I hesitate to give anything by Nabokov such a low rating, but I found the Gift to be stuffy, pretentious, tedious, and at times downright dull. Admittedly, I am not well acquainted with 19th century Russian literature. Having an in depth knowledge and appreciation of the likes of Pushkin, Gogol, and Chernyshevsky is a prerequisite for enjoyment of the Gift. You will otherwise be lost with all the namedropping and style referencing. There are, of course, bits of Nabokov brilliance that shine through for the average reader. A passage here and there that makes the heart soar or elicits spontaneous laughter. The book's structure is itself a piece of art. Pay attention to the subtle shifts in point of view which serve as cues that you are reading a book within a book (within a book). Those small rewards were only just enough to keep me going.