Rating: 
Summary: Good Kundera, not my favorite
Review: "Life is Elsewhere" is a fun, humorous, scathing criticism of youth, lyricism, and poetry. Unlike some of Kundera's other work, "Life is Elsewhere" has very few subplots, and focuses mainly on the story of Jaromil (and briefly on his bizarre alter-ego, Xavier) and his mother. Jarmoil is a poet, growing up in Czechoslovakia just as that country becomes Communist. Idealistic, overprotected, obsessive at times, and ideologically misguided, Jaromil lives and dies according to rapidly changing principles and goals which are often patently ridiculous.I found "Life is Elsewhere" enjoyable, but not as much so as Kundera's more complex and multifacted novels, such as "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and "Immortality". I personally find Kundera's usual overt cynicism, philosophising, and self-analysis refreshing and fun to read, but there's little of that in this book. To me, the book seems to violate Kundera's assertion that he writes books that cannot be described in a sentence or two - it is a novel in the conventional sense of the word. That doesn't make it unenjoyable -- it's just different.
Rating:
Summary: Good Kundera, not my favorite
Review: "Life is Elsewhere" is a fun, humorous, scathing criticism of youth, lyricism, and poetry. Unlike some of Kundera's other work, "Life is Elsewhere" has very few subplots, and focuses mainly on the story of Jaromil (and briefly on his bizarre alter-ego, Xavier) and his mother. Jarmoil is a poet, growing up in Czechoslovakia just as that country becomes Communist. Idealistic, overprotected, obsessive at times, and ideologically misguided, Jaromil lives and dies according to rapidly changing principles and goals which are often patently ridiculous. I found "Life is Elsewhere" enjoyable, but not as much so as Kundera's more complex and multifacted novels, such as "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and "Immortality". I personally find Kundera's usual overt cynicism, philosophising, and self-analysis refreshing and fun to read, but there's little of that in this book. To me, the book seems to violate Kundera's assertion that he writes books that cannot be described in a sentence or two - it is a novel in the conventional sense of the word. That doesn't make it unenjoyable -- it's just different.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Pre-exile Kundera
Review: 1969's Life is Elsewhere is a fine example of pre-exile Milan Kundera. The Kundera of this era was a black sheep of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party, kicked-out once in 1950 and perennially on the verge of being ousted again for his questioning, free-thinking nature. Thus, at this time, Kundera was more of a gadfly of the Party and its ambitions to transform not only government but artistic expression and day-to-day life, rather than the embittered, yet sensitive, critic he was after the Party did cast him out and forced him into exile. Life is Elsewhere is story of Jaromil, a young, Czech poet growing-up in the shadow the Russian Revelation and the initial spread of communism. Throughout the novel, Jaromil adopts several roles. He is the son of a loving, but overbearing mother. He is the lover of two women, first a university student known as the "stone maiden" and latter a bubbly, working class red-head (Kundera has always shown an aversion to naming his characters). He is a young communist, who applies Marxist ideals to all his ambitions. And he is an artist who feels "elected" to write poetry. The driving force behind this novel is the ways in which these roles (son, lover, communist and poet) conflict. How does he keep his mother from becoming jealous of his girlfriends? How does he tailor his work to Marxist ideas of art and beauty? How does he react when his mother and her family detest his joining the Party? A wealth of such situations examines, with remarkable depth and precision, the strange predicaments involved in coming of age in such an epoch. The only flaw of Life is Elsewhere is that the more art-sy aspects of Kundera's writing have not quite developed. While devices such as historical anecdotes and the narration of dreams and fantasies made his latter novels even more wonderful, their presence in this particular work seems intrusive and awkward. Fortunately, these devices have only a small presence in Life is Elsewhere. For the most part, this is an extraordinary, idea-filled novel that thoroughly explores some captivating concepts.
Rating: 
Summary: The State-sponsored Sellout
Review: Although the protagonist in "Life is Elsewhere" is a poet, this novel has little to do with poets or poetry. "Life is Elsewhere" is an exploration and a critique of a peculiar kind of sellout: the state sponsored artist in a totalitarian country. From the very beginning, we sense that Jaromile is hardly a talented poet. His lyrical career begins in childhood when he first utters the phrase "mama is caca". This scatological verse is both humorous and prophetic since it inadvertently sullies someone he loves. As a young man, Jaromile is recruited by a friend in the secret police who compliments him on his "good verse". Jaromile rises to national fame as a state sponsored artist, but in the process he condemns a talented poet and unwittingly causes his lover to be arrested and sentenced to time in a labor camp. When Jaromile is finally confronted by a person of strength and integrity (a friend of the poet whom Jaromile denounced) he is publicly humiliated and dies in a pathetic manner by freezing to death on a balcony while his opponent makes love to the woman Jaromile wanted. The East Block has produced many talented artists including "true believers" who actively supported their government despite its totalitarian nature. Maxim Gorky and Dimitry Shostokovich are two examples of this type. Gorky fully supported the Russian Revolution even after he discovered that the Soviet Government was systematically killing political prisoners, including children, in its prison system on the Solovetsky Islands. Shostokovich lived in daily peril of his life and hated Stalin, yet he was still an ardent patriot who believed in and supported Soviet Communism. Jaromile has little in common with Gorky and Shostokovich because unlike them he has no talent or principles and consequently lacks intellectual conflict. Instead, he draws a closer parallel to sycophants such as Tikhon Khrenikov, the music critic who denounced Shostokovich for the excessive "formalism" of his music. Jaromile is simply a sellout who believes his own lies and as a result, he is hardly an interesting character. I think many readers would have enjoyed this novel more, if Kundera had written about a character that possesses both tremendous talent and an ardent love for a villainous regime. Instead, Kundera takes the low road and portrays the typical, untalented "yes man" in the base court of most dictatorships. Kundera portrays his character with great skill and humor, but in the end it is the vapid nature of his subject matter that betrays him.
Rating: 
Summary: A peek into the soul of an artist
Review: Exiles inhabit an ethereal place that allows writers to transcend the everyday and come out with works that both entertain and teach. Thomas Mann did this for us and Kundera does it in Life is Elsewhere. The action of the novel centers around the short life of Jaromil, who is a creation of his mother as a new Apollo to somewhat make up for her loveless marriage. Jaromil is born in late 1920's, he grows up as a spoiled and sensitive teenager. He engages in writing lyrical verse, which is heavy into sexual fantasy. As 1948 communist revolution approaches, he moves on to semi-realistic poetry. At 18 we find Jaromil as a raging zealot. Jaromil is knee deep in the contradictory actions of reporting on lapses of professors and to find a girl to ease his physical need to get rid of his virginity. In this confusion, Jaromil finds himself a mature Stalinist. As if Kundera where apologizing for his own disappointment (as most intellectuals of that time where) over the Stalin excesses. The greatness of this book is his deep insight on adolescent struggle, the longing for maturity and the return to a lyrical time. Furthermore, he takes us through the experience of longing for the fame in the lone wolf and the need to return to the herd. Here Kundera fuses (which is once again the mark of his greatness) the deeply interwoven existential questioning with the ribald sense of humor that he masks the questioning around. The book is not really about Jaromil at all, it is about what he mentions early on in the novel, it is the attitude of the `lyrical attitude' . "The lyric age is youth. My novel is an epos of youth, and an analysis of what I call "the lyrical attitude." The lyrical attitude is a potential stance of every human being; it is one of the basic categories of human existence. Upon reading that, I felt that I was reading Nietzsche and Heidegger all over again. That man is not static but becoming. Besides, Kundera does quote Heidegger: "The novel, of course, does not answer questions. The questions are already an answer in themselves, for Heidegger put it: the essence of man has the form of a question." Kundera presents to us the ridiculous nature - he does this in The Unbearable Lightness of Being - that life is not a thing we can repeat - it is this life and no other. Maybe if we can laugh at Jaromil, we will find the strength to laugh at ourselves as if we all don't have a little Xavier inside us. Miguel Llora
Rating:
Summary: ?Nerdy Wordsmith Rats On Flame, Conks Out Young?
Review: Fidel Castro and his bearded men charged down out of the Sierra Maestra and paraded victorious through the streets of Havana to delirious cheers of adoring crowds. Mao Tsetung arrived with his vast armies at Beijing and declared that "China had stood up". The `Internationale' played and a brave new world began. We dreamed we would change the world as youths, we might die for a great cause, we yelled at barricades (of whatever material-or perhaps they were intangible) and loved with the passions of the times. Repression of anybody (except "the exploiters") never appeared on the cards, no, it was freedom in the air. Hasn't this atmosphere repeated itself time and time again, across the globe ? And there's always a poet or two to inscribe glorious verses on the stones of History. Byron, Mayakovsky, Rimbaud, Marti, Rizal. But what if `the Revolution' ushers in a period of less freedom, greater oppression, and wider stupidity that leads to mass fatalities ? Then what kind of poet would you need ? Well, what kind do you get ? Artists who paint girl + tractor. Novelists who write books called "Cement". And poets like Jaromil, the subject of this great novel. Fidel called the people who fled the new Cuba "gusanos" or worms. Reading Kundera's novel about Czechoslovakia, you feel strongly that the gusanos remained and cooperated, wrote poetry in praise of the unpraise-able. Or, maybe there's a global glut of gusanos. Maybe a gusano poet is about as necessary as wings on a turtle. OK, this novel is a fictional biography of a very weedy mama's boy who remains naïve, protected and innocent despite everything that happens around him, even the death of his father in a concentration camp. The world around the main characters, the society at large, remain pale and nearly invisible. He (and we) really see nobody except his mother---his loves are extensions of his ego, his poetry or paintings the same. Dreams and fantasy are his stock in trade, his alter-ego jumps in and out of beds, while Jaromil stews. All is self-absorption. In modern America, the poet would be called a "dweeb". We have to laugh at Jaromil or scorn him. LIFE IS ELSEWHERE is a satire that concentrates on unpleasant aspects of the human condition so well that you cringe time and time again. Kundera spares no one, not his main character and certainly not his readers. Jaromil is surrounded, as the author says, with a wall of mirrors, and cannot see beyond. We look into our own mirrors as we read. It's doubtful that we admire the reflections. The basic themes are human nature, art and literature in society, and the sad tribulations of a small nation. Kundera, like Brazil's Machado de Assis, cuts his books up into extremely small chapters, which is an effective tool in expert hands. Each one makes a point, introduces an irony, or engages in new soul-searching. The plot of LIFE IS ELSEWHERE is minor; it is the process of writing and thinking about the issues that counts. Ah, well, readers, I'm not giving anything away to say that the message here is that people who fail to live life to the fullest always pine for some far away paradise where great deeds would be accomplished effortlessly, and imagine that "life is elsewhere". These deluded ones are capable of the dirtiest deeds. Oh, yeah, this is a good book.
Rating:
Summary: A quiet meditation on life and art
Review: Life is Elsewhere is the first novel by Milan Kundera that I have read, and it was the first he wrote. The edition I have, however, was edited and touched up to confirm to the more accurate French translation with the help of the author, so I am assuming it contains a little more maturity than when he wrote it thirty years ago. The story is very simple, it is about a struggling young poet's first twenty or so years of life, from birth to death. He is the only named character (excluding Xavier, but don't worry about that), and this adds to the sense of familiarity we feel with him. Another important character is his mother, and we are often privy to her emotions and thoughts away from her poet son. She is quite obsessive about him and wants to make sure his life is how he wants it poetically, but as he grows older, she becomes rather jealous of his growing attraction to females that aren't her. I really enjoyed the narrator's tone of voice, at times he was an impartial observer, at other times he made little comments about the characters/predicaments, and at other times he threw all that away and started having a one-sided discussion with the reader - even indulging in little flights of fancy away from the main story. I have no idea if this is a Kunder staple or not, but it really worked in this story and I wouldn't mind seeing it again. The poet is a selfish character, moreso as he becomes older, and this can sometimes be hard to read. He treats his girlfriend very poorly, and looks at life and love with the obsessive attitude of a teenager, which can sometimes be a little difficult to read. He considers his art and drive to be greater than any others, and this makes him arrogant, but he truly is a great poet so this is moderately understandable. In summation, I very much recommend this book. It was very sad in places, and when it wasn't sad, it was a great meditation on life.
Rating:
Summary: Total Inspiration...
Review: Loved it, just an amazing book, the style of Milan Kundera is just fantastic. Very well delivered to the reader, combines wittness, humor, seriousness, and most of all reality with the humans' nature way of thinking, jeaulosy, imagination and the continuous discovering of one self from childhood to death... Jaromil the poet (Kundera' favorite character) finds himself struggling with his mothers' obsession in directing his life, in his uncertainty of his painting, poetry, his manhood, and his security and trust with the opposite sex...Jaromil, Xavier, the redheaded girlfriend, each ones role and influence is totally inspiring and contemplative... The simplicty in the philosphy created by Kundera and the reality of the story makes the book a master piece to keep, and the ending of the story is the best part of the book by far...
Rating:
Summary: What is Poetry?
Review: Milan Kundera's novel, Life is Elsewhere revolves around the principle that in a society with strict rules, a poet risks betraying his lyricism. In expounding his theme, Kundera describes the life of his protagonist, Jaromil, from birth to death. Jaromil misreads the liberty previous poets such as Shelley, Mayakovsky and Rimbaud have taken with their own creations and proceeds to apply those own (misread) liberties to himself. "Lyric poets generally come from homes run by women," Kundera tells us. And, as if to prove himself correct, Jaromil, too, comes from a home run by a woman--his mother. Jaromil's mother, however, is a monster of deceptive affections and she deliberately leads poor Jaromil so far astray that he comes to believe he truly does possess the gifts his mother assigns to him and that he is "one of the elect," destined for greatness. Jaromil, meanwhile is wretchedly inadequate and soulless to the core. But before condemning his poor mother, the reader should realize that her penchant for making Jaromil's childish utterances into the stuff of Blakean bon mots is not only a defensible argument against romanticism, it is also the best thing in this book. Kundera lets us know repeatedly that Jaromil is a pariah. But he also invests his protagonist with enough of Byron's charm to let us forgive him his flights of fancy and fantasy. Kundera sees fit to involve Jaromil with that one group of people who are even easier to poke fun at than poets--politicians. The politician's power, however, can be real, while the poor poet's is forever imagined, even in the best of cases. And, while Rimbaud saw fit to rid himself of both poetry and the politics behind poetry, Jaromil never takes that step no matter how much Kundera pushes him. This is, perhaps, Kundera's most elastic novel, forging ahead while also expanding in every other direction. It is also hilariously funny. While not possessing the classic endurance of Laughable Loves or The Joke, Life is Elsewhere is still classic Kundera and well worth anyone's investment.
Rating:
Summary: A black comedy of the artist as a young lyricist
Review: Reminiscent of the major themes in the Hungarian film MEPHISTO,and of FAUST, this novel tracks the life and early death of the "poet's mother's" greatest creation, the poet Jaromil. But much of the enjoyment of it comes from the writer's understanding and sensitivities towards the human emotions that guide and control the main characters, such as the exquisite torment of the jealous lover and a mother's possessivenes towards her only child. And perhaps the most chilling moment in the novel occurs at the close of Part V after the young poet has completely humiliated and controlled the fate of his girlfriend and imagines her "sitting in her cell, watched by a strange man, interrogators pulling off her clothes ...he was no longer jealous; that night, he slept the deep sleep of a real man." The title refers to graffiti found in Paris during the 1968 student uprisings. A very satisfying, and thought-provoking novel, whose themes will remain with the reader.
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