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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Was funny, had the essence of of desperation, anger, frustration, love -holistic, sensual, lust and spades of misfortunes/ironies. Language was good and you could feel the characters and their personalities by the word they say/think.
Was an absolute joy to read.
Was an absolute joy to read.
3.5* i started this book while in berlin and time got away from me. i fully believe that if it didnt take me 3 months to read i would have given it 4 stars
Ludvik’s story told through his eyes and people he has briefly met to create a complete picture of Ludvik.
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
"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.
57th book of 2020.
The question is this: What Friends character are you?
The answer, for me, is always (and easily) this: Chandler Bing.
The reason behind it: I have made a few jokes in the past that have got me in trouble. A self-destructive defence mechanism, possibly.
So, the plot of The Joke has always interested me (not that I've ever told a joke concerning Trotsky) - and Kundera and I have had an interesting relationship. Which is what I say about a lot of writers, but there we go. I first read [b:The Book of Laughter and Forgetting|240976|The Book of Laughter and Forgetting|Milan Kundera|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1446568718l/240976._SY75_.jpg|3428728] (I read it whilst walking through the Brighton Laines with my auntie, walking and reading, a talent I've perfected, if I may say so myself) and then I read [b:Immortality|28634|Immortality|Milan Kundera|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388507539l/28634._SY75_.jpg|2776625]. The latter has a lot of five stars, I personally know someone who adores it, but it only got 3 stars from me (you've got to be joking!). Maybe I read it at the wrong time. Maybe it really wasn't for me. Either way, The Joke is for me; it is my new favourite Kundera.
For starters, it is more 'plot driven' than his later works. There is less 'intrusion' from the narrator/Kundera himself. In that respect, I much preferred it this way. There is still a Kundera amount of brackets (which I may or may not be reflecting in this review) (I said that in brackets, you see, it's become a joke - just not a very good one). The plot is interesting, the characters are somewhat Kundera-like, as expected, but the commentaries within this book: the Communism, love and life, and one's past were all stellar. What surprised me the most was how mature and strong this novel is despite it being Kundera's first.
So, now I've really appreciated one of his books, I can stop reading Kundera. My job is done. I'm finished with him and I won't read another again.
(That's a joke.)
The question is this: What Friends character are you?
The answer, for me, is always (and easily) this: Chandler Bing.
The reason behind it: I have made a few jokes in the past that have got me in trouble. A self-destructive defence mechanism, possibly.
So, the plot of The Joke has always interested me (not that I've ever told a joke concerning Trotsky) - and Kundera and I have had an interesting relationship. Which is what I say about a lot of writers, but there we go. I first read [b:The Book of Laughter and Forgetting|240976|The Book of Laughter and Forgetting|Milan Kundera|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1446568718l/240976._SY75_.jpg|3428728] (I read it whilst walking through the Brighton Laines with my auntie, walking and reading, a talent I've perfected, if I may say so myself) and then I read [b:Immortality|28634|Immortality|Milan Kundera|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388507539l/28634._SY75_.jpg|2776625]. The latter has a lot of five stars, I personally know someone who adores it, but it only got 3 stars from me (you've got to be joking!). Maybe I read it at the wrong time. Maybe it really wasn't for me. Either way, The Joke is for me; it is my new favourite Kundera.
For starters, it is more 'plot driven' than his later works. There is less 'intrusion' from the narrator/Kundera himself. In that respect, I much preferred it this way. There is still a Kundera amount of brackets (which I may or may not be reflecting in this review) (I said that in brackets, you see, it's become a joke - just not a very good one). The plot is interesting, the characters are somewhat Kundera-like, as expected, but the commentaries within this book: the Communism, love and life, and one's past were all stellar. What surprised me the most was how mature and strong this novel is despite it being Kundera's first.
So, now I've really appreciated one of his books, I can stop reading Kundera. My job is done. I'm finished with him and I won't read another again.
(That's a joke.)
Credo ci siano poche persone meno adatte di me per recensire uno scrittore come Kundera. Mi mancava questo tra i libri che avevo suoi a casa da leggere e me ne sono ricordata in occasione della sua morte. Erano anche passati parecchi anni non solo da "L'insostenibile leggerezza dell'essere", ma anche da "L'ignoranza" che secondo Goodreads é l'ultimo suo libro che ho letto.
Ne avevo dei bei ma completamente sfocati ricordi. Mi erano piaciuti. Anche questo per caritá, ma sembrava di leggere Sartre. La vita come priva di un qualsiasi scopo, tanto che anche la vendetta non ha piú ragione di essere, un senso di inutilitá che sfocia nel ridicolo, una serie di personaggi e di "piccole storie ignobili" come direbbe Guccini. Diciamo pure che non é letteratura per ottimisti questa.
Ne avevo dei bei ma completamente sfocati ricordi. Mi erano piaciuti. Anche questo per caritá, ma sembrava di leggere Sartre. La vita come priva di un qualsiasi scopo, tanto che anche la vendetta non ha piú ragione di essere, un senso di inutilitá che sfocia nel ridicolo, una serie di personaggi e di "piccole storie ignobili" come direbbe Guccini. Diciamo pure che non é letteratura per ottimisti questa.
i couldn't get through the way Ludvik abused Lucie.