To memorize Nabokov is as hard as to memorize water because there is so much concrete and agile movement in his sentences. But these compositions are mesmerizing, especially in works hardest to approach with a template of convention. Never mind that we cannot decipher much on first reading in ‘Ada’, the spell of concrete magic, that watery element in Lucette, beckons to return. Regarding memorizing solution, while many would call ‘Ada’ a bigger challenge for memorizers then … fill the blank … they would probably say that ‘Lolita’ or ‘Pnin’ are less of a challenge. But come to it, most often quoted parts are quite predictable. It is easy to blame water for not swimming after struggling to learn and succeeding in walking on stilts.

- George Shimanovich

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