So far I am enjoying this book, it is far less scary than I thought it was going to be.  The characters and their reactions were human.  I had some troubles getting used to the syntax and other grammatical aspects of the book, but have found the story of the Norval’s and Lolita intriguing and am looking forward to finishing the novel.   the universalism of the novel is very evident – the importance of money and status (although no one really wants to admit it) are themes that can easily be translated into modern times.  I particularly enjoyed the introductory speech made by Hackwell and his discussion with Hammerhard regarding the necessity of ‘rogues’ in ‘good society’.  Also, I enjoyed the affection shown towards Lolita from Dr. Norval and his description of how he came to find her and her mother; how she had more romance in her short life than in any trashy novel that his daughters or wife had read.