The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic labyrinth of lucidity
Review: There is only a few authors that probe into that strange land where Kundera is such a prodigious master...Danilo Kis, Borges, Fuentes...Awesome!!! But not Kundera's best

Rating:
Summary: Gets better as it goes along
Review: Kundera's writing is fascinating. I read this book after The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and found that while the beginning of Book of... was not as interesting as Unbearable, the last 3 or 4 stories far surpassed the quality of Unbearable. This is definitely one which can be read many times.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful.
Review: much better than "umbearable lightness of being"!!! the characters and short stories intertwine amazingly. a must read!

Rating:
Summary: It will change your life
Review: reading any milan kundera book is certain to change your view on life forever. He takes any semblance of deep thought that has ever passed through your head and manages to transfer it to paper while making it far more eloquent and meaningful that you ever could.The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is as amazing as any book by Kundera can be... it is a pleasure to read... read it and I guarantee you will want to read every other book he has written afterward. I am tempted to learn Czech so I can appreciate the beauty of Kundera's words in their original form

Rating:
Summary: The poetic confessions of a once-upon-a-time circle-dancer.
Review: This novel (a novel of fragments and variations on a theme) concerns those concerned with recovering history, in the literal sense of covering over. Made up of seven parts, with only Kundera and a character named Tamina the revisited positions, the novel plays with the notion of musical variation and gives it literary expression. Kundera takes the familiar cords, the exile, the rebel, the man and the woman with A Past, the photograph, and the supposed "innocence" of children, and he plays them in a variety of combinations and tempos to highlight the subtlety in each note and the infinite variety and depth of each life. This is a novel in which Kundera stares fully at his own culpability in Czech politics and he does so at the novelistic moment of watching his father die. One of the most poignant moments in the book, and one which underlines Kundera's notions here about Utopias, ideals, and aspirations, is that "while we seek the infinity of the stars, we lose the infinity of our fathers." The book circles around this notion of creating the ideal world and aspiring to the ultimate human organization, and sends in pointed and damaging attacks on the dehumanization of such processes and aspirations. It is, to my mind, the finest of Kundera's novels (though _Slowness_ comes a close second). It is seemingly non-linear, asks more questions than it provides answers, and will demand the acute attention of the reader, but, in the end, it is worth every strain of concentration

Rating:
Summary: Kundera's best (that I've read so far)
Review: Rules on reading The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

1) There's no one plot. There's not supposed to be. Deal with it. There are seven separate parts, on the surface entirely unrelated (yes, even the two Tamina chapters are not related, on the surface). Think of the seven parts as composing the background of the tragedy of Tamina - the details that compose the necessary context of Tamina, but ultimately are exactly that - context. Think of the novel as a painting - you can't have the central figure without the wall behind her, the desk she's sitting at, the work she's doing.

2) It's not a novel, whatever the cover may say. It's a collection of seven parts into one "cyclical" book.

3) It's not about either laughter or forgetting, though those are present. It's about life.

4) Most likely, you'll come across something and think, "That's interesting." And then twenty minutes later, on an entirely different topic, you'll think, "That's a good point." In the next part you'll think, "Well, that's probably true. Hmmmm." Each time you'll come across an interesting point. The interesting points may not be connected - that doesn't matter. Ultimately, this book is a collection of thoughts - thoughts grouped into a Thought, grouped with other Thoughts into one of seven parts, grouped with six other parts into one book.

5) Some may say that this book is life-changing. They're either fooling themselves or they've made a mistake - it's not *supposed* to be life-changing. It's not *supposed* to build up to one major point, climbing and climbing up to one shattering climax, one life-changing idea. To acknowledge the metaphor (and not to sound crude), this book should *not* be an intellectual orgasm. It should be a parade of intellectual questions. (There lies the most important part - it asks questions, not answers them.)

6) Kundera says that this is a book of "variations" - separate parts varying slightly from one theme to go deeper and deeper into that theme. He's wrong.

7) Finally, don't believe what anyone says about this book, especially me.

Rating:
Summary: Kundera's best (that I've read so far)
Review: Rules on reading The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

1) There's no one plot. There's not supposed to be. Deal with it. There are seven separate parts, on the surface entirely unrelated (yes, even the two Tamina chapters are not related, on the surface). Think of the seven parts as composing the background of the tragedy of Tamina - the details that compose the necessary context of Tamina, but ultimately are exactly that - context. Think of the novel as a painting - you can't have the central figure without the wall behind her, the desk she's sitting at, the work she's doing.

2) It's not a novel, whatever the cover may say. It's a collection of seven parts into one "cyclical" book.

3) It's not about either laughter or forgetting, though those are present. It's about life.

4) Most likely, you'll come across something and think, "That's interesting." And then twenty minutes later, on an entirely different topic, you'll think, "That's a good point." In the next part you'll think, "Well, that's probably true. Hmmmm." Each time you'll come across an interesting point. The interesting points may not be connected - that doesn't matter. Ultimately, this book is a collection of thoughts - thoughts grouped into Thoughts, grouped with other Thoughts into one of seven parts, grouped with six other parts into one book.

5) Some may say that this book is life-changing. They're either fooling themselves or they've made a mistake - it's not *supposed* to be life-changing. It's not *supposed* to build up to one major point, climbing and climbing up to one shattering climax, one life-changing idea. To acknowledge the metaphor (and not to sound crude), this book should *not* be an intellectual orgasm. It should be a parade of intellectual questions. (There lies the most important part - it *asks* questions, not answers them.)

6) Kundera says that this is a book of "variations" - separate parts varying slightly from one theme to go deeper and deeper into that theme. He's wrong.

7) Finally, don't believe what anyone says about this book, especially me.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Tremendous book of themes and ideas. Kundera leaves one's head spinning with his virtuosity. Plot takes a backseat to theme in The Book of L & F. Kundera is expanding the range of the common notion of the novel: he combines fragments, scenes, ideas, dreams, fantasies, facts, history, autobiography, and stories. It works. His analogies are wonderful and clear and personally relevant. I'll return time and again to reread passages about "litost." This acclamation is not to mislead one from the fact that Kundera can be a test, but the rewards are worth its taking.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: This novel is easily worthy of more than 5 stars. It is the most unique and intellectually stimulating book I have encountered in all my history of reading. The way Kundera weaves so many seperate stories, anecdotes and historical facts along with some pretty heavy philosophical theory into the novel to make his views come alive is amazing. The section Litost (about the poets) was mesmerizing. This book has changed my view on life, love, laughter and history.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful, just delightful
Review: I loved this book! His philosphy on laughter is absolutely novel! What a nice surprise. Very few books make me laugh out loud, but this was one of them.