707. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Milan Kundera
1979
Around 320 pages

How can you dislike a novel with that title? The best Kundera is still to come, but this is a pretty good layover.

The novel contains seven different narratives, that are connected by the themes of laughter and forgetting (that English degree was not wasted on me!). It's been awhile since we have been treated to any magic realism, so I was happy to see it deftly handled by Kundera here. Personally, I was most invested in Tamina's story. The only one I didn't enjoy was the orgy chapter, because I didn't get the reference, if there was one. Maybe it was just an orgy scene.

Kundera is an odd duck, but I like him. And he earns a star for the title alone.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Kundera went into exile in France in 1975, acquiring citizenship in 1981. His Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, but he was granted Czech citizenship in 2019.

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