Very grateful for Rhea @rufusreads for hosting #kunderabookclub and compelling me to finally pick up a book by Milan Kundera! I’m sorry my rating couldn’t be a little bit higher for one of your favourites, Rhea, but I did enjoy it to an extent!
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It’s essentially a complex love story detailing many affairs with a few overlapping players, set during the Russian invasion of then Czechoslovakia, as well as flitting to Geneva and Thailand too. While I enjoyed Kundera’s prose, masterfully translated by Michael Henry Heim (seriously, it was so smooth!), the infidelities and adulterous behaviour of literally everyone began to wear me out quite early on in the book.
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I’ve enjoyed too many books to count which have unlikeable protagonists, but I didn’t really find Tomas that interesting and his constant womanising and desire to ‘conquer’ lots of women just plain tired me out! I liked Sabina, and probably would have enjoyed the book more if she had more page-time. And of course, I loved Karenin, the doggo. Kundera paints a beautiful picture of the relationship between humans and their pets, and the last part of the book really tugged at my heartstrings!
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BUT, and I never thought I’d hear myself say this, the philosophical wonderings sort of saved the book for me! Usually I read something deep and poignant and my reaction is ‘...eh?’ But Kundera managed to get through my thick skull and actually make me think and consider the musings he puts across. I was really struck by the idea of not having any run throughs or practices for life, so every decision you make, those are the consequences you have to live with, there’s no undo button or chance for a do-over, so you should try your damned hardest to make your one life amount to something and do something you’re passionate about!
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Overall, much more accessible than I anticipated, enjoyable to read, and gave me some food for thought.