Details, Details!

This book doesn't just explore the idea of a passionate encounter of a middle-aged man and a 7th grader, it also describes enough vivid details for the reader to conjure up unwanted imagery. This probably adds to its "forbidden" qualities. Even if a book's characters were a married, same-aged, educated couple engaging in their physical activities, it would be banned, had it gone into enormous detail. Since Lolita showcases the heated relationship of lovers with an enormous age gap, then it's double banned. Nabokov does brilliant work, in that his details aren't repulsive or disgusting, but his choice of words and the way he weaves them creates so much for the reader to imagine. Also, Lolita is written in first person (a memoir), where H.H. is writing a manuscript of some sort to present to a jury at his trial. It doesn't say yet, what he's going to trial for. This also contributes to the simplicity of this book.