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A review by mimipolston
Testaments Betrayed: An Essay in Nine Parts by Milan Kundera
2.0
There are some parts of this essay that I loved, that were undeniably Kundera. However, for most of the book, I was lost as it is written as a 9-part critical essay of predominately classical literature and music.
I am a big reader and familiar with many of the classics but you will want to read a few books first to know what's what, mainly: Kafka (all writings), Balzac, Rushdie, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Nabakov, and others such as Dickenson, Faulkner, and Hemmingway (and of course, Kundera, primarily "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting"). Without being very familiar with all of these writers (and then some) this book will be a hard and uninteresting read.
The music is where I had to skip ahead, it is focused mainly on Stravinsky who I was not familiar with until reading this essay. The good news is it introduced many classical composers to me that I was not familiar with (besides the big ones, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven), however, I find reading about music to be about as enjoyable as listening to a book.
I am a big reader and familiar with many of the classics but you will want to read a few books first to know what's what, mainly: Kafka (all writings), Balzac, Rushdie, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Nabakov, and others such as Dickenson, Faulkner, and Hemmingway (and of course, Kundera, primarily "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting"). Without being very familiar with all of these writers (and then some) this book will be a hard and uninteresting read.
The music is where I had to skip ahead, it is focused mainly on Stravinsky who I was not familiar with until reading this essay. The good news is it introduced many classical composers to me that I was not familiar with (besides the big ones, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven), however, I find reading about music to be about as enjoyable as listening to a book.