Lolita

So, after spending all of my review of 'Daddy-Long-Legs' bitching about people calling it paedophilic completely incorrectly, I thought I should probably review a genuinely paedophilic novel, to prove my point (I know, this should have been the post after DDL, but I only just thought about it, so tough luck. Try re-reading the DDL post before you read the rest of this, see if it helps!).

I have to say, I think 'Lolita' is an extremely clever novel. He absolutely gets into Humbert Humbert's head - to the extent that one is left wondering exactly how Nabokov himself felt about young girls... Though I choose to think that he just had a fabulous imagination! Lolita is exactly right - just experienced enough that we can believe she would so the things she does, yet maintaining the innocence necessary for a girl of her age to be remotely convincing as a character.

Humbert Humbert is eerily likeable, which is what gives the novel its true creepiness (as far as I am concerned, anyway). A simple story about a man who falls in love/lust with a thirteen-year-old girl, then gets his comeuppance (I'm simplifying slightly...) might be interesting, but wouldn't leave you with the strong sense of unease engendered by 'Lolita'.

For my money, the reason this novel is so effective is the way in which we, the readers, identify with Humbert Humbert (a side note: the best name in fiction? Definitely up there!). I don't know about you, but I could almost feel the attraction he felt towards his "nymphets" - and I'm neither attracted to girls nor children! I found myself rooting for him towards the end of the novel, which was deeply disturbing...

However, it is pretty clear by the end of the novel that, not only is he not a danger to children, but he has been completely destroyed by his relationship with Lolita, while she has emerged relatively unscathed, which fate reassured me somewhat - I wasn't identifying with a truly evil person, but a man who had been extremely foolish and was paying for it.

If you can handle the concepts behind the novel, I would recommend this - the style is perfect, the subject matter intriguing and the experience brilliant.