Features an unpleasant, unreliable narrator in Hermann, who is similar to, but crucially lacks the perverse appeal of, Nabokov's Humbert. First half of the novel I found almost unbearably frothy and obnoxious. As the plot finally makes its delayed appearance matters improve, and as a reviewer I follow says, Nabokov ends up taking the piss out of Dostoyevsky. Problem is, I now feel inclined to side with Dostoyevsky! This won't be one of my favorite Nabokovs. ( )

Readble, sure. It's also quite funny at times, and some of Nabokov's insights into humanity (via the lens of Hermann) are pretty interesting. The implied political nature of the work gives it something to chew on, too; on the whole, there's a surprising lot for a modern reader to enjoy. But, at all times, it just feels like a "minor" book, a B-movie type throwaway. ( )

I'm not sure what all the hype is about. I've been meaning to read Nabokov for a while, but you gotta start with Lolita right? Well, to be honest, I just couldn't bring myself to read it. I'm not for censorship however I am for personal choice and I find the subject matter pretty distasteful and honestly just didn't want to spend my reading time with it. Still, you have to read Nabokov right? Well Despair was my compromise. I was pretty disappointed. I'd been hearing what a brilliant writer he was for years. I just don't see it. He's good. The book was well written, but I wouldn't say there was anything special about it. Not only that the main character was extremally unlikable. Not in that delicious character who you love to hate sort of way. Just character who you wish would go away sort of way. I'm glad I finally had a go at Nabokov, but I think this will by my last book of his. ( )

Desesperación es una impagable joya literaria, una originalísima variación sobre el tema del doble en la que la inveterada astucia narrativa de su autor se combina con su diabólico sentido del humor. La historia empieza el día en que un fabricante de chocolate tropieza con un vagabundo que le parece su sosias. Cuando, más adelante, su negocio comience a hundirse, decidirá llevar a cabo un crimen perfecto que le permitirá cobrar su propio seguro de vida y vivir feliz para siempre jamás.

This is Nabokov's Dostoevskian novel, albeit only in the choice of topic -- his language and style is completely unDostoevsky-like. This is not surprising given Nabokov's disdain for Dostoevsky as a writer. The narrator makes jabs at "Dusty" often, refers to "The Double" and "Crime and Punishment" openly and with a kind of sneer.

In brief, the narrator has met his double in the person of a vagabond, starts a relationship with this person, then plans a nefarious crime, it seems, for the sake of writing about it. Because this narrator is, like Nabokov, a well-educated, elegant, Russian emigre and not the harassed petty clerk of Dostoevsky's tale, he is very concerned with the mechanics of writing the story. The first chapters often bring up literary problems, like which events should he speak of first, details of place, how things should be introduced and he comes back to the issue of writing, especially at the end. Leave it to Nabokov to tell Dostoevsky how to write.

It is an interesting piece -- Nabokov's first novel, reworked 30 or so years later --with a wonderful, but not unexpected, little twist near the end. Nevertheless, what's missing from "Despair" is the essence of a Dostoevsky novel: the angst and frisson, inelegant, hysterical and so compelling. ( )