Reviews

Life Is Elsewhere by Milan Kundera

jeannepirouette's review against another edition

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1.0

Offert par Nour
C’est violent et pas si bien écrit… en fait j’aime pas Kundera je crois

thekid7887's review

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dark funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It's starts off slow, but around page fifty it picks up and then is interesting to the end. 

maruijuana's review against another edition

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4.0

painfully realistic without idealization. honest with the hypocricies: political as well as personal.

arno23's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

sparky66761's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

groundsandwich's review

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challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ericfheiman's review against another edition

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4.0

Portrait of the artist as a young man (who dies too young).

Life is Elsewhere might have received five stars if I had read this in my impressionable youth. Now, it reads as a cautionary tale of what might happen when culture is overpoliced in the name of so-called “decency.”

alexanderjamie's review

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Milan Kundera tackles themes of youth, love, the absolute, poetry, our imprisonment to our own perspectives, and maturity in this interesting take which I felt was quite slow in the first third but promptly picks up.

boginja_opste_prakse's review

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4.0

ova knjiga je tako bolesna i edipovska, obozavam je

davidgilani's review

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4.0

A very bizarre book - glad that I read this as part of a book club, as there was so much at the end to discuss. I also think that it's the type of book where I could probably read it again in a few years and hopefully would pick up SO much more than I did in my first visit to its pages.

The story is all about a young boy, Jaromil, growing up in Czechoslovakia at the time of the communist revolution. The book follows his life - but first starting from the perspective of his mother - and ending with the perspective of one of his lovers... and along the way also having the perspective of one of his alter egos / a character that he has created. The relationships between the characters are fascinating and sometimes awful. I think a book has done a very good job when you feel like you understand what's been happening, but have no idea what you actually think about it.