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A review by skconaghan
Farewell Waltz by Milan Kundera
dark
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Kundera weaves the oddest of tales with such morbid humour and unique satire, and it's teeming with sharp political criticisms and biting ironies. This one is for fans of Douglas Adams and Kurt Vonnegut who like a sly intellectual giggle.
A spa town given to licentiousness and governed by a regime that farcically maintains control by expressing shocked indignation at salacious behaviours is the comical setting for a number of intertwined relationships. Dramatic irony abounds.
So do the severely awkward relationships between men and women, the tensions and jealousies that destroy women at their hive's core, the crappy advice men give men about strained relationships, all the lies people tell one another in attempts to preserve what cannot be, and an exposé of irrational fears humanity harbours at the risk of engaging in romance.
In the midst of it all are the little blue pills that keep a population subdued and under the impression they are content. Not to be mistaken with the other blue pills. But of course, this mixup is a an accident waiting to happen.
A rose-lensed satirical study in misunderstood socialism, misapplied communism, several wonky interpretations of love and God, and the green-grass promise of capitalism that lingers on the fringes of a mildly disgruntled and fatally misdirected society.
At once tactless, vulgar, and blunt, darkly comical in its unfolding, and profoundly insightful in its criticisms. An easy study for First Year Twentieth-Century-Literature-in-Society academics.
A spa town given to licentiousness and governed by a regime that farcically maintains control by expressing shocked indignation at salacious behaviours is the comical setting for a number of intertwined relationships. Dramatic irony abounds.
So do the severely awkward relationships between men and women, the tensions and jealousies that destroy women at their hive's core, the crappy advice men give men about strained relationships, all the lies people tell one another in attempts to preserve what cannot be, and an exposé of irrational fears humanity harbours at the risk of engaging in romance.
In the midst of it all are the little blue pills that keep a population subdued and under the impression they are content. Not to be mistaken with the other blue pills. But of course, this mixup is a an accident waiting to happen.
A rose-lensed satirical study in misunderstood socialism, misapplied communism, several wonky interpretations of love and God, and the green-grass promise of capitalism that lingers on the fringes of a mildly disgruntled and fatally misdirected society.
At once tactless, vulgar, and blunt, darkly comical in its unfolding, and profoundly insightful in its criticisms. An easy study for First Year Twentieth-Century-Literature-in-Society academics.