Vladimir Nabokov’s Invitation to a Beheading is a novel that could best be expressed as a theoretical and psychological outlook upon what is perceived as reality in comparison to what is perceived as imagination. Consequently, Invitation to a Beheading feels less like a narrative—rather, it reads as uninterrupted and uncensored thoughts, of which marry the real living world with the creative subconscious that dwells within us all.
Following the protagonist of this novel, Cincinnatus, as he is locked away in a prison cell, Invitation to a Beheading counts down the days that will eventually lead to Cincinnatus’ beheading. The narrative is no more complex than that, with the exception that the prison of which he is contained is completely absurd, eerie, and at some points even illogical. Unknowing of the day of his demise, Cincinnatus slowly closes himself from his reality, finding comfort within his mind, altering his circumstances, visitors, and locations by using his imagination. As the novel does not make the distinction of these shifts of world, readers are left to wonder what is real and what is imaginary.
Having read other novels from Vladimir Nabokov (Lolita, Laughter in the Dark), I found Invitation to a Beheading 
to be extremely different in terms of the general mood of the novel. While his other works seemed to be dramatically dark, and at times morbidly comical, this book ignored classical genre types, focusing more so on philosophical and/or psychological subject matter—masking them within the context of a simple narrative structure. That being said, I still really enjoyed Invitation to a Beheading, and believe that it is a great book that fans of Nabokov should definitely read. However, I wouldn’t recommend starting with this novel, if you have yet to read any of his previous work. I found a quote in this novel that I absolutely loved and feel represents this novel almost perfectly, and I will share it with you below as a closing to this post:
“In my dreams the world was ennobled, spiritualized; people whom in the waking state I feared so much appeared there in a shimmering refraction, just as if they were imbued with and enveloped by that vibration of light which in sultry weather inspires the very outlines of objects with life; their voices, their step, the expressions of their eyes and even their clothes—acquired an exciting significance; to put it more simply, in my dreams the world would come alive, becoming so captivatingly majestic, free and ethereal, that afterwards it would be oppressive to breathe the dust of this painted life.” – Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov (Page, 92).
madcritic 