Review of Lolita

Lolita depicts the story of a adult man, Humbert Humbert, whose got a passion for young girls. Upon seeking a refuge from the real world he becomes a tenant in the household of Charlotte and her daughter Lolita. H.H. immediately falls for Lolita's charms and through scheming he and her undergo a tumultuous journey.

Lo, Lolo, Dolly, Dolores, Lolita,.. and every other name that she goes by never really capture what she's like. Like a lollypop, yummy but gone before you know it.
This novel wasn't easy to read. Not that it's use of english is high fetched, but I mean it rather emotionally. In the beginning of the novel I found myself being thoroughly angry and repulsed by Humbert Humbert and completely rejecting his idea of loving 'nymphets' (= 10 to 12y old cheeky girls).
Then as I tagged along in this novel and I got to meet Lolita, I got confused. Lolita isn't an ordinary girl. She's a sly, sexually simmering 11y old and Humbert Humbert is a fool to fall for her.

Pubescent teens are sly creatures and I think that the ones with problematic home lives are slow cookers of sexually and emotionally frustration that almost always tend to lead to their destruction. They'll take whoever's around with them.

That's how I see Lolita. Lolita grasps Humbert Humbert's interest very early on and uses this for her own advantage. When he's caught in her web, she makes him feel so infitisimely small that he'll do anything to keep her by his side, resulting in very jealous and paranoid behaviour.
Humbert Humbert isn't all blameless in this story. First and foremost, he should have been the adult and keep away from what was apparently to good to be true. Even with his affection for young girls, he should have realised that this just doesn't happen without any consequences.
Secondly, when Charlotte (lolita's mother) asked him to leave or love her, he should have left. Not do what he did. What he did to Charlotte is far worse than whatever he did to Lolita and she almost immediately after the accident left his mind completely, only the conquering of Lolita being dominantly present. She deserved better than a dog like Humbert.
Thirdly, even if he was under her spell and continued to believe that Lolita started the sexual play, he should have made the sound decision of leaving her under someone else's care. The way Lolita turned out is only because she thinks that only by being sexual she could get what she wanted. This is a prejudice women still struggle with today, especially the ones in high school and college.

So both Lolita and Humbert Humbert are low creatures. Does that mean they deserve each other? No, they would have been better people apart from each other, slightly defective maybe, but still better.

Personal rating: 7/10

Review of Everything is Illuminated

A story in a story.
Everything is illuminated is a wonderful little story. Jonathan is searching for the woman who saved his grandfather in the Ukrain during world war II. Aiding him on his trip is a sketchy translator and a supposedly blind driver.
While Jonathan, Alex and his grandfather get acquainted they find a woman who knows everything and nothing and who has been waiting just in case.
Though it's set during the nineties, it's a story about the war and how it affected jews and their families and friends. It having been written comically sets it off against the heartbreaking content. How someone has to choose between life and death of themselves and those around them.

The story in the story is even better. I liked the craziness of it. The fantastic absurdity, the words that never meant what you thought at first. 'Brod' is one of my favourite characters in this book. Mostly because she is so fantastically adroit, a rebel in heart and soul even though she's only searching for love.
Trachimbrod will always evoke a smile in me. I'll miss that town, and I'll miss its people. A town that makes you smile when all the townsfolk paint their hands a different color, a town living together and ultimately dying together.

The end of both stories is so heartbreaking. You want to make everyone who has any hand in a war or conflict to read this, to feel what they felt, to understand what war really means. It means drowned little babies, pulled down by their umbellical cord. It means death.
Books like this should be on reading lists in school. This is what today's youth should be reading, hoping they'll remember and don't make the same mistakes.

My apoligies for being a little emotional, but it's in the book.

Personal rating: 4 stars

Review of Anathem

It was mesmerizing to read Anathem.
I suffered from a little anxiety picking this one up, since it's filled with physics, math, science,.. And even though I'm an experienced reader of average education I thought I wouldn't cope well if I couldn't "get" this novel.
Boy, was I wrong. I'll admit I didn't get every little thing discussed here, but overall the story was mindblowingly awesome. It's what SF should be, but almost never accomplished.

The story revolves around a young avout (can be compared to a scholar living his whole life between fixed walls and spending his life learning),Erasmaz, who learns a terrifying truth and is set on a path that will take him to several places he would have never thought of have visited.
'Arbre' (a world like Earth but not alltogether the same) is being visited by beings from another world. The reigning power in Arbre doesn't quite know what to make of it, so they call in the help of the avouts. A lot of them are being pulled out of their respective cloisters and have to work together to find out who the aliens are and what they want.
Erasmaz goes and finds answers in a remote section of the world and finds it at a terrible cost. It sets him on a journey far beyond the boundaries of Arbre.

In a way it's daunting to summarize a novel of this grandeur. It's touching the 1000page marker, and it's so detailed in everything, you really get sucked in that world.
You get to learn a bunch of new words, get insight in many laws of nature, better insight that I ever got during school.
Neal Stephenson has accomplished a novel so highly packed with information and still make it accessible and fun to read. I didn't want it to finish, but managed to close the book in little over 2 weeks which is very fast for me at this time.
It isn't easy to conjure up a consistent review of one of the novels I read, my mind shoots in so many directions at once, but talking about Anathem is satisfying in a way. I just want to repeat over and over again how I loved it and to ensure anyone who's willing to read it and finds it a little bit scary to just begin reading. You'll see that you've been scared for nothing. And enjoy. You'll enjoy it very much.

Personal rating: 5 stars