The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

Rating:
Summary: A Truly Great Book
Review: This work by Franco-Czech writer (not a combination one sees everyday) is best if read quickly before or after his other great work, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. All of Kundera's works take a post-modern approach to the novel's themes and style, liberally sprinkling philosophical and metaphysical questions throughout the text; this one is no exception. It's constant and enduring image is that of the Circle Dance, as shown on the cover, and its power to allow the human spirit to rise into the clouds. The classical opinion of what a novel should be must be abandoned, or at least silenced, in order to thoroughly enjoy this work, but it makes any trouble well worth it. HIghest recommendation.