A sensational novel that is as funny as it is devastating. Dark humour, for sure. It's tackling deep, mythic (Greek) themes here. I rate it one star higher than Lolita. Lolita was always a little contrived for my taste. This is written 20 years before Lolita, has a precocious young woman in it (with absolute agency) and has a sort of cleanness. It isn't as precise as Lolita, but I think that lends it a certain fresh and vibrant charm.
This is the story of one man's foolishness, another's cruelty and a young woman's selfishness. And yet, it is also the story of another man whose charity and mortality shines through the pitch black.
Nabokov has written a lot of characters in his career that it is difficult to empathise with. And yet his skill as a writer seems to invite you to take the hand of these creatures in a merry dance.
Hate his characters, hate their actions but you will never reach a velocity of hate high enough to breach the atmosphere of their humanity. They are human. No matter what they do, they remain human.
That's the beauty of Nabokov's work. He understands more keenly than most what it takes to make a man good and honest and kind... And he chooses to show you by offering characters utterly divorced from those virtues.
His words work like sleight of hand, pulling off new and more elaborate illusions each chapter. Until we are left with things as they are. However unjust. However shameful. Just... Real life. On the page. As it is. No tricks.
And that's how he gets you. You realise he's taught you the rules of the game. There are no tricks left to be played on you. You are enlightened. And yet, off in the distance, you can hear... Laughter In The Dark.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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