Doppelganger Mystery, September 7, 2004
Reviewer:foundpoem - See all my reviews-- So, so wonderful. If you haven't read the book description, I recommend you don't. The one-sentence description reveals something not revealed in the book until nearly its end.
I recommend this book, particularly as a plot-driven, less ethereal read for those who prefer that side of Nabokov (not to say his stamp is missing). Also interesting is that it was written in the 1930's and much revised by Nabokov in the 1960's, in English, after a literal Russian-to-English translation by his son. So the historic value that I find so interesting in his early work is there, yet his skill-level is far higher than in the books of his I've read from the 20's and 30's. To me, this plot, a doppelganger/crime in Nabokov's hands, is an original -- the way it unfolds, its structure; its breadth of characters, concepts and details. And Despair, brilliant, is an "easy" read, a suspenseful, highly enjoyable book.
I love an unreliable narrator, and thought the pacing with which Hermann's credence becomes questionable was seamless. But what I want to say most is something Nabokov denies in his Foreward. However, having read some of the other Forewards from this reissue series, he had a clear disrespect for those who "need a Foreward to explain the book" [Quote from the Foreward of "The Defense"], so part of me thinks he's messing with us in his intros. In any event (intentional on VN's part or not), this is something I loved: the political implication of the main way Hermann's credibility is sketchy -- his likeness to another person. Hermann himself mentions the word Marxism very near the end, and when he ultimately concedes that he and Felix may look different, says, All people are really alike anyway. I thought about the book's entirety, the time in history it was written, and the ideology / social construct itself. As an American, at this time in history, I found this (what?)particularly powerful. Driving this politic home in "Despair" is their precise opposite lots: Hermann wealthy; Felix poor, a beggar, someone who goes to Hermann for money. The rich and the poor men, in Despair, are doubles, "alike in every way," Hermann writes.

humbert = hermann lite, December 20, 2005
Reviewer:E. Keaveney "westernswine" - See all my reviews as vlad puts it: "hermann and humbert (of Lolita) are alike only in the sense that two dragons painted by the same artist at different periods of his life resemble each other. both are neurotic scoundrels, yet there is a green lane in paradise where humbert is permitted to wander at dusk once a year; but hell shall never parole hermann." both are self-obsessed, manipulative, solipsistic sociopaths...initially they charm readers with their wit and meticulous deconstruction of their surroundings...and by then end they have you laughing wildly...pitying them even, as if they simply cannot help the fact that they feel emotion for nothing other than themselves...like a person with cretinism. it isn't their fault, simply a flaw in their makeup. combine arrogance and intelligence with self-obsession and an emotional black hole in place of a heart...and you get a brilliantly entertaining comedy. but the character in despair is hardly worthy of contempt. he is a jester and a mastermind...as is nabokov himself.

Despair-- by Vladimir Nabokov
Russian-born Hermann Karlovich, 36, is a married and disappointed purveyor of chocolates in pre-war Berlin. When he meets a young vagrant he considers to be his physical double, he undertakes to exploit their likeness to commit the perfect crime.