Shelfari: The Site for Books & ReadersShelfari Logo

Pnin (Everyman's Library Classics & Contemporary Classics)
 

Pnin

by Vladimir Nabokov

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

One of the best-loved of Nabokov’s novels, Pnin features his funniest and most heart-rending character. Professor Timofey Pnin is a haplessly disoriented Russian émigré precariously employed on an American college campus in the 1950s. Pnin struggles to maintain his dignity through a series of comic and sad misunder-standings, all the while falling... (read more)

Top tags: fiction,  russian,  nabokov,  humor,  literature (all tags)

Readers

Groups

  • Brilliant Babes (And Dudes) Who Read Selectively Discussion Group
  • Academic Antics Discussion Group
  • 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Discussion Group
  • First Tuesday Book Group Discussion Group

Other Reviews

Amazon Reviews (5)
 

Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

muque and shylock tomes
  • Rated 4 stars

“Obviously rather autobiographical, this was the first Nabokov novel I ever read. Though I did not loathe it when I first read it, I was a bit confused by the satirical narration. After having read a lot of other Nabokov books, this one finally started making sense...”

muque and shylock tomes’s full review »
more reviews »
Community:
  • Rated 3.979798 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 4 stars
  

Newest Comments

  • Hermione ff-ff

    hermione ff-ff said:

    “I loved this book; I love anything by Nabokov.

    I am lucky enough to own a large volume of his biography-whatever size was it in total ???-The American Years.

    Like Philip Roth, Nabokov can get drunk on words-and make the reader drunk on them as well-makes everyhing one writes oneself seem terribly pedestrian. How could anyone write so brilliantly in a language that's not their own ?”

    posted Friday, May 16 2008
  • Artemis_98

    artemis_98 said:

    “This is one of Zadie Smith's favourite books. I added it to the Academic Antics group shelf. Here's her description in Oprah magazine, Oct. 05:
    This novella is explicitly a book about ridicule and caricature—Professor Pnin is a joke of a man on a college campus. He's an awkward Russian émigré with bad English, false teeth, a clumsy sense of humor, a tendency to burst into tears or take offense at small slights. Everybody on campus can do an impression of him. He's a clown. But at the core of the book is the idea that there is a Pnin who is as real as the people who ridicule him. You are invited to laugh at him, and then you are humbled and shamed by your own laughter. It's a gorgeous, hilarious, humane book that uncovers the reality of a man's life in sly, piecemeal fashion. I think it's my favorite novel.”

    posted Sunday, July 8 2007
© 2008 Tastemakers, Inc. | Portions of Shelfari.com are Copyright © 1996-2008 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy