A review by gh7
The Farewell Party by Milan Kundera

3.0

Kundera's third novel and a kind of limbering up for his golden years. As always there's a male sexual predator (Kundera's alter ego) though, unusually, Kundera gives this philanderer his comeuppance. The entire novel is set in a spa town and in particular a clinic for women finding it difficult to conceive. The characters are closer to archetypes than nuanced individuals. They are all working through one single dilemma. They are all stuck with one tyrannical emotion. In a nutshell, the light comic side of this novel is more successful than all its attempts at gravitas and wisdom. It felt like it was a very easy novel to write. Like Kundera wasn't challenging himself in the slightest. It almost reads like a pastiche of Kundera at times.
About a third of the way in I realised I had already read it and utterly forgotten it until I reached the rather daft plot device with a poison pill. I wouldn't be surprised if this experience repeats itself. 3+ stars.