Reviews

Żart by Milan Kundera

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skrufus's review against another edition

2.0

Kundera's writing always wins. As much as he wants to maintain that this is 'just a novel', it's surely a political manifesto.

There were some great things in here: set in communist Czech, before the Prague Spring, when the authoritarianism started causing cracks. The philosophical motivations. The three dimensional perspective of events with different character narrations. And the relevance of the book's title as the plot was essentially a joke.

But I couldn't shake off one thing. This book - Kundera's first - was written with an over bearing male gaze. Women characters were hyper sexualized and easily discarded. All the women in this book - ALL - were just tools for the men's stories. The use of femininity so problematic. The handling of rape and sexual assault and autonomy were so poorly done. Every fifth page my face cringed and I almost gave the book up.

It's hard, to reconcile my admiration for Kundera, as I read this. It's true that Kundera's books have shitty protagonists and he doesn't write them to be liked. But this was sheer misogynistic. And I don't think it can pass off as being historical fiction or simply a protagonist POV.

Breaks my heart to give Kundera 2 stars - but I've had enough of books that don't do women justice.

jesustrespalacios's review against another edition

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4.0

“Iba con prisa, como si sintiera tras de mí los pasos de Helena persiguiéndome y se me ocurrió pensar: ¿aunque fuese posible y lograra borrar estos días inútiles de mi vida, para qué me iba a servir, si toda la historia de mi vida comenzó con un error, con la estúpida broma de la postal, con aquella casualidad, con aquel error? Y sentí con horror que las cosas que surgen por error son tan reales como las cosas que surgen acertada y necesariamente.”

acentko's review against another edition

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4.0

As a young Slovak, you hear tales of the former regime from your parents, from your grandparents. But those include only the major life and political events. This novel portrays the day-to-day life in the 20th century Czechoslovakia. It taught me about communist ideology in greater and more practical depth, than formal texts would. From a point of view of a citizen, and from a point of view of human, living in the seeming age of equality, sentenced by hierarchy. On the other hand, Kundera depicts feelings, emotions, and love in a magical yet physical way. Leaving just enough room for relatability. He puts down words, we long had in our heads, yet never came to be formulated. This book is a very recommended read for the post-soviet youth, to understand the circumstances of their current political system, and for anyone else, to illustrate what laid behind the iron curtain.