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jairereads's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I’m glad I picked this up, put it down, and picked it back up the times I did. The narrator’s philosophical cutaways from the plot were puzzling, insightful, often funny, sometimes fucked up, and altogether rewarding in the novel’s goal of offering cogent observations on humanness and desire.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Excrement, Sexual harassment, and War
surdiablo's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I detested more than half of this book, enough to the point that regardless of the last two parts not being completely terrible, I'm going with a 1-star after mulling on it for a while. This is one of those books where I didn't vibe with the writing style/choices in general, and thought it would have greatly benefitted from sticking to some specific topic, rather than being all over the place. Kundera's writing gave me this constant ick which I only tend to feel when authors' questionable views seep into their works, and lo and behold, he says this during the meta-commentary: 'The characters in my novels are my own unrealized possibilities.' which unfortunately confirmed my fears. 🤣
This book reeks of misogyny and features a toxic miserable relationship that goes nowhere. He tries his hand at some philosophy and political commentary, which came off as pretentious and r/Im14andthisisdeep material, rather than anything profound. Some of the excessive and distasteful events or descriptions seemed to me as if the author was fulfilling his lascivious fantasies through these characters, or simply being gratuitous. I don't know if something was lost in translation but it became rather unbearable indeed with the constant focus on sex for the majority of the book. I don't mind reading about shitty characters or sex, but the way Kundera handles it and the things he focuses on.. It just rubs me the wrong way if that makes sense... I didn't care much about the characters with their unnatural inner monologue, although Teresa's traumatic upbringing was well-written.
Kundera occasionally draws conclusions by linking unrelated elements, which can seem illogical, even though they're presented as if they naturally fit together. This can leave the reader feeling perplexed often (The relation between Teresa's bowler hat and violence for example). It adds a lot to that pretentiousness I mentioned earlier. The political plot was comparatively enjoyable, but there wasn't enough of it and what existed felt rather basic. I have never been a fan of the author telling me what to think or feel, so that didn't help either. At the end of the day, if you ask me Do you feel like you gained anything reading this book?, my answer would be no. I didn't care for his thoughts or insight, and the parts I didn't hate seem forgettable now after all this time, while the irritation remains.
P.S. Kundera definitely has a poop fetish... Oh, and don't read this book if you haven't read Anna Karenina and don't want its ending spoiled.
This book reeks of misogyny and features a toxic miserable relationship that goes nowhere. He tries his hand at some philosophy and political commentary, which came off as pretentious and r/Im14andthisisdeep material, rather than anything profound. Some of the excessive and distasteful events or descriptions seemed to me as if the author was fulfilling his lascivious fantasies through these characters, or simply being gratuitous. I don't know if something was lost in translation but it became rather unbearable indeed with the constant focus on sex for the majority of the book. I don't mind reading about shitty characters or sex, but the way Kundera handles it and the things he focuses on.. It just rubs me the wrong way if that makes sense... I didn't care much about the characters with their unnatural inner monologue, although Teresa's traumatic upbringing was well-written.
Kundera occasionally draws conclusions by linking unrelated elements, which can seem illogical, even though they're presented as if they naturally fit together. This can leave the reader feeling perplexed often (The relation between Teresa's bowler hat and violence for example). It adds a lot to that pretentiousness I mentioned earlier. The political plot was comparatively enjoyable, but there wasn't enough of it and what existed felt rather basic. I have never been a fan of the author telling me what to think or feel, so that didn't help either. At the end of the day, if you ask me Do you feel like you gained anything reading this book?, my answer would be no. I didn't care for his thoughts or insight, and the parts I didn't hate seem forgettable now after all this time, while the irritation remains.
P.S. Kundera definitely has a poop fetish... Oh, and don't read this book if you haven't read Anna Karenina and don't want its ending spoiled.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Moderate: Excrement and War
Minor: Rape and Death of parent
crystalline_'s review against another edition
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Heard a lot of praise for this book, not sure if it lives up to it.
Kundera’s philosophical asides are either intriguing or bizarre. Touching on various topics like kitsch, interpersonal relationships and freedom/distance, body image, the gaze, duality of body/mind, sex and love, synchronicity, et. al., though his insights aren’t particularly novel.
Each of the primary characters seems to be plagued by their unique mixture of some of those questions.
For the story, the plot is non-linear but I found it relatively easy to follow, save for a few dream sequences which it took me awhile to recognize as being dreams. Various events of the Prague Spring and some
communist revolutions play in the background, though the plot otherwise moves pretty slowly. Most of the focus is on the relationships between the characters or their internal reflection.
As for the likeableness of the characters —
Infidelity is a huge theme here with pretty much everyone. Tomas is such an unbearable philanderer that reading passages which focus on him or the relationship between he & Tereza feels tedious and a bit slimy.
The rest have their flaws but seem redeemable. I have heard critiques that the characters, particularly Sabina and Tereza, are flat, but they were actually more interesting to me than Tomas or Franz.
It was an interesting read, varyingly
enjoyable based on the character in whose perspective we’re reading. The style is a little unusual and I wouldn’t recommend it to most people.
Kundera’s philosophical asides are either intriguing or bizarre. Touching on various topics like kitsch, interpersonal relationships and freedom/distance, body image, the gaze, duality of body/mind, sex and love, synchronicity, et. al., though his insights aren’t particularly novel.
Each of the primary characters seems to be plagued by their unique mixture of some of those questions.
For the story, the plot is non-linear but I found it relatively easy to follow, save for a few dream sequences which it took me awhile to recognize as being dreams. Various events of the Prague Spring and some
communist revolutions play in the background, though the plot otherwise moves pretty slowly. Most of the focus is on the relationships between the characters or their internal reflection.
As for the likeableness of the characters —
Infidelity is a huge theme here with pretty much everyone. Tomas is such an unbearable philanderer that reading passages which focus on him or the relationship between he & Tereza feels tedious and a bit slimy.
The rest have their flaws but seem redeemable. I have heard critiques that the characters, particularly Sabina and Tereza, are flat, but they were actually more interesting to me than Tomas or Franz.
It was an interesting read, varyingly
enjoyable based on the character in whose perspective we’re reading. The style is a little unusual and I wouldn’t recommend it to most people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Excrement
navayiota's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Not an enjoyable book, but certainly one that has a lot to say. I want to read an analysis of it, because I feel like I have no idea what it was truly about. Very thought provoking though, in many ways...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Cancer, Sexual assault, Excrement, Car accident, and Alcohol
indebraendt's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.5
The flaws in Milan Kunderas philosophizing was the protagonist of this book. Half a star for the dog.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny and Excrement
Poop and other fetishesmikarala's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It only took a few pages for me to fall in love with this novel. It is somehow both incredibly philosophical and yet completely grounded. This is a book that doesn't shy away from dirty topics, and honestly it can be kind of gross at times. But even then, there's a kind of respect for that dirtiness being a part of what makes us human, and I felt that Kundera treated all the characters with a lot of tenderness, even when they had degrading thoughts and experiences. I think that's quite the feat for a book that features a philanderer and nympomaniac as our male lead, with female main characters who can't help but love him and express a kind of obsessive love and desire to be dominated by him at times.
Considering that, I'm kind of surprised to say I actually thought Tereza and Sabina were rendered with quite a lot of respect and thoughtfulness for their individuality, rather than being relegated to being mere sex objects. I often find women written by men, especially in novels where sex is a major topic, can feel quite one-dimensional or objectified. I didn't feel that way at all about Tereza and Sabina. I thought they were both extremely complex and well-written female characters, I would honestly say probably some of my favourite female characters ever written by a male author.
Altogether, an incredibly thoughtful meditation on the human condition, on surviving the everyday indignities associated with our existence and doing your best to find happiness in whatever form you can. Definitely a novel I need to return to and experience again, because I feel like there's so much more to it that I wasn't able to fully appreciate this time. Highly recommend.
Considering that, I'm kind of surprised to say I actually thought Tereza and Sabina were rendered with quite a lot of respect and thoughtfulness for their individuality, rather than being relegated to being mere sex objects. I often find women written by men, especially in novels where sex is a major topic, can feel quite one-dimensional or objectified. I didn't feel that way at all about Tereza and Sabina. I thought they were both extremely complex and well-written female characters, I would honestly say probably some of my favourite female characters ever written by a male author.
Altogether, an incredibly thoughtful meditation on the human condition, on surviving the everyday indignities associated with our existence and doing your best to find happiness in whatever form you can. Definitely a novel I need to return to and experience again, because I feel like there's so much more to it that I wasn't able to fully appreciate this time. Highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Excrement
Minor: Emotional abuse
lucyatoz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This novel by Milan Kundera is about the lives of two women, two men and a dog. It takes place in the late 1960's and early 1970's and includes the time of the Prague Spring in what was then Czechoslovakia.
The lives of the 4 central characters, Tomas, Tereza, Franz and Sabina are complex and complicated with love and infidelity running through the whole story.
With references to sex and with some swearing language throughout, this is heavy read in contrast to its title. It is quite a tragic tale in many ways with moments of lightness spotting along the horizon.
The lives of the 4 central characters, Tomas, Tereza, Franz and Sabina are complex and complicated with love and infidelity running through the whole story.
With references to sex and with some swearing language throughout, this is heavy read in contrast to its title. It is quite a tragic tale in many ways with moments of lightness spotting along the horizon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Excrement, and Suicide attempt
novelyon's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Gorgeous writing and reflections that is unfortunately hampered a bit by really long and dare I say boring segments of infidelity. While some of the reflections and ideas that are brought forth from the characters' infidelity are interesting, they weren't deserving of all the time spent on the act; other reflections based off of things like war and religion were far more captivating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Car accident, and War
Minor: Medical content
kamila_glow's review
dark
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Excrement
lily_k8y's review against another edition
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Considering I really did not find any of the characters loveable, and I didn't like any of the relationships presented, I still wanted to keep reading and liked it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Excrement, and Grief