Despair
Ratings18
Average rating3.9
Self-satisfied, delighting in the many fascinating quirks of his own personality, Hermann Hermann is perhaps not to be taken too seriously. But then a chance meeting with a man he believes to be his double reveals a frightening 'split' in Hermann's nature. With shattering immediacy, Nabokov takes us into a deranged world, one full of an impudent, startling humour, dominated by the egotistical and scornful figure of a murderer who thinks himself an artist.
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Read this in an attempt to understand everybody's fascination with Nabokov, particularly the fact that so many folks dig Lolita as much as they do; I have tried several times to read Lolita, and just don't find it as entrancing as most folks.
I loved Despair, however. Relatively sparse writing, with the feeling of watching an accident happen in slow motion, this is a darkly existentialist book. It reminded me of Camus or Sartre, but with even more bleak humor. Will it be my gateway into enjoying Nabokov's most famous work? We'll see. I think I'll read Pale Fire next...
