Recent comment from another thread:
“Lolita is the most beautifully written book I’ve ever read. The juxtaposition of the prose and subject matter is a real mindfuck.”
Why do people recommend this book if the subject matter is so evil?
Why not read and suggest beautiful prose that is also healing to read?
It just makes me sad that people would recommend something so sick and twisted.
Can you please suggest a book that is both
– beautiful prose
AND
– you feel better, loving, and more hopeful after reading it?
by ProfessionBright3879
10 Comments
What’s the book about?
Because sometimes people don’t want to read a book that feels good, buddy.
people generally don’t exclusively read things to feel good and healed, because there is a broad spectrum of human emotions and experiencing disgust, fear, and anger is both completely normal and healthy to do in controlled settings especially, as you can do with books.
for a book that has beautiful prose but also isn’t a story at all like “Lolita”, I suggest “The Fox Wife” by Yangzse Choo, though.
Psalms
Because some people dont necesserily want to read good to feel books. I enjoy gut wrenching stories a whole lot more than cozy ones
Why? For the same reason people read horror, murder mysteries, true crime, WW2 non-fiction, and on and on. I personally can’t with Lolita but it is what it is.
As for a rec – Piranesi by Susanna Clark
I’d recommend Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston) if you’re wanting to read jaw droppingly stunning prose without the predatory narrator. I wouldn’t call it a feel good novel, however (nor is it not a feel good novel) – it’s a complex story exploring life, intergenerational trauma, love, grief, agency… But the narrator is a sympathetic character, it’s not about child abuse, and the prose is absolutely outstanding.
I usually prefer print, but in this case I also very highly recommend the audiobook read by Ruby Dee.
But regardless of what format you choose, at a bare minimum go read the first two pages of the novel to see what I mean about the quality of the prose: https://pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca/theireyeswerewatchinggod/chapter/1/
I have not read Lolita because though I do like beautiful prose, I do not want to read about that subject matter.
You might like:
* The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe by D. G. Compton. There are some sad and uncomfortable parts, but nowhere near Lolita. This is about a 44 year old woman receiving a terminal diagnosis in a future where almost every disease has been cured, and finding out what she does with the rest of her life.
* Void Star by Zachary Mason. Farther future sci fi with a dreamlike quality to it. I can’t say much without spoiling it.
It’s because narratives such as Lolita still have something important to say. A more familiar trope/moral would be narratives that give you the point of view of a Nazi during the Holocaust where the book gets you to perhaps empathise with the narrator. The point being that evil doesn’t always announce itself for everyone to see, nor do the perpetrators seem so different from you or me.
You are just as vulnerable to the kind of radicalisation that turned everyday Germans into genocidaires; and predators like Humbert Humbert could be living amongst you and would give a good impression all the time without you having a clue what they might be up to when you’re not around (they might even have twisted their own logic to convince themselves that what they’re doing is moral). That’s why books like Lolita are worth recommending.
Reading is personal for everybody. If someone wants to read a feel good book, that’s on them. And if someone wants to read the saddest books ever, then that’s also on them. It’s personal for everyone.