Bend Sinister

from figre

This is an entertaining and intriguing novel. It is a story set in a time slightly different than any that does or has actually existed - a strife-torn unnamed European country that is being ruled by a dictator who happens to be the school-time "friend" of the novel's protagonist, a famous philos...

from figre

This is an entertaining and intriguing novel. It is a story set in a time slightly different than any that does or has actually existed - a strife-torn unnamed European country that is being ruled by a dictator who happens to be the school-time "friend" of the novel's protagonist, a famous philos...

from rmckeown

One thing I find hardest to do is blast a novel by a well-known, widely-admired, great writer. So I struggle to write this review of Bend Sinister by Vladimir Nabokov. I read this novel long before I started keeping track of my reading with this journal more than 10 years ago. Perhaps I notice th...

from lastweeksapocalypse

Ah, Nabokov, my favorite synesthete. The beginning of this book is kind of slow, though it works through parts of it (in parts, it feels like one is being led; in others, it feels like one is trudging). Overall, I would say it is what one expects of Nabokov: beautiful, somewhat self-conscious wri...

from Marse

This book reminded me a a little of "Invitation to a Beheading" because of the nightmarish, inescapable feeling of doom throughout the story. However, while "Invitiation" had a kind of Alice-in-Wonderlandish absurdity to it that makes it almost charming, this book is filled with sharp punches to ...