Mary: Amazon.ca: Vladimir Nabokov, M. Glenny: Books

Product Description

Mary is a gripping tale of youth, first love, and nostalgia--Nabokov's first novel. In a Berlin rooming house filled with an assortment of seriocomic Russian émigrés, Lev Ganin, a vigorous young officer poised between his past and his future, relives his first love affair. His memories of Mary are suffused with the freshness of youth and the idyllic ambience of pre-revolutionary Russia. In stark contrast is the decidedly unappealing boarder living in the room next to Ganin's, who, he discovers, is Mary's husband, temporarily separated from her by the Revolution but expecting her imminent arrival from Russia. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Ingram

Nabokov's first novel is now available in a trade paper edition. Here is thedark tale of a handsome officer who lives next door to his lover's husband ina dreary Berlin boarding house. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.6 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Magic, Dec 24 2001

By	Z. Liu (Chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Mary (Paperback)

Putting my obsession for Nabokov and for first novels in general aside, reading this was still pure bliss. Sometimes narrative breaks for the author to sneak in some philosophical musing about memory, but somehow it fits. Immature writer syndrome, I suppose, which i've caught in my own work.

It is a book about first love, and losing her, and then finding her again, but engaged to another man, who's not half the man you are. Nabokov questions how much you're in love with only the memory, and whether finding the flesh and blood girl again will ever fill the hole that your memory and desire have dug.

Makes interesting reading next to Martin Amis' first work, The Rachel Papers.

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3.0 out of 5 stars shadow of the greatness to come, April 23 2001

By	Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Mary (Paperback)

This novel is a good first effort, with vivid characters and a b�t of a surprise ending, which is one of Nab's trademarks. While I would never have read it for itself alone, it is interesting to see how a genius began in a new medium.

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5.0 out of 5 stars dont read this if u havent read this book yet, Mar 18 2001

By	alaa alnaji "berguss22@usa.net" (fresno, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mary (Paperback)

Though I found this book in some pasages quite boring none the less I liked it very much ganin is a great character easy to hate for alot of reasons but mainly the guy like most of us lives in the past trying all his life to recapture a moment he thinks was the greatest and happiest moment of his life in the hopes of living it again in this case with mary the love of his life...but ofcorse sadly for all of us that can never happen again I dont think there are hollywood endings in the stories of nabkov just realistic ones...but still what a great ending an ending that confirmed the idea I had all through the book that some sort of awakening has to happen in his life and realization that the past no matter how beautiful it was can never be resurrected except in our memories and the reality of his dull,poor and ugly life is still a reality.But I think as ganin realised in the end that other maries waiting to be loved happier moments waiting to be lived can still exits in the future.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars a lucidly crafted pearl
I'm not quite as enthusiastic about this book as the glistening and hyperboletic praise of the previous passages, but it is beautifully constructed nonetheless and composed (even... Read more

Published on April 15 2000 by asphlex

5.0 out of 5 stars Nabokov reads like a nostalgia suffused with lightning...
First published under the title Mashenka, Mary is a lucid trip in and out of a man's fantasy. It is comic, despondent, and filled with illuminating details- the hole in a sock,... Read more

Published on Oct 8 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars a great read
If this book were to come out today, with perhaps a modern setting, it would be a best-seller. A thoughtful, nostalgic and fun coming-of-age novel with an excellent cast of... Read more

Published on Aug 19 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Nabokov's 1st proves he was great from the start
This is, to be sure, minor Nabokov, but it's a wonderful book nonetheless--funny, moving, and (of course) beautifully written. It should not be overlooked. Read more

Published on Jun 2 1999