The Gift (Paperback)

But what is this book? Or what is it about?

It's sort of autobiographical. It sort of describes VN himself, as a newbie Russian exile in Berlin. Certainly, like all imaginative writing, it draws on the writer's own experiences and emotions.

But that's only a beginning.

At the beginning, the young writer-protagonist (a Russian in Berlin) has just published his first volume of poetry. An older exile, named Chernyshevski, comes to tell him that his book has attracted a very favorable review. So Fyodor (our hero) sinks into a prolong reverie, reviewing his beloved poems with the (anticipated) wise words of praise. Later, he goes to Chernyshevski's house for the evening, and discovers that he has just been the victim of an April-Fool's joke: today is April 1, and there was no review. Fyodor's attention is grabbed by a young male visitor who says nothing. He says nothing because he is a ghost. He is the son of the Chernyshevski couple, who commited suicide, a few years ago, as the result of a love triangle. And so enters the theme of the father grieving endlessly for his son. The father Chernyshevski is mad, much of the time -- because of his loss.

In the next chapter, we get a stunning shift of scene, as Fyodor welcomes a visit from his mother and begins drafting a life of his father. This father, a character much larger than life, spent his life chasing butterflies across Asia, making more trips than Marco Polo, and finally was reported dead during WWI. And so enters the theme of the son grieving for his father -- a father of many voyages. Very moving, and obvious parallels to "The Odyssey."

In the next chapter, Fyodor moves, and falls in love, and begins drafting his second book, a life of Chernyshevki (the FAMOUS Chernyshevski). And the chapter after that (Chapter IV) is the book that Fyodor wrote.

Chapter V presents various idiotic reviews of Fyodor's book, and slowly VN knits all the themes together: the father mourning for his dead son, the son mourning for his dead father, people writing books which other people fail to understand (the ongoing "book review" theme), and the simple, absolute beauty of life here on earth, and love of another human being.

I'm sure I will be re-reading this wonderful work of art many times. I think you should regard it as a gift -- to you!

Highest possible recommendation!!

Vladimir Nabokov is considered one of the greatest authors of the 20th century. Nabokov is incapable of writing a paragraph, much less a sentence, without creating a work of poetry. This is no less true in _The Gift_. Nabokov does give a picaresque description of Fyodor's relationship with his adverturous father, a hunter of rare and exotic butterflies. _The Gift_, however, is so over-ladden with metaphors and intellectual gymnastics that character and plot development are almost completely sacrficed. The book also lacks focus, wildly jumping from one story line to another in quick succession. I completed reading _The Gift_ only because the author is the great Nabokov.