Nabokov’s Quartet by Vladimir Nabokov (1966)

Summary: Four short stories by Nabokov. A man rides a train. A man hears a crackle. A man feels nostalgia. A man and a woman drift apart in a soft and melancholic way.

Review: Words cannot express human emotions, except when they are wielded by Nabokov. He uses such poetic metaphors that they reach the heart of the issue and tear at one’s own heartstrings, making the reader feel paranoid when a character thinks someone is following him, making the reader feel vulnerable when a character thinks he is “but a piece of scenery.”

Rating(1-10): 9 sets of train wheels beating out the rhythm “abattoir…abattoir…abattoir…”

Favorite part: “This twinned twinkle was delightful but not completely satisfying; or rather it only sharpened my appetite for other tidbits of light and shade, and I walked on in a state of raw awareness that seemed to transform the whole of my being into one  big eyeball rolling in the world’s socket.” p.75

Wine-pairing: Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger (1953). You’ll fall for these characters, prodigal children grown up, lonely, reaching out and offing themselves.