Lolita, Light of My Life

On the cover of my copy of Lolita, Vanity Fair calls it “The only convincing love story of our century.” I’d like to think that I am not cynical enough to agree with that completely, but I would say that it is one of my favorite books of our century.

There is a lot going on in Lolita—the psychology of a true narcissist, the culture clash of a hyper-civilized European man living in America, the fear and paranoia of “when will he get caught?!”—which is good because sometimes the obsession that Humbert Humbert has for 12-year-old Dolores Haze is so intense and disgusting that you are forced to distance yourself from the overarching love story. How Nabokov is able to turn it into such a beautifully written classic is amazing.

If we were to group books, Unbearable Lightness of Being-style, into day books and night books, Lolita would certainly be a night book. Dark, engrossing, ecstatic. And highly recommended.