avitalgadcykman 's review for:

The Joke by Milan Kundera

5.0

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Years after reading it for the first time, I'm still reminded once and again of the role of music in freedom and in brainwashing, the power it has over the mobs and the beauty it holds when it's art. Kundera has a rather dry, light way of storytelling that keeps you at a distance from the incidents, and that allows to enjoy the stingy satire instead of being crushed by the horror of tyrany. He makes you wonder what is truth, how accurate is memory, what's behind relationships.
The stupid misunderstanding, the main incident in The Joke had apparently happened to Kundera himself, a totally unsettling fact.