Lolita wrap-up

So, I finished reading Lolita. And, yeah, it was good. But I feel strangely let down by the ending. The conceit of the book somewhat muted the wrap up for me, in the same way the Cloverfield's conceit muted its ending. (There it is, people - the only truly unique thought I'll have in this lifetime... and I squandered it on a Cloverfield reference. This is what happens when I drink Irish whisky before blogging. sigh) There's just no way to end on a climax when the outcome has such a narrow space to operate in.

But again, I liked the book, and when your topic is pedophilia, getting so many people to enjoy your book has to give you a major ego boost. Good on you, Nabokov.

There is one thing that still bothers me about the book. Humbert Humbert is such a manipulative story teller, that I always half-wondered if he actually did kill his wife. And then, nearly at the end of the book, HH mentions some case that was in the newspapers where a guy killed his wife and tried to make it look like an auto accident. HH comments "I did better". What is that supposed to mean? Is it a tongue in cheek moment, or is HH telling us that he actually murdered his wife, and has been lying to us this whole time? If that's what's going on, its the only allusion to it that I noticed. Anyone have any input on this topic?

Incidentally, whenever I think of Humbert Humbert, I will think of him mentioning his "foot of engorged brawn". Sure HH, a foot, right. If you say so. That line more than anything else makes him seem pathetic to me. It cuts through the educated veneer he so desperately maintains, through all of his posturing and justifying. In the end, I'll forever see him as a loser obsessed over the size of his penis. Works for me.