Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Milan Kundera has been my favorite author for some time. I am also an author and he has influenced my own style by demonstrating that plot and characters can be points of departure for commentary and observation. His observations about society and especially time and memory have been delicately and beautifully woven into a sparse narrative that gave just the essential details to provide a glimpse into each character. I awaited Slowness and this novel with great anticipation. I was disappointed in Slowness, but found at least some of Kundera's thought provoking observation in it. This novel, I'm sad to say, offered nothing to recomend. It is the only novel of his that I did not hold on to after I finished it. So I can not quote the passage ver batim, but one of the main themes in this book seems to be that people form bonds with others entirely as a mirror for their own egos. They form friendships for no other reason than to have someone to remind them of their youth in old age. This premise sells human relations a bit short. Beyond that, if you have read all of Kundera's other works, it is hard to escape the feeling that this was simply tapped out, that the writer had gone on auto pilot. If you're looking for a great novel that explores how people forge and struggle to maintain identity, how they fool themselves and act on their own illusions, pick up one of Kundera's earlier novels. They are some of the finest books in print. I hope that this is not Kundera's last novel. I was left with the impression that he is tired of writing them.
Rating: 
Summary: More of the same
Review: This isn't a bad book. For those unfamiliar with Kundera this is a gentle introduction to the great man, but there is nothing new for his devoteees. We've seen it all before in much better books. His previous novella, Slowness, was more original and challenging. This one is a somewhat misanthropic rehash of all the old themes. He's one of my favourite writers, but he appears to have cut and pasted this novel from material left over from earlier books.
Rating: 
Summary: Standard Kundera: brilliant
Review: The great thing about Kundera novels is that they say things. This is a big problem with a lot of novelists writing today--they aren't saying anything. Plot takes a backseat to what Kudera is saying, though the plot isn't bad. It is difficult to peel back the layers of Kundera's point, but--as the title shows--he's commenting on identity: the identity we create for ourselves and the identity we create for others in our own mind. The novel raises more questions than it answers, but that's the sign of a great novel. Isn't it?
Rating: 
Summary: IN ORDER TO FIND OUR OWN IDENTITY
Review: I WANTED TO READ THIS BOOK FROM THE MOMENT I LEARNT ITS TITLE.I COULD IMAGINE THE MAIN SUBJECT,BUT NOT THE STORY THAT WAS GOING TO FOLLOW.IT TOOK ME A LITTLE TIME TO READ IT,BUT A LOT OF TIME TO THINK OF IT.THE SUBJECT IS COMMON TO MOST OF US.THE WRITER MAKES THIS COMMON KNOWLEDGE SPECIAL AND,IN A WAY,EDUCATIVE.THIS IS MORE THAN A BOOK.THIS IS AN INFLUENCE.
Rating:
Summary: aboute a married woman & a single man.
Review: it was just incredible, realy a novel which you can read by joy. The honesty of a man's love and the pride of a woman. but this pride will last just until when shantal figures out that she could'nt live without his love. after a couple of adventures she recognizes the value of JanMark's love. honesty, inner beauty of human, the dirty soul also, and adventure has been gathered with each other in this novel. it was exactly like a storm. the whole book was a storm. and the last page was the sweet,nice and joyful calmness after this stormy adventures which has happend for these two strange characters of this strange novel! It was fantastic anyway.
Rating:
Summary: lovely
Review: I've read all of Milan Kundera's novels twice--except my least favorite, "Life is Elsewhere". The second reading of "The Joke" and "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" improved them, but the second reading of "Identity" improved "Identity" especially. Buy this book. If you aren't moved, put it aside for a year then read it again. (If the ending puzzles you, reread it slowly and carefully, remembering there is nothing to "get": Milan Kundera is always lucid and plain-spoken.)Also recommended: PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: Kumndera allows us to explore our psyches and our humanity without assigning labels of normality. Thank goodness this is a French novel! An American Chantal would have been given a prescription of Prozac in the first chapter bringing the story to a speedy end. I'd recommend this (only) to those who truly love foreign films.
Rating:
Summary: quintessential Kundera
Review: This (short) treasure is nothing really new, but it is still brilliant, charming, and haunting. Kundera is simply the best contemporary author - no other writer has so successfully captured the plight of the individual and the artist in today's political and industrial society.
Rating:
Summary: Good story; fair translation
Review: While Kundera lives up to his reputation as an artful storyteller, Asher's translation does not do him justice. There are so many moments when you feel the translation....when you are acutely aware that this novel has gone through a mediocre seive. The book empowers the reader to decide the course of the story...a beautiful thing. I only wish I could read French and thus lose the translator's voice.
Rating:
Summary: entertaining from the very beginning to its end
Review: is amazing how something we live everyday when written makes us think, and re-think of our own identity; I liked the book not only because it's easy to read and entertaining, it's content made me think of the complexity of human behavior. Chantal is not precisely a character of fiction, she must exist somewhere. I know women feel sometimes like her. She was always on the spot for everybody's eyes when she wanted to have her own life and discover her inner self, fantasy helped for a while, but Jean-Marc blew it. He wanted to give her everything to show her how important she was despite her age. Then all of a sudden things seemed out of a dream, and not a sweet one. Kundera is always excellent.
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