A review by lj_crook
The Joke by Milan Kundera

4.0

This is a strange and languid novel - the pace of action is always moderated by the narrator of that section, each of whom displays a sense of detachment from the vital spirit of life - but it illuminates the central themes brilliantly. Our inability to know the minds of others, and to make our own minds known, is shown over and over again in different vignettes of recollection, but in Kundera's hands this never gets boring. I found myself being drawn further and further into his bleak picture of Czechoslovakia; by the time it reached the denouement, I felt emotionally bound to the characters, even though I disliked them all!

This edition also contains an interesting introduction from Kundera himself on the subject of translation, a subject all too easy to ignore when one only reads English!