I find Milan Kundera's style interesting and unique in some ways. His jumps between characters, time and himself within chapters provide interest. I also enjoy the political commentary which is particularly noticeable in this book. However, sometimes I find his treatment of characters a little dull and superficial, and find their relationships predictable (within his style). I did like the character of Tamina. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is an easy and rather enjoyable read but it does not make me want to read more of his works in a great hurry. ( )

Absolutely wonderful. There is something immensely valuable in Kundera's words. His perspective is refreshing and demanding. ( )

A brilliant depiction of intellectual life under communism. Philiosphically profound & very moving. The more allegorical sections were a slight disappointment though. ( )

I enjoyed reading this book, but I’m afraid quite a bit of it was beyond my ken. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is loosely a novel, but in the book and in the interview at the end he also calls it a set of variations, after the musical form. The seven parts are loosely intertwined stories exploring the themes of laughter and forgetting, many centering on characters affected by the Prague Spring and subsequent Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Kundera also occasionally breaks the fourth wall, inserting narrative from the author into the story. I was quite conscious of a lot of deeper meaning zipping past me. On the other hand, Kundera frequently included scenes of the quietly absurd in everyday living that had me cracking up. So this literary novel was fairly successful in engaging me.

(Full review at my blog) ( )

A book with 7 parts, there is a thread which flows right through, according to the writer (on p. 165), it is about Tamina and when not it is for her. There are other threads, Czechoslovakia under communism, relationships, Prague, the emigree.

Milan Hubl in conversation with the author "The first step in liquidating a people is to erase the memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long the nation will begin to forget what it was. The world around it will forget even faster." ( )