With apologies to the partisans of Joyce and (God, are you serious, Mr. Shippey?) Tolkien, Vladimir Nabokov was the master of literature in the 20th century. His novels are intricate masterworks that can be comprehended on multiple levels, but the fine jewels which are his stories are no mere diversions. One can't begin to enumerate favorites, but "Signs and Symbols" must be the most heartbreaking story written in any language. An essential for the five-star bookshelf.

In his stories, Vladimir Nabokov so perfectly captures a character, or a setting, or an emotion, that I feel that the character is real, the setting surrounds me, and the emotion is my own.

His writing in these stories is so well done that I, a very amateur writer, feel the urge to try my hand at capturing the images around me, a task I will surely fail because I know I will never even remotely measure up to Nabokov’s incredible talent.

The unfortunate aspect of reading more than 60 of Nabokov’s short stories in one month is that the characters he so adroitly creates, the settings he so carefully draws, and the feelings he so perfectly captures are, for the most part, miserable, gloomy, and ultimately depressing. Also, some of his stories have fantastical elements that failed to resonate with me, and most dwell on negative aspects of human nature - subjects that weren’t pleasant for reading in bulk.

But I feel that the overall quality of Vladimir Nabokov’s writing is so extraordinary that he should be read simply for the marvelous experience that comes from reading his words, even if the reader doesn’t necessarily consider the negative underlying themes amazing.

More detailed review on my blog

I'm a bit torn reviewing this book. On one hand it has some very good short stories, and a few masterpieces (Signs and Symbols, Scenes from the Life of a Double Monster, and The Vane Sisters are my favourites).

On the other hand, this collection includes all of Nabokov's stories, including far too many that are frankly bad. He is often praised as a stylist, and he might well be, but these stories are usually sterile, gimmicky, cold, and pretentious. Their dialogue is terrible. And those that feel autobiographical are uncomfortably biased and deluded. ( )

Some of the most beautiful writing I've ever seen. ( )