Lolita

De: Vladimir Nabokov, Claire Messud - introduction

Narrado por: Jeremy Irons, Cassandra Campbell

The most famous and controversial novel from one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century tells the story of Humbert Humbert’s obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. • With a new introduction by Claire Messud

“The conjunction of a sense of humor with a sense of horror [results in] satire of a very special kind.”—The New Yorker

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

Awe and exhilaration—along with heartbreak and mordant wit—abound in Lolita, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsession for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America.

Most of all, it is a meditation on love—love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.

Reseñas de la Crítica

One of TIME Magazine's All-Time 100 Novels

"Lolita blazes with a perversity of a most original kind. For Mr. Nabokov has distilled from his shocking material hundred-proof intellectual farce…Lolita seems an assertion of the power of the comic spirit to wrest delight and truth from the most outlandish materials. It is one of the funniest serious novels I have ever read; and the vision of its abominable hero, who never deludes or excuses himself, brings into grotesque relief the cant, the vulgarity, and the hypocritical conventions that pervade the human comedy." —The Atlantic Monthly

"Intensely lyrical and wildly funny." —Time

"The conjunction of a sense of humor with a sense of horror [results in] satire of a very special kind, in which vice or folly is regarded not so much with scorn as with profound dismay and a measure of tragic sympathy…The reciprocal flow of irony gives to both the characters and their surroundings the peculiar intensity of significance that attends the highest art." —The New Yorker

"A revealing and indispensable comedy of horrors." —San Francisco Chronicle

Wonderful!

What made the experience of listening to Lolita the most enjoyable?

Jeremy Irons was delightful. Perfect fit for the story. (Could help that he played this role before!)

Any additional comments?

The story itself is often atrocious but the writing and characterization are too compelling to stop listening.
There's humor and heart even in the midst of all the awful things happening. (and it's never explicit, very tastefully written.)

Phenomenal!

A beautifully written, disturbing, thought provoking, provocative, poetic story. Jeremy Irons reading is languid, liqueur for the ears. Hated for it to end.

Great!

Loved the story, the storyteller and the language in this book. However, it was some times hard to follow the story as an audio-book, especially if there were many things happening around me. I had to focus to get the most out of it. Inn all other ways it was a wonderful book!

I loved to hate it

Ok, obviously it's a disgusting topic, but I loved to hate it. Just like if you see Jack Gleeson ( plays Joffrey Baratheon in GOT ) on the streets you would feel like punching him in the face, not because he is a bad actor but because he is a good actor and plays a whiny asshole brilliantly.
I felt curiosity, repulsion, compassion, indignation and sadness for every character of this book; Navokov portraits them with many layers, that makes it feel more real.
The narrator is really good.
English is not my 1st language, but in my opinion I think it's advanced. For me it was a bit hard for me to follow, I had to re listen several times, although I have to say that it was beautifully written almost poetic.

Terrifying, Disgusting, and Sad.

A delicate but forceful piece of literature that confronts the audience with the dark and difficult humanity of an unfortunate and dangerous person.

I would prefer to be able to read and then look up the many French phrases used throughout. But otherwise the audio format does nothing to detract from the work. And Jeremy Irons' performance, disturbingly pleasant to hear, is a good compliment to the tasteful (if slightly purple) prose style supposedly written by such an otherwise unsavory character.