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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
I must be missing something. The book was fine, but goodreads collectively says it's 3.92 good, which is a pretty good score. It's also his first novel, which means some publisher thought this was worth publishing without knowing this was the guy who'd later write [b:The Book of Laughter and Forgetting|240976|The Book of Laughter and Forgetting|Milan Kundera|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1173039930s/240976.jpg|3428728] or [b:The Unbearable Lightness of Being|9717|The Unbearable Lightness of Being|Milan Kundera|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1265401884s/9717.jpg|4489585]. Oh, yeah - it's a "1001 Books Before You Die" book.
Am I supposed to feel bittersweet about Lucie and her ethereal quality? Am I supposed to feel anger at Zemanek? Pity for Ludvik? Maybe a little, but I'm not deeply moved or nothin'. I just finished it, mentally shrugged, and went to sleep.
Sorry, Milan.
Am I supposed to feel bittersweet about Lucie and her ethereal quality? Am I supposed to feel anger at Zemanek? Pity for Ludvik? Maybe a little, but I'm not deeply moved or nothin'. I just finished it, mentally shrugged, and went to sleep.
Sorry, Milan.
This was a pretty good satire with absurdist themes. The main character, Ludvik, finds his whole life trajectory thrown off course by an ill received joke. Kundera says this about his novel, “Man, caught in the trap of a joke, suffers a personal catastrophe which, seen from without, is ludicrous. His tragedy lies in the fact that the joke has deprived him of the right to tragedy. He is condemned to triviality.” There are some good bits about the passing of time and how it makes everything meaningless and abstract, like when Ludvik is talking to Zemanek and his young mistress toward the end, and she is so dismissive, uninterested, and not understanding of basically any of the things that have consumed Ludvik’s whole life and he suddenly realizes that his whole life has been a joke. This against the backdrop of the folk festival that clearly means basically nothing to anyone but Jaroslav anymore. Every bit didn’t work for me, but taken as a whole I really enjoyed this cynical little novel.
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This by far by favourite book of literature that I have ever read. It is beautifully dark exploration of life under an oppressive regime in where all expression is judged, equalised and unified. It is one of the few books that contain quotes that I find so beautifully worded that I wanted to write them down to use them in daily conversations.
Our story follows an arrogant young university student that tries to impress a girl with his intellect. When she does not recipacte his interest, he becomes upsets and tries to shock her. When the authorities see the letter, he is faces severe consequences of his speech and has to leave university. The book then tells of his life afterwards as a political outcast, a struggle to find himself after being ousted from his community identity, the relationship between folk stories & modernity and how to find your place after being abandoned.
It goes pretty dark places at times, so don't read it if you're sensitive to stories involving (sexual) abuse. The connection to "cancel" culture, it should be said, seems to me overstated and an attempt to force a modern narrative onto a story where it does not fit and does not benefit from it.
Our story follows an arrogant young university student that tries to impress a girl with his intellect. When she does not recipacte his interest, he becomes upsets and tries to shock her. When the authorities see the letter, he is faces severe consequences of his speech and has to leave university. The book then tells of his life afterwards as a political outcast, a struggle to find himself after being ousted from his community identity, the relationship between folk stories & modernity and how to find your place after being abandoned.
It goes pretty dark places at times, so don't read it if you're sensitive to stories involving (sexual) abuse. The connection to "cancel" culture, it should be said, seems to me overstated and an attempt to force a modern narrative onto a story where it does not fit and does not benefit from it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent
And I remembered my bassoon and I remembered agony and I remembered joy and I remembered loving (you).
And I remembered asking myself why, and all the times I've cried in public because I do at times deserve the adjective "maudlin", in the sense of effusive, since I am anything but insincere in my emotions.
And for a moment everything was ok, although I didn't really want to get up from the table and really start my day, so I wrote inanity all over the Internetz.
And very little of it had anything to do with what I'd just read. But it provided a useful enough outlet. And time went on. And I continued with other inane writing. And I guess that's ok.
And I remembered asking myself why, and all the times I've cried in public because I do at times deserve the adjective "maudlin", in the sense of effusive, since I am anything but insincere in my emotions.
And for a moment everything was ok, although I didn't really want to get up from the table and really start my day, so I wrote inanity all over the Internetz.
And very little of it had anything to do with what I'd just read. But it provided a useful enough outlet. And time went on. And I continued with other inane writing. And I guess that's ok.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One of those books I remember absolutely nothing about. I know I've read It, I know it was about ten years ago, and that's it. Frustrating.
"If the mountains were paper and the oceans ink
If the stars were scribes and all the world could think,
Not all their words upon words, in the event,
Could come to the end of my love's testament.
sang Jaroslav with the violin still at his chest and I felt happy inside these songs... where love is still love and pain is pain... and it seemed to me that inside these songs I was at home."
The Joke is Kundera's first novel and it stands for the futile existence of human lives in a world shadowed by false propagandas and ideologies. It deals with so many small trivialities of human lives where some trivialities can endanger entire lives while others simply let you realise that they were not trivialities but important milestones that needed more attention.
As the year draws to an end, there are many mistakes I can recall which shadowed through and toned the mood for the rest of the year, these self-inflicted 'jokes' however remained guileless and only bothered my personal and emotional space. So when I picked up Kundera's debut novel, absolutely unaware about its plot, I could not help but feel a serendipitous synchronicity with it. Here, however, the joke has larger consequences in a world led by a dystopian tour de force of communist takeover, where mistakes are intolerable and have dire consequences. The fact that the outer forces shape your inner demons beautifully and intricately spiralled off in the novel which further intensified its depth.
The human relationships which shape throughout are woven with a soulful texture, dealing with all possible human emotions in a consequential world, with a sublime ending that concludes our nothingness in the most meaningful way one could ever achieve.
If the stars were scribes and all the world could think,
Not all their words upon words, in the event,
Could come to the end of my love's testament.
sang Jaroslav with the violin still at his chest and I felt happy inside these songs... where love is still love and pain is pain... and it seemed to me that inside these songs I was at home."
The Joke is Kundera's first novel and it stands for the futile existence of human lives in a world shadowed by false propagandas and ideologies. It deals with so many small trivialities of human lives where some trivialities can endanger entire lives while others simply let you realise that they were not trivialities but important milestones that needed more attention.
As the year draws to an end, there are many mistakes I can recall which shadowed through and toned the mood for the rest of the year, these self-inflicted 'jokes' however remained guileless and only bothered my personal and emotional space. So when I picked up Kundera's debut novel, absolutely unaware about its plot, I could not help but feel a serendipitous synchronicity with it. Here, however, the joke has larger consequences in a world led by a dystopian tour de force of communist takeover, where mistakes are intolerable and have dire consequences. The fact that the outer forces shape your inner demons beautifully and intricately spiralled off in the novel which further intensified its depth.
The human relationships which shape throughout are woven with a soulful texture, dealing with all possible human emotions in a consequential world, with a sublime ending that concludes our nothingness in the most meaningful way one could ever achieve.
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Misogyny
dark
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced