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Lolita
- Narrated by: Jeremy Irons
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
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Lolita
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Summary
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.'
LOLITA is the story of Humbert Humbert, poet and pervert, and his obsession with twelve-year-old Dolores Haze. Determined to possess his 'Lolita' both carnally and artistically, Humbert embarks on a disastrous courtship that can only end in tragedy.
Initially, Nabokov was unable to find an American publisher willing to take the book on. It was finally published in Paris in 1954 but its notoriety spread quickly. Graham Green, in an interview in THE TIMES later that year, called it 'one of the best books of 1954'. When G.P. Putnam's Sons published in the US in 1958, it was a bestseller; the first book since Gone with the Wind to sell 100,000 copies in the first three weeks of publication.
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What listeners say about Lolita
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Crocker
- 09-03-17
superb performance from Jeremy Irons
This audio book is the perfect demonstration of the additional quality a narrator brings to the text, it is a performance that I would suggest is one of the finest I have had the good fortune to listen to, it enhances the book to such a degree that it is almost unimaginable to contemplate it in any other form, as to the book , there is a reason why it is constantly in the top 10 novels of the twentith century and though the subject matter was the cause of much controversy it is without doubt a seminal work of modern fiction.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Aoife C.
- 28-07-19
Beautifully captured depravity
The prose of this book is wonderful, but still, it makes for difficult listening at times, understandably. Jeremy Irons is exceptional in this performance... beautifully, skin-crawlingly judged.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- RachelD
- 29-08-18
Bitter sweat, unforgettable and tragic
Jeremy Irons will be immortalised through the telling of this storey. He alone was made to play HH
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Nick k.
- 27-09-21
Jeremy Irons Amazing
Jeremy Irons could read information about being stuck in traffic and I'd still be entranced by his lovely voice
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Asif Haque
- 10-06-21
Nicely narrated
Jeremy Irons narrates this splendidly, lending the protagonist the kind of voice I had imagined for years.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- crimson earth
- 03-12-15
Beautifully narrated, beautifully written
I came to Lolita via the film first, and when I saw that Jeremy Irons was narrating the book, I bought it in a heartbeat. I knew it to be a skillfully crafted tale and I've not been let down, and it is lifted off the page by Irons' silky delivery (though the American accents leave a little to be desired - I can forgive that for the craftsmanship of the rest). Despite all this, though, I find that I'm only managing to listen to this book in one or two hour stints, and thus I've been chipping away at it for a couple of months now in between other novels, where I normally go through a single book in two or three days. I think that it's not the subject matter that's slowing me down, but perhaps the almost-epistolary nature of the writing combined with the lethargic drawl of the narrator which, while a beautiful experience in itself, becomes quite hard to stay with for more than a couple of hours without finding your spirits tugged down into a saddened, uneasy, lulled state and your mind meandering in the way that the writer's does.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark Smith
- 16-11-22
Best novel of all time
What can I say… literature does not get better. Irons is phenomenal, as always. As a writer myself, I am both enchanted by his complete mastery of the art and yet pained with a gloomy reality that I may, likely, never have such a command of storytelling and the craft of writing.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ciara Murphy
- 05-08-22
Just fantastic
I’ve read Lolita before, but Jeremy Iron’s performance brought the text to life in a whole new way. It felt like experiencing one my favorites novels again for the first time. He doesn’t read the novel, he performs it, and it’s an incredible performance. This is the voice of Humbert Humbert.
I can say nothing about Nabokovs writing that hasn’t been said before; it’s perfect, it’s genius, it’s achingly beautiful even when describing disgusting things done by vile characters.
This is an absolute must-listen for people new to the book & anyone looking to experience it again. Stellar all round.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mina
- 03-07-24
Jeremy Irons, the man that you are.
This novel has been the centre of my PhD thesis, Masters and Undergraduate degree. Jeremy Irons is exquisite as H.H, and portrays him exactly as Nabokov intended purely through his voice. Amazing work.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Isata
- 13-05-10
Captivating - audio at its best!
This book makes the best of audio: I found myself completely wrapped up in it. Read perfectly by Jeremy Irons, the novel is thrilling, beautiful and shocking all at the same time. It is wonderfully written and Irons voices the language with accomplished skill. Given the subject matter (an exploitative and abusive relationship between a middle-aged man and an attention-seeking young girl), I was surprised at how funny and touching the novel was, and how much I didn't want it to end. Nabokov manages to captivate without titillating, and brings you into his character's mind without ever condoning what he does. This is one that I'll be listening to - and reading - again and again.
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13 people found this helpful