any acceptance?