ardor

Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle
$18.00
Ada, or Ardor takes place on an alternate world called "Antiterra" which has a lot of similarities to our own. This novel follows Van and Ada through the trials and tribulations of their incestuous relationship - first believing they are cousins, only to find out later that they are, in fact, brother and sister. This is one of the last books Nabokov published, and is his longest. Clocking in at 586 pages. I prefer the Vintage prints, they have the nicest covers.

The novel has an interesting format. It is broken up into five parts and written as a memoir from the eyes of Van, with comments here and there from Ada. Each part is successively shorter than the other. At the back is an appendix written by Vivian Darkbloom, which is an anagrammatic pseudonym for his name. Nabokov's writing is, as always, spectacular with beautiful flowing prose of fantastic proportions - molding and shaping the words to his use which are amazing feats to witness. He exploits his spectacular knowledge of the English language to great success, but not only that, he incorporates his fluency of Russian and French into the passages.

Each of the prominent characters are clearly defined. I felt really sorry for Lucette (Ada's sister). Her all consuming devotion and love for Van which she tried to get him to reciprocate even though she knew he never would give in to her desires, but yet she still tried time and time again. I never doubted for one second, the passion Van and Ada had for each other, and thought it was touching how they kept their feelings for one another even though they were separated for great lengths of time, and despite the fact that they had to deal with one of them being involved with someone else.

If you aren't accustomed to Nabokov's style by now then you should know that there are squeamish themes throughout his story. One of them being incest - Van and Ada, but also Lucette - and then the other bigger one for me is when the main characters finally have sex for the first time. She was 12, and he was 14. I'm sure that's not acceptable by anyone's standards, even today. There's also quite a lot of snark and satire about what people consider to be excellent literature and I enjoyed these bits as well.

I would not recommend this book to casual readers though, as the difficult language would be quite off-putting and they probably wouldn't attempt to slog through it (appendix included). I thought that despite his wonderful writing, Nabokov focused too much on crafting the languages he incorporated (though it was a seamless blend), which distracted me from the actual story. The abrupt point of view switches and then the long philosophical rumination on space and time in part four was difficult for me to get into. This is not a book that you're going to speed through, you're probably going to read this very slowly to pick up all the intricacies he inserted into his prose. Nabokov also alludes to many, many other novels and works that if you haven't heard of, or read, you'll be lost (I know I was). If you want a challenge, or are a lover of Nabokov, then I would definitely recommend this book.

Ardor a.k.a. The Deep Love (Standard Edition) DVD

The film,"Ardor" is adapted from JEON Kyung-lin's best seller novel "The one exceptional day in my life". The novel depicts the life of an average woman overcoming her dull life through a captivating love affair. More than the story, the author's specialty of combining straightforward, subversive, and magical rhetorics makes the novel shine with rave reviews from readers and critics alike. Based on this distinguished novel, "Ardor"centers on emphatically expressing an illicit affair and the moment to moment changes the main characters must face. The film goes beyond the original with passionate emotions exploding on screen that raise the intensity of the story.

Art and Ardor

Jimmy Nuzzo and Edward Marlo Collaborated on card magic that is visual and confounding because of sophisticated sleight of hand. It is these secrets that have formulated some of the most fooling magic ever created. Any pulsechecking, hardcore cardmen in the late 60s, knew about Jimmy Nuzzo. If they didn¡Çt get to see him in person, they were familiar with the select ideas he published ideas that probably seemed celestial at the time but were nevertheless interesting and enticing.¡É from Jon Rach

Ardor: A Novel of Enchantment
$12.95
This is one of those books that is uniquely different and so enjoyable. The book reminds me of Shakespears "Mid-summers night eve" not that the book is on the same par. It is a delightful read definitely worth picking up if you are going to be in a long car ride or train ride.