Milan Books

I expected something much different in this book but I was surprised to find a wealth of well researched information and folklore details about the Island of Puerto Rico. I suspect much of these stories will come as a big surprise to people that currently live in the island with a few exceptions.
The reading was easy and can be done in one sitting because is an enjoyable account of the island legends, its people and daily conditions of living in this Island. For those parents that have kids that don't know or appreciate this island, its people or its history-- this is a must read book. The editing was somewhat suspect in a number of places, but the stories don't loose their flavor. The pictures are great of the coastal areas and historical sites. The author was well verse in the intricases of daily living in the island and conveys the stories with the readers in mind. At times you feel that you are there with them in these special places under the sun in Puerto Rico. Bravo! I really felt I was rediscoving Puerto Rico and I can't wait to go back to this Island and see these sites for myself. That's how good this book is!

For most Czechs and Slovaks the Prague Spring was an exciting experiment in socialist democracy. For conservative apparatchiks throughout Eastern Europe, it represented a frightening slide into the politics of disorder and chaos - the bureaucrat's Babylon. The dramatic Soviet invasion of August 1968 was but the first step towards 'normalization' - the restoration of order.

This process, which was begun in 1969, involved one of the most extensive and political purges ever undertaken in post-war Eastern Europe. Having experienced their methods himself, Milan Simecka has been able to disect the work of the 'normalizers' as they single-mindedly eradicated the last traces of independent thinking from the Party and coordinated a ruthless onslaught against the cultural intelligensia. Simecka's account will not only be of use to students of Czechoslovakia; it also invites comparison with Poland and other East European countries, focusing as it does on the relationship between state and intelligensia.

For the English edition, Zdenek Mlynar, author of Night Frost in Prague and the highest ranking Czechoslavak Communist Party official to emigrate to the West, has written a special introduction.
--- from book's back cover

This book on sharks rocks! Sharks are so damn cool(the only animals cooler are of course little cats, wolves, hyenas, and big cats)and this book has so much to show about their lives! Good God, I mean, the photographs are beautiful and/or cool looking, the many species of shark are given full respect and are shown in both art and photo, lots of amazing information is given on everything from tiger sharks(my favorite shark of all time)great whites, makos, hammerheads, grey sharks, whitetips, blacktips, lemon sharks, blue sharks, whale sharks, basking sharks, megamouths, & all the other species of this cool animal that lives in the ocean. Also, it tells how many people study them. Any shark lover needs to get this RIGHT NOW!

The publisher of this book the Center for Global Development has the noble goal of reducing global poverty and inequality for the poor. As opposed to some other organizations they have been able to understand that are real problems of very poor governments (often with at least one armed rebellion on their hands), poor education, poor infrastructure such as roads/rail/ports, religious strife, etc. etc.

In this book there are essays on the Congo, Nigeria, Indonesia, Central Asia, Yemen, Burma-Myanmar and several other countries. Each is written by an expert on that country and covers both the history and the prospects for the future.

As such this book gives an honest look at the prospects and potential for several companies in what might be called the developing world but which may well not be developing very well at all. The book focuses primarily on the economic/political aspects of the countries and stresses their weak governments.

These writers clearly understand the problems in the countries they are addressing. They are able to clearly and succintly express themselves, and provide a world of specialized knowledge.

I would really like to ask some of these writers to give me their thoughts on certain global issues are likely to affect these countries. What will happen as we run out of oil, or more specifically as energy costs skyrocket? How do they think global warming will affect these countries, the rising sea level? What about AIDS or Avian flu? Maybe that's another book.

Expertly edited by Milan Richter, "Milan Rufus: And That's the Truth" is the very first bilingual English/Slovak edition of Nobel literature prize candidate Milan Rufus' poetry. Stark black-and-white images by illustrator Koloman Sokol perfectly complement the brief, striking verses embodying the author's embrace of human values, Christian morality, and concept of homeland as a place where man's creativity can shine. Each short poem is presented in its original Slovak and in English translation, on facing pages. "Ordination for a Poet" (for Jozef Mihalkovic): Long ago / when sand still flowed, / God stopped the poet. / And to him said: // "Wherever you come from, / you are my child. / You will bring warmth to the world. // But for the words for each poem / you must enter the deep seams of home."

As a frequent traveler, used this for a short visit to Milan also scheduled on short notice. Found it very valuable in both pre-trip planning (figuring out layout of city, street maps, metro map, restaurants) and also "on-the-ground" while actually in Milan. Referred to it numerous times during trip - the links from the text to the street maps are excellent. (It's just like your "London A-Z"...plus recommendations.)

Much more useful/informative than either Frommer's or (surprisingly) Lonely Planet, which both often lack perspective because of their target traveler-markets. This covered both ends of the spectrum nicely.

Consider this as a serious alternative to the more-established travel publishers. Happy trails.

What a deeply boring book The Unbearable Lightness of Being is. And the title is just as perfect as it could be. I decided to read the book because of the movie to see if the book is much better. As claimed before The Unbearable Lightness of Being is an unfilmable novel, I actually don't agree since there were certain things that went unexplained in the film. So, I got some of them solved by reading the book. Honestly, the movie is way better and done so well if not mystifying, but the book, I felt so bored, unmoved, and ridiculously tired. Milan Kundera, the author of the novel, jumps the timeline around too much that it got confusing as if the pages came out of a blender. And then he goes further by over-philosophizing some aspects. When that was done, he is basically saying that adultery is acceptable, that women ought to be treated as objects, and that it is perfectly okay to sleep with many as possible. Of course, in that process as I quickly learned, sex will become meaningless except to those who have chemical imbalances in the brains. I was hoping that, as shown in the film, to gain some insight about the tensions created in Czechoslovakia and how they got flared up, I would learn from the book. Although it didn't really explain very well, I figured, "Heck, I should find a book on the history of that country instead of getting it through The Unbearable Lightness of Being." The last part of the book is about a dead dog for twenty or so pages. That's a nice way to depress me. All in all, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, albeit sometimes well-written, features pretentious characters searching for meaningful sex but ending up looking sillier than a boy fooling around with a donkey.

i really enjoyed this book, it's one of those ones you have to think about. the story follows two couples, tomas and tereza and sabina and franz. these people are used to embody certain ideals and characteristics, and i interpreted their actions more as metaphor rather than just an act in itself.

i suppose one of the major themes in the book is expressed in the title, this idea of weight in association with how we interact with the world, and whether or not it is a good or bad thing to have. i understood the weight to be our ties to the world, our responsibilities. like a sac we carry. the question is -is it better to have the sac full of stuff you may need or want with you or is it better to be unburdened? what i found helpful was that for the perspectives presented, the opposite perspective is presented to contrast, neither one being more right than the other.

each of the four main characters had some sort of struggle they were attempting to overcome (which i loved reading about. there is nothing more enlightening and empowering than to watch someone overcome what discontents them). all of the struggles have to do with how the characters interact with those they know, which i saw to be a preference for either weight or lightness.

this is one of those books you could (and should) spend hours thinking about.

Can't forget the days when I was reading this novel. It felt I was living inside the book with those engrossing characters all the time. And when I was not reading it, I'd feel as if I had stepped out for a while and ould eagerly wait to re-enter that amazing world of romance and complications once again. A must read for those who believe that love is only a small part of life, for here life is a small part of love.

This book may not be for everyone but I simply loved it. A love story with a philosophical bent it leaves you questioning your own life and decisions. Burdened by love or light enough to achieve beauty or somewhere in between?

This quote from the beginning of the book says it all:

"The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in the love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become.

Conversely, the absolute absence of a burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into the heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant.

What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?"

'68. "Socialism with a Human face." Sexual Liberation et. al. Pose straw men and women and shake their hands, then take them to bed, several times moreover, and in different combinations. Mmm just can't get enough of that plaid . . . Just heavy enough to discipline a cat with (not quite 1 lb) and just ontologically void enough to deflate your mind and defuse the imagination before you are able to (some 320 pgs, being 100 shy of 420 pages). This is the novel that defined a generation: that elected (x series of politicians), sexed up (insert anonymous free thinkers), toked up (x quanta of drug[s]). Now they tell you to shut up and rock the vote, Just say NO, Just say No and express yourself, but be sure to raise your hand first so you can wave that flag all the more higher. This is one of those books that make the eternal recurrence of the same that much heavier, beach reading during tsunami season, torchère for a mind on fire with rage. BUY NOW PAY LATER . . . Reading this book will make you more productive and in touch with the weltgeist and your inner child. What's that something of a salvo to broadside that thicket eh? Right through that protest in 19

944-page two-part near-classic is undone by its weak ending, but still stands as a masterpiece of literature. Considered a "first novel", DQ plays on themes of meaning, faith, and madness with great humor.

Cervantes wrote the book in two parts separated by a five-year hiatus (1605 and 1610) during which another author wrote a poorly-received second part, which Cervantes attacks repeatedly in his own followup.

As long as it is, the translation while "unabridged" does not translate all of the original Spanish. Part of the Oxford World's Classics" series, this translation is the famous Jarvis translation from 1742, which was long considered the classic translation. While modern language scholarship has revealed its inexactness, the Oxford version uses it because it best captures the feel if not the word-for-word meaning of the translation, and end notes identify where Jarvis has veered from the original to maintain rhymes, jokes, and puns.

I love the story but have never been able to finish the book. I listened to this on a road trip to California and found it very enjoyable. They did cut a major section, but I guess that is what you contend with in an abridged version.

The translation is perfect except, as the translator has noted, on the poems found through out the book. The book itself is just plain beautiful, the author, Cervantes, is a master of prose and creativity, not to mention he has a great sense of humor. In my opinion, he is not too far off from Shakespeare. A+

'Don Quixote' is largely considered to be a satire on the popular chivalric ballads of Cervantes' day, but don't be fooled. This novel is no satire on chivalry, itself. Indeed, through the trials of Quixote and Sancho Panza, Cervantes is perhaps the greatest promoter of chivalric ideas that the West has ever known. No other protagonist so thoroughly embodies the ideals of heroism, romantic love, friendship, honor, discretion, trust, virtue, and adventure than does Don Quixote. It just so happens that he is insane, but the author is able to look beyond that. So too should the reader.

The knight's sallies are absolutely delightful and, it must be credited, alone prove Cervantes' genius in writing. The dialogue between Quixote and Sancho is excellent comedy, creating a duo that has gone unsurpassed in originality and endearment for five centuries. "Is it possible that Your Worship can be so thick skulled and brainless as to not perceive the truth of what I allege?" Classic.

But these adventures, hilarious as they may be, give us frame for a storehouse chivalric truisms, the like of which can be found in no other work of fiction. A sampling would include: "An author had better be applauded by the few that are wise than laughed at by the many that are foolish;" "Anyone who has been a good squire will never be a bad governor;" "There is a wide difference between flying and retreating; valor which is not founded on the base of discretion is termed temerity or rashness;" and "Whenever virtue shines in an emanant degree, she always meets with persecution."

The reader cannot help but to love such regal assuredness, such profound idealism. Ironically, Quixote's insanity never really contradicts his optimism and in fact vindicates it. It is commentary on the human condition that only the insane person can actually accomplish something virtuous. And after all the delusions are expired and all the fallacies uncovered, Don Quixote actually has accomplished everything he set out to achieve if only because he was noble enough to strive for it.

A note must be made on the translations. While much of the verbiage is straightforward, there are several repeated phrases that are different between the major translations, Quixote's moniker being one of the most important. In every translation I have seen, the name has been different--"The Knight of the Rueful Countenance," "The Knight of the Mournful Countenance," and "The Knight of the Sorrowful Face" are all used for the same phrase. I enjoyed the "Rueful Countenance" and found it to be well-suited for the style of the novel though I have not read other translations.

In the end, though, you cannot go wrong. 'Don Quixote' is a pure joy to read and we are fortunate to have the ability to do so.

Don Quixote well deserves its place in the pantheon of world classics. For me, it's the ultimate desert island book. It is simply an indescribable jewel, full of fun, hilarity, adventure, beauty, wisdom, social commentary, tragedy, and entertainment. And I believe that J.M. Cohen's translation is the best there is. He obviously had a love for the material and left us a beautifully rendered work. The encomium in his Times obituary was on the mark when it said that he was "the translator of foreign prose classics for our times."

Immortality is probably the last novel by Kundera that shows him at his best. This book, translated by Peter Kussi, released in 1990, is the last of a trilogy that includes the great The Book Of Laughter And Forgetting, and The Unbearable Lightness Of Being. While Immortality is not a great book, and not in the class of those other two books, it is certainly a good book that continues Kundera's metafictional ride through the 20th Century.

The nuts and bolts plot is about two French sisters, Agnes and Laura, and the man they are involved with- Paul. Except that none of them are real- they are the fictive inventions of the metafictional Milan Kundera who, after an old lady motions to a swimming instructor at a Paris spa, somehow becomes infatuated with the name Agnes, and decides to write a novel called Immortality. He says, `At the time, that gesture aroused in me immense, inexplicable nostalgia, and this nostalgia gave birth to the woman I call Agnes.' Of course, there are detours- whole sections of the book that are philosophic musings between literary figures like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Ernest Hemingway. Also along for the ride is Professor Avenarius, a possibly real character who has been metafictionalized, who consults with Kundera on the progress of his novel, and whom Kundera rewards with a copy of his earlier novel Life Is Elsewhere. If this seems convolutes it is, and a bit unnecessary, although the more straight-forward passages in which literary and real world heroes come and go are better, and the philosophizing is first rate.

In many ways Kundera has taken what started with Vonnegut- the metafictive realm- and moved it to its next level. However, this book is not on a par with his two earlier masterworks, and the utter narrative convolutions are the book's undoing, what separates it from them. Where they are fresh and playful this novel, at times, seems on the verge of collapsing upon its own cutesiness. Also, the lives of the four `real fictive' characters never grabs ahold of the reader like those in the earlier books. Yet, overall, this is balanced by the great ideas put into life, death, art, and immortality.

But, this is not a book for the would be Kunderaphile to start with. Its convolutions may put them off from reading other of his works, and this book also marked the last gasp of greatness, as Kundera, since then, seems to merely be aping his former greatness, as his polypersonaic skills have faltered and he's become much more generic and predictable in both forms and ideas. Where once Kundera's interruptions of story were whimsical and refreshing, even by this novel, they seem more affective than effective, and his characters less individuals than personifications of themes. Agnes is not really Agnes, but a symbol of the human yearn for deathlessness, which then is rehashed by Goethe and his lover Bettina von Arnim- a woman who would nowadays be classified as a groupie of the rich and famous...And while I reiterate the fact that this is Kundera's best book, after his two masterworks, there is only so much breaking of the fourth wall that is needed to convey the metafictive nature of tales, in general, and this one specifically. Sometimes walls are not only necessary, but enough.

I picked up Unbearable Lightness at the library and thought I ought to read it because it seemed like I should. And I did. And I was right. So I thought, hm, I'm going to read everything Milan Kundera ever wrote.

So I picked up Immortality at the library and ofcourse, I love it. People ask me what it's about and I'm like, I dunno, everything I think.

But you know what I do? When I got to Barnes and Noble in the mall you know how there is a table set-up and a sign on it called SUMMER READING? Well, I go over to the K section and pick up all of Milan's books and go back to the table and put them on top. Now, as you see, I'm not a book buyer, I'm a borrower, so I go into B&N strictly for this task. And when I go back to do it again, they are gone. So, do you think people are buying them? Or are they put back by some pesky salesperson who has strict guidelines about what people should be reading in the summer? I really don't know. Next time I do it I'm going to mark page 22 of Immortality with a little pen mark to see.

Anyhow, here is the gist of Kundera, in his own writing, "A novel shouldn't be like a bicycle race, but a feast of many courses."

Enjoy this feed-fest, it's a true wonder. I'm so happy I found Milan Kundera on this go round and that I am reading him while he is still alive (clap, clap, clap). It's such a bummer to read everything ever written by an author, to fall deeply in love and then find out he or she is dead :(.

Back to my summer reading...

"He discovered with happy surprise that Laura merged with the music; the only woman in his life whom he found to resemble the sea; who was the sea.."

I picked up "Immortality", which had been resting on my shelf for quite some time, with good expectations. Having read "Farewell Waltz" and "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," I knew what to expect from Milan Kundera in terms of style, and "Immortality" brought plenty of what was expected. With that said, I found "Immortality" a mediocre read; despite the elegance of the author's unique voice (one of my favorite aspects of Kundera's writing), I felt that, at times, he was too indulgent; his lengthy meditations on "life" after death, which comprised the middle sections of the book were potent at their introduction, but soon became stale. He simply blew the same note too often.

That being said, Kundera was not without his beautiful phrases; I was not enthused about Goethe's plot, so it was these singular images that kept me reading.

It is true, I may be biased by my age (22), but I felt the author's unweaving of Ruben's plot tedious. Sex and aging are universal themes; many have added their take, and Kundera's was not significantly different from the norm.

Having finished "Immortality" several hours ago, the maelstrom of themes and plots are still bubbling around in my head. Maybe it will be different when they settle down. Still, I do not think my rating will reach above 3.5, or below 2.5 (more likely the latter), nor will the opinions given in this review change much. Perhaps my expectations for this novel were too high, after all, an author cannot deliver hits every time around. And though "Immortality" is not an out-an-out flop, its lyrical gems and philosophical ingenuity cannot balance its self-indulgence and uneven plots. Sadly, I must call it a miss. Recommended only to die-hard Kundera fans.

This novel neither walks like a novel nor talks like one but its author obviously intends for us to consider it as such. Immortality is partly non-fiction or perhaps historical fiction with allusions to Rubens, Goethe and Hemingway. A great deal of musing is going on here as the author paints in sweeping, elegant, philosophical brush strokes. But turn-about is fair play and this style of literary paella somehow still largely works for me. That is, I respect authors who push the genre and try to take it to a new place. Otherwise, how would the novel evolve as a genre? While one may be transported in the parts of the novel which are clearly intended to be traditional fiction, the artifice of the historical flashbacks and the philosophy do intrude into the transporting flow of the fictional stream of the storyline. However, the philosophy is so wise and the allusions are so skillfully woven with relevant implications for the storyline that, once again, Kundera manages to pull of this effect, much to his credit. This novel is engaging, easy to read and thought-provoking. So no matter how one may characterize this quasi-novel, it simply works for me and I plan to read another, which is always a fairly reliable test as to whether you really believe a book is a good read. This middle-brow, literary novel has legs.

Milan Kundera is one of the most important writers in post war Europe. Each of his novels is playful, philosophical, digressive in a style reminiscent of Sterne and tries to make sense of the difficulties of human life in a playful and erotic manner. Immortality ranks as one of his best novels and perfectly fulfils Kundera's definition of a novel as a feast of many courses - a banquet for the brain to be savoured in many sittings, not a race to the denoument at the end.

Only some minor flaws. Kundera is an exemplary novelist of ideas. Themes considered in Immortality include the notion of 'Imagology' - the musings on the role of the image - in advertising, politics, the image of Lenin proliferating and dominating the ideology of Communism is perfectly attuned to our modern times, bombarded as we are by the sinews of consumerism. However some of the ideas here come across as a little strained. The notion that Bettina - with her attachment to Goethe to pursue immortal love with the great man - subsumed his literary reputation makes for playful, intelligent writing, but it is true? Nah. Goethe's reputation remains, I had to look up Bettina on wikipedia. The whole thesis is like a beautiful flower of many beautifully shaped petals that crushes instantly in the hand as it is so insubstantial.

Also, am I alone in tinging a strain of fretful, excited sexual deviance in Kundera's work, not just this novel, but in his books as a whole? Through out Kundera's work images of female humiliation occur such as the opera singers in 'The Book of Laughter and Forgetting' being trained with pencils up their rectums, girls having their skirts hoisted up in public, girls standing bare breasted and shamed in public, musings on 'Miss Elsa' - the heroine of an obscure Arthur Scknitzler novella who is forced to show herself nude to repeal her father's debts. Images like this clearly swirl throughout Kundera's mind on hot writing afternoons so that he comes on like Philip Larkin in his sweating, fervid 'Willow Gables' pornographic mode, getting a fretful thrill from imagining women degraded. Perhaps Kundera's sexual excesses might have been tempered by a few cold showers? Or maybe that would ruin something vital in the essence of the work? Worth a ponder.

"To laugh is to live profoundly" (p. 79).

Milan Kundera's Book of Laughter and Forgetting (Kniha smíchu a zapomnìní) was his first publication after he relocated to France in 1975. Published before Kundera's most famous novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, the non-traditional "novel" consists of several separate narratives united by common philosophical themes of life, sex, music, literature, and political opposition to the communism. The first section of the book ("Lost Letters") tells the story of Mirek, a former communist supporter, now determined to destroy the love letters he once sent to an ugly woman named Zdena. In the second section ("Mother"), Karel invites his mother to spend a week with him and his wife, Marketa. Karel and Marketa introduce her to their friend Eva as Marketa's cousin, when in fact she is their lover. The third section ("The Angels") tells the story of Kundera's attempt to write a horoscope for his employer (using a pseudonym) in Russian-occupied Czechoslovakia. His coworker (code named R.) is then questioned by the police about the writing, quickly turning office laughter into paranoia. Part four of the book ("Lost Letters") tells the story of a cafe waitress, Tamina, who wants a customer, Bibi, to retrieve her love letters and diaries from her mother-in-law in Prague to help her remember her deceased husband. Another customer, Hugo, is secretly in love with Tamina, and in an attempt to win her heart, offers to help her if Bibi cannot travel to Prague. Tamina eventually has sex with Hugo, but all the while her thoughts are on her deceased husband. The last section of the book ("Litost") tells the story of Kristyna's love for a philosophy and poetry student, who suffers from "litost," "a state of torment upon by the realization of one's inadequacy or misery." Kristyna fears having sex with him will make her pregnant and then put her life at risk. The student misinterprets this to mean Kristyna believes she will die from her immense love for him. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting reveals the work of a brilliant mind through Kundera's gifted style.

G. Merritt

Really a fantastic read, full of originality and some sense of realism. It's essentially a novel comprised of what could be called seven short stories, but interspersed within each story are the author's musings on life, politics, relationships and even autobiographical sketches. The perspectives Kundera provided about living and functioning within the former Czechoslovakia while under communist and Soviet control was, I thought, fascinating. Such perspectives were presented not just through autobiographical presentations, but through each character in each of the stories.

Kundera's examination of relationships, be it the individual's internal relationship with him/herself, or the relations between the individual and other persons, the individual and "the state", or the individual and the whole of humanity were engaging. Kundera's writing and presentation were clear and concise, yet his concepts had great depth. His thoughts/opinions/perspectives gave me many opportunities to ponder life's various aspects. I appreciated that because it too often seems I get too bogged down with life's minutiae to remember to stop and reflect on important things...like how we (humanity) relate to each other.

There are, however, a few sections, seemingly more towards the end, that just flat out border on the bizarre. That being said, it wasn't a major detractor from the overall quality of Kundera's writing.

The only regret I have in reading this book is that I wasn't able to do it simultaneously with a friend who would also value the perspectives, philosophical musings and discussion of human relations that are contained in it. To do so would have led to great conversations while sitting with the friend in the corner of a quiet cafe on a cold, rainy afternoon.

THE BOOK OF LAUGHTER AND FORGETTING is a sophisticated work of art. An amalgam of experimental fiction, straightforward storytelling, magical realism and metafiction, it successfully grapples with bigger than big themes, portraying the crucible that was Czechoslovakia after the Russian invasion in 1968 and before the dissolution of the Soviet empire. Kundera makes this tall order work in prose that rings sharp and clear. It is difficult to believe that this was not originally written in English, and the credit for the translation goes to Michael Henry Heim, at least for the used edition I purchased (part of Penguin's "Voices From the Other Europe" series edited by Philip Roth, circa 1980). The book was first published in Europe in the late 1970's.

At one point in the novel, Kundera, a trained musician, describes why Beethoven was drawn to the variations form, in which an original 16-measure theme gradually changes in each variation. This is a key to how Kundera the writer has constructed this book in a series of stories to explicate the significance of memory in art and life, the devastation by the political and the metaphorical effects of laughter in its many forms. If this sounds like too much abstraction, please know that Kundera has created very real characters in visual language, and the action moves swiftly. He periodically deploys sexual scenes with late 20th century European sensibility that provides yet another lens on his central themes.

After the 1968 invasion, Kundera lost his professorship at the Prague Institute and saw his books removed from public shelves. Eventually, he and his wife went into exile. When he published this book, his citizenship was revoked and it was banned in his native country. We know that things are different now, but this cry from the heart of political, artistic and personal oppression is a message that should never be forgotten.

This is a very novel novel. If the novel, as an art form, is in essence a piece of work with something wrong with it, then this quirky book takes up all the possibilities inherent in that and weaves a magical piece of fiction out of several, recurring themes, like a musical variation.

Like the Unbearable Lightness of Being, the book tells the story of characters who occupy a curious, almost etheral existence as they grapple with the absurdities and terrors of Communist censorship in Czechoslovakia. Kundera's characters, certainly his male ones, are always highly intelligent and highly philosophical sexual beings. They love, they fret, and they die. There is much to be delighted about in this novel as characters struggle to find a voice in the face of censorship and are weighed down by the burdens of ageing and nostalgia.

Kundera is always souffle light in his style, but the very best literature of this vein (the Continental reflexive style) combines lightness with weight. And I found that many of the stories slipped out of my memory after sparkling and shimmering for the short time they remained in there. This is evidently a book I wil have to reread.

Also, try and pick up the edition with the author interview with Philip Roth at the back. Two great intellectual heavyweights ponder the architecture and themes of the novel, and life. Well worth reading if you can.

This is one of Kundera's best works and a good place to start for an introduction to his fiction. I don't use the term "novel" because Kundera hesitates to use it. As he says in the text, this book is made up of little vignettes (with no common characters) which are different "variations" on the themes of laughter and forgetting. Like much of Kundera's work, it deals with the subjugation of the Czech people. When the Russians took over their country, they instituted a program of official "forgetting" - erasing the country's culture and history. The book is a good example of Kundera's philosophical style - with an emphasis on telling, not showing.