Wrap-Up

Honestly, I'm struggling to think of things to say in this post that I haven't at least partially addressed in a former post, so I'll keep it relatively brief. 

Lolita was an absolute ride. From start to finish, it made me deeply uncomfortable, interested, and curious in an eternal cycle of mixed emotions. 

Humbert creeped me out immensely, both as a character and a narrator, especially since his narration is such a quintessential part of his character's purpose and manipulation tactics. Discovering the exact context of the murder Humbert committed was especially interesting, as he frames it as an act of revenge against another man who abused Lolita, despite the hypocrisy inherent within that. He also is portrayed much more pathetically at the end of the novel than at the beginning -- we begin to see his facade slip from somebody to be admired to somebody to be pitied, at least from his perspective. 

It's hard to truly pity him and agree with his actions, especially when you remember that the novel as a whole is all just a testimony for him to give to the jury hearing his murder case, but his character is intriguing nonetheless.

I don't think it's controversial to say that Lolita is the true victim in the story. I forget where, but I've read reviews of the novel in my research of it that seem to interpret her as the villain, and to me, the fact that anybody would take the novel at face value like that is concerning. The perspective that individual must have to see the victim of pedophilia and rape as being the true manipulator behind all of the woes of poor Humbert is frankly a little bit suspicious, but I digress. 

I know that those people are definitely in the minority of those who have read this book, but I found it worth mentioning. 

In conclusion, I'm genuinely glad that I read this book. Though it wasn't one of my favorite reading experiences of all time, it was interesting to see the origins of the term "Lolita", especially as somebody who always wondered why the street fashion style was named after this book. Pretty much any book that has had such an impact on popular culture is interesting to read, at least for me -- even if the story doesn't grab me, the sociological impacts of said story always amaze me.