Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov, 1955

Curious: although actually her looks had faded, I definitely realized, so hopelessly late in the day, how much she looked — had always looked — like Botticelli's russet Venus — the same soft nose, the same blurred beauty.

I understood whilst I was reading this that there would be only a handful of times in my future where I would experience a piece of art so skilfully created. Vladimir Nabokov has something really special here, I will remember this one the rest of my life. In short, the novel is about a man who probably murders his wife and kidnaps his stepdaughter on a road trip all across America during which he molests her, and then she escapes him. There is a very clean beginning, middle, and end.

You get lost in the writing. Our lying, scheming, sociopathic, pedophilic protagonist is Humbert Humbert, a handsome, charming, funny, charismatic, and educated European immigrant to America. His depraved thoughts are masked by the most genius writing. He ruined Dolores’ life for his selfishness.

Dolores is one of the most tragic and one of my favourite characters in all of literature. She had no control, her life was ruined the moment her entered her life. The descriptions of her (barring mentions of her youth) would be poetry you would put in a card for a woman you love. The reader is caught in his spell, unable or maybe even unwilling to escape him.

You should read this before you die.