Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)

This novel is a miracle of storytelling, dream-like in its ability to mire us in Humbert's fevered brain, and nightmarish in its power to make us give up and say, "Just DO IT already! Get it over with!"

Nabokov doesn't let us sit back and feel superior to Humbert; instead, he has Humbert seduce us in that way that a gross relative at a family reunion can pull you aside and drunkenly divulge all the things you never wanted to know about his drug-filled adventures in the '70s out in Pensacola or canning in Fairbanks or working the shoelace fries w/ vinegar stand at Virginia Beach. You don't want to know, but you have to know, partly because you know the story is about you and the terrible surprises hiding in your DNA.

Lolita inspires us to pity and awe and disgust and that undeniable knob of admiration that comes from watching someone pursue a goal with unshakeable intensity. It's Greek tragedy on such a sad, small scale that it makes you look at your own life and wonder what the hell's wrong with you; something must be, you're human, after all.

And just when you think you've set your mind on Humbert and convinced yourself that maybe young Lolita was so jaded and tough that she'd grow up and out of the skin that he touched, that she'd thrive anyway and you wouldn't have to worry about her after all, you'd be absolved of your voyeur's guilt, just when you're getting comfortable, along comes Clare Quilty. Suddenly you want to protect your pervert from this worse, more dashing, more destructive and attractive and soulless pervert. Suddenly you're on Humbert's side and resenting Lolly's fickleness. And that's life, because you aren't going to figure it out, but you are going to have to face it.

The 1962 Kubrick film is the same but different. It's got the same brain but different limbs. The cast is outstanding, especially Shelley Winters as Lolita's mom, and Peter Sellers as Clare Quilty, the role he was born to play. Sellers wanted to be Chauncy Gardner, but he was Clare Quilty.

Lolita is a work of genius and a great read.