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.

NaNoReMo

This year, defective yeti has selected Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov as the book for National Novel Readers' Month. I don't have a lot of time to sit down with a book lately, so I'm listening to it on tape (read by Jeremy Irons) as I drive to and from work. It's only been a couple of days and all I can say is OMFG. I understand why this book was banned. Which is not to say that I think this book should be banned. But it's certainly... mature. Except for Lolita, of course, who at twelve years old is certainly not mature. This is going to be a tough one to get through. Very disturbing subject material. Of course, the book also has an interesting style, quite conversational. Almost confessional, but a bragging style of confession, rather than a repentant one. I'll likely not give story updates, since the story is difficult for me to read, much less write. I will however (inthe style of defective yeti), list interesting words I've a) fallen for, b) had to look up, or c) something else.

So, to start that off:

midges - I hate midges. The word has strange undertones for me. In the flying insect spectrum the fall somewhere between mosquitos and gnats, but neither of these words sounds nearly as irritating. In fact I dislike midges so much that it makes me dislike the name Madge for its similarity.

potentate - Chief or ruler. I mention this one because it's been ruined for me. It should make me think of exotic chieftains. Instead, it makes me think of Hernia Movers, and their motto - "The Potentate of Movin' Freight". Curse them.

game of fives - I looked this one up. Basically a relative of handball. Seems there are a multitude of regional variations at different colleges.

ironical - So this word isn't made up? C'mon. Really? OK, if you say so Websters.

monquiere - well, that's what it sounded like he said. This is the problem with listening to the tape. If I encounter a new word, I don't know how it is spelled. That, plus I have to jot it down while driving, or risk losing it. So far, no accidents have resulted from this bad habit.

poltroon- Not, as you might expect, a barnyard fowl upon whom tobacco juice is spit. Rather, "a wretched coward". Oh, that's even better.

favonian - "of or pertaining to the west wind; mild or favorable; propitious"

heliotropic - turning or growing toward the light. Brings up the quesion - are heliotropes heliotropic?

incondite - I'd never heard of this word before. It means "crude, rough, unmannerly". I had heard of recondite before - "little known, obscure". The word meanings have no obvious connection. The "cond" root seems to mean "put together or assembled". I'm not understanding where that comes in.

gin and pineapple - Humbert Humbert's drink of choice. Picked up some pineapple so I can try it. Sounds interesting.

chiarascura - I love this word. It has excellent rythgm. The problem is, the rhythm of the word seems to conquer my mind, and I can't retain the definition. Something about light and shadow.

More to come!

DESPAIR!!!

I'm officially giving up on Augie March. I just can't make any freaking progress on the damn thing. I'll blame 30% of this on my overloaded schedule. Another 45% can be attributed to the fact that, even after over a hundred and twenty pages, NOTHING HAS HAPPENNED YET! We are introduced to people; we learn what makes them tick. We are introduced to other people. We learn what makes THEM tick. A few casual references to someone committing arson, but mentioned in an oblique way. A burglary, that completely lacks any fun, and seems to do nothing to progress the plot. Except there ISN'T ANY PLOT! Because nothing happens! I'll try again in a couple years. Took me more than that to finally make it through The Fountainhead. Won't be the first time.

The Adventures begin!

As I mentioned earlier, I'll be blogging my reading of Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March as part of NaNoReMo. It's 584 pages of "Great Books" goodness. I'm only a few pages in, and I've already 1) found a reference to Racine, WI, and 2) learned an important truth. The truth? When TheBoy is in a good mood, he's even noisier than when he's in a bad mood. Never really noticed before, but reading dense text is nearly impossible when he's playing with his musical toys! Wish me luck!

Update:
This book is going to take a while to read. The words he uses! jesuitical? animadversion? It's like reading in a foreign language. And the sentence structure so complicated in places that even after three reads, I'm not really sure what exactly is meant. Yes, if I manage to finish this, I'll feel a sense of accomplishment. If I understand it, even more so!

NaNoReMo - Augie March

Defective Yeti has had a lovely idea. Since schedules do not currently have enough wiggle room to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) (Heck, they don’t even have enough time to get the mandatory stuff done!), he is sponsoring NaNoReMo (National Novel Reading Month). He posted a list of literature from Huckleberry Finn to Lolita and back again, and asked his readers to vote on which novel they’d like to read. The winner was Catch-22… which kinda sucks, because I just read it (or listened to an unabridged recording on tape, anyway) earlier in 2007 (maybe late 2006, I can’t rightly recall). So, I decided to pick a different book off of his list. Since I’d never heard of it, and since it’s over 500 pages long (long enough to take some time), I’ve decided on Saul Bellow’s The Adventures of Augie March. This appears to be one of those pop-culturally second-tier (but critically first tier) books that appears on a decent selection of “books you should have read by now, you borderline illiterate!” lists, but doesn’t seem to have caught the public eye the way Lolita or Catch-22 has. It is also (new word alert) a picaresque:

a popular subgenre of prose fiction which is usually satirical and depicts in
realistic and often humorous detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low
social class who lives by his or her wits in a corrupt society

Thanks, Wikipedia! Anyway, I’ll be blogging my thoughts on the novel as I read (beginning November 1st). So as not to bog the blog with posts about the novel, I’ll be adding my thoughts as comments on this post. If you’re familiar with the book, or are also reading along, feel free to add your own comments here (no, I’m really not expecting this, though it would be cool. This is essentially about me trying to track my reactions to a critically recognized book as I read it. It’ll be interesting for me, if not for all of you!)

PS: They're getting $16 for a paperback of this book - unbelievable! I picked up a used copy for $6 at half-price books. Much more reasonable!