An interesting look at a Russian exile and flâneur roaming through Europe, with hardly any ambition other than to experience the world, to travel, and to woo Sonia, the daughter of the Russian family that takes him in while he attends Cambridge. He does well in his studies and athletics (especially soccer and tennis), has no problem getting laid, financially relies on a wealthy uncle (who becomes his stepfather), and generally has an easy time of things; the only nagging part of his life is Sonia, whom he alternately despises and lusts for, which is why, it seems, that even when he has his future laid in front of him, he can't get her out of his mind.
But ultimately, because Martin has such an easy life, he's not that interesting a character. His wanderlust, especially after his university graduation, take him all over Europe, but it often feels as if he's traveling just for the sake of traveling. He doesn't feel rooted anywhere, except possibly at his uncle's chalet in Switzerland, and his aimless drifting makes the plot feel more directionless than Nabokov's other works.
What I found disconcerting, however, was the total lack of mention of The Great War. Martin moves around from Greece to Italy to France to Germany to England to Switzerland (although not in that order), but not one mention is made of the reconstruction efforts made in those countries, no details that a continent-wide war had ever taken place. The last year mentioned in the book is 1924, when, I'm estimating, Martin is around 24 or 25; he would have lived through those terrible times, even as a boy, but the way Nabokov writes it, it's as if Europe of the time was a shiny happy place full of possibility and wonder; it's notable that he wrote the book in 1930, some years removed from those he writes about here, which may give a hint as to the rose-tinted nature of the narrative.
Not to say that no conflict is mentioned. Martin and his mother are exiled from Russia thanks to the Revolution, and it is this dislocation that drives his desire to sneak back in over the border from Latvia at the end of the book (an effort that leads to his death, as evinced by the future-perfect hints that are peppered throughout the final third of the book). I'm very much in line with Darwin's thinking after Martin has left: what had he thought to gain by doing something so stupid? If the cover copy is correct, why would he possibly think that sneaking over the border and back again would possibly impress Sonia? I'm just not getting it.
I did like tremendously the technique in the final chapter of shifting the point of view from Martin (whom we've been following all along) to Darwin, and then broadening out further to an objective omniscient view when Darwin tells the news to Martin's mother. We as the readers are not privy to that conversation, and it's as though, once Martin has left for Latvia, he has essentially become a non-person. He lifts himself out of history (to coin Orwell), and so instead of us being able to see him successfully (or perhaps not) infiltrate the Russian border, get caught, and then killed, we are left with his surviving family and friends trying to understand why he's done such a dumb-ass thing.
But ultimately, because Martin has such an easy life, he's not that interesting a character. His wanderlust, especially after his university graduation, take him all over Europe, but it often feels as if he's traveling just for the sake of traveling. He doesn't feel rooted anywhere, except possibly at his uncle's chalet in Switzerland, and his aimless drifting makes the plot feel more directionless than Nabokov's other works.
What I found disconcerting, however, was the total lack of mention of The Great War. Martin moves around from Greece to Italy to France to Germany to England to Switzerland (although not in that order), but not one mention is made of the reconstruction efforts made in those countries, no details that a continent-wide war had ever taken place. The last year mentioned in the book is 1924, when, I'm estimating, Martin is around 24 or 25; he would have lived through those terrible times, even as a boy, but the way Nabokov writes it, it's as if Europe of the time was a shiny happy place full of possibility and wonder; it's notable that he wrote the book in 1930, some years removed from those he writes about here, which may give a hint as to the rose-tinted nature of the narrative.
Not to say that no conflict is mentioned. Martin and his mother are exiled from Russia thanks to the Revolution, and it is this dislocation that drives his desire to sneak back in over the border from Latvia at the end of the book (an effort that leads to his death, as evinced by the future-perfect hints that are peppered throughout the final third of the book). I'm very much in line with Darwin's thinking after Martin has left: what had he thought to gain by doing something so stupid? If the cover copy is correct, why would he possibly think that sneaking over the border and back again would possibly impress Sonia? I'm just not getting it.
I did like tremendously the technique in the final chapter of shifting the point of view from Martin (whom we've been following all along) to Darwin, and then broadening out further to an objective omniscient view when Darwin tells the news to Martin's mother. We as the readers are not privy to that conversation, and it's as though, once Martin has left for Latvia, he has essentially become a non-person. He lifts himself out of history (to coin Orwell), and so instead of us being able to see him successfully (or perhaps not) infiltrate the Russian border, get caught, and then killed, we are left with his surviving family and friends trying to understand why he's done such a dumb-ass thing.