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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Each time I read a book by Kundera, I am fascinated at how seamlessly he works in definitions of human nature and defines the cause and effect (in this book it primarily deals with trauma, but it can essentially be any event from the past), so clearly and effectively that his characters deserve to be published as case studies in psychoanalytic textbooks. For example: "...I was amazed by the incredible human capacity for transforming reality into a likeness of desires or ideals." (181).
None of his male characters in this book were very likeable, but I was drawn in anyway - particularly with the masks narrative - and how the narrators themselves did not know who they truly were, or the relation between their self-image and their desired constructed image/mask, either by themselves or with their lovers, until the end of the novel, when they finally learned the true extent of the haunting of their pasts. If you decide to read 'The Joke,' or any of Kundera's books, be prepared to feel drained when you are through, as his insight into the human condition and other issues cause for many hours of self-reflection.
One of my favorite quotes... one of the more cheerful ones in the book: "Life is beautiful, and we can never celebrate it enough" (183).
None of his male characters in this book were very likeable, but I was drawn in anyway - particularly with the masks narrative - and how the narrators themselves did not know who they truly were, or the relation between their self-image and their desired constructed image/mask, either by themselves or with their lovers, until the end of the novel, when they finally learned the true extent of the haunting of their pasts. If you decide to read 'The Joke,' or any of Kundera's books, be prepared to feel drained when you are through, as his insight into the human condition and other issues cause for many hours of self-reflection.
One of my favorite quotes... one of the more cheerful ones in the book: "Life is beautiful, and we can never celebrate it enough" (183).
After reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being some years ago and being awed by its mastery of the various literary techniques, I expected something rawer, more stripped back from Kundera's debut novel, The Joke. And yet. Even in his earliest form, Kundera is so clearly a natural talent. In The Joke, sentences and chapters flow like tributaries into the wide open ocean of his central idea, that you cannot step into the same river twice, to paraphrase Heraclitus. Unexpectedly, the postmodernism of his later work is already well on its way to becoming fully realized. He radically shifts perspectives from one chapter to the next, articulately putting into words how two people can have such radically different and equally valid interpretations of the same event.
Most affecting to me is Lucie's relationship with Ludvik when he is a young soldier; although she originally rebukes his advances, their relationship eventually blooms into a romance of undeniable power, at least from his perspective. When we finally hear her side of the story many years later, it is a shock to learn that she considered him a nuisance at best and a rapist at worst. Which version is the correct one? Or are they both exaggerations, just in divergent directions? We all rewrite history to make sense of the past, and this notion is especially moving as it relates to intimate relationships due to the fact that only two people can have a complete recollection of this shared experience. As it retreats further and further into the past, this shared memory between Ludvik and Lucie splinters and eventually breaks into two pieces, never to be whole again.
"It must have been Lucie's singular slowness that fascinated me, a slowness radiating a resigned consciousness that there was nowhere to hurry to and that it was useless to reach impatiently toward anything... She said that she worked in a factory and lived in a dormitory, that she had to be in by eleven, that she went to the movies a lot because she didn't like going to dances. I told her I'd be glad to go to the movies with her anytime she was free. She said she'd rather go alone. I asked her if it was because she felt sad. She said it was. I told I wasn't particularly cheerful either."
Most affecting to me is Lucie's relationship with Ludvik when he is a young soldier; although she originally rebukes his advances, their relationship eventually blooms into a romance of undeniable power, at least from his perspective. When we finally hear her side of the story many years later, it is a shock to learn that she considered him a nuisance at best and a rapist at worst. Which version is the correct one? Or are they both exaggerations, just in divergent directions? We all rewrite history to make sense of the past, and this notion is especially moving as it relates to intimate relationships due to the fact that only two people can have a complete recollection of this shared experience. As it retreats further and further into the past, this shared memory between Ludvik and Lucie splinters and eventually breaks into two pieces, never to be whole again.
"It must have been Lucie's singular slowness that fascinated me, a slowness radiating a resigned consciousness that there was nowhere to hurry to and that it was useless to reach impatiently toward anything... She said that she worked in a factory and lived in a dormitory, that she had to be in by eleven, that she went to the movies a lot because she didn't like going to dances. I told her I'd be glad to go to the movies with her anytime she was free. She said she'd rather go alone. I asked her if it was because she felt sad. She said it was. I told I wasn't particularly cheerful either."
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Uno dei libri di Kundera che mi sono piaciuti di più.
Kundera writes cynically, politically, with and about moral ambiguity. Interestingly, by placing the joke as the inevitable victim of totalitarianism, and the simultaneous loss of any seriousness anchored to morality with the crumbling of that very totalitarian order. The Joke is clever, lyrical, and yet - it's not subtle.
Compared to Unbearable Lightness of Being especially, the rancour of this book's conservative politics and (rather confused) gender politics grate; they're often taken surprisingly seriously. This undercuts some of the more libidinal joys of what I'd expected from Kundera's writing - in that, I'm a little disappointed with this book.
The complexities of 20th century life that Kundera meditates on, he does with a clarity few writers offer. I don't always agree with them, but they're always something to pause and think about. It's those pauses where Kundera's brilliance still shines.
Compared to Unbearable Lightness of Being especially, the rancour of this book's conservative politics and (rather confused) gender politics grate; they're often taken surprisingly seriously. This undercuts some of the more libidinal joys of what I'd expected from Kundera's writing - in that, I'm a little disappointed with this book.
The complexities of 20th century life that Kundera meditates on, he does with a clarity few writers offer. I don't always agree with them, but they're always something to pause and think about. It's those pauses where Kundera's brilliance still shines.
Kundera is a favourite author of mine but i was weary of this one in particular seeing it was his first and originaly written in Czech, i was afraid it would be clumsy and that it wouldn't have the kundera i love but i was wrong so wrong because it eneded up being more insightful and meaningful and of course full of nihilism, sarcasm and folk music.
The story is about the young ludvik who send a joke to his girl marketa in a communist camp only for the party to expel him as a traitor which lead him to a whole different life, later on he gets a chance to take his revenge but things isn't exactly as it seems.
I guess this book is a must read at the point when you start giving up hope on the present and everything around you feel unjust, it makes you see that nothing last forever not hatred not love not passion everything is bound to fade, what's once has been important and a matter of life of death can easily be a joke .
The story is about the young ludvik who send a joke to his girl marketa in a communist camp only for the party to expel him as a traitor which lead him to a whole different life, later on he gets a chance to take his revenge but things isn't exactly as it seems.
I guess this book is a must read at the point when you start giving up hope on the present and everything around you feel unjust, it makes you see that nothing last forever not hatred not love not passion everything is bound to fade, what's once has been important and a matter of life of death can easily be a joke .
"اجتاحتني فكرة أن القدر غالبًا ما يتوقف قبل الموت، أن لحظة النهاية لا تتطابق مع الموت"
3.5/5
3.5/5
challenging
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
