"Kundera whirls through comedy and tragedy towards his central question: how does a person, any person, live today? In constructing his answer, he writes of politics, sex, literature, modern man's alienation - and of their antidotes: laughter and forgetting." (amazon)

Having devoured "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", forced it onto several other people and taken part in several re-reads I'm delighted to finally move onto another Kundera novel. I'm a little worried that it won't live up to expectation but the title certainly makes me think I will.

Thanks katisha50!

I always find it difficult to sum up thoughts on Kundera's novels. They drag me in and give me a joy that is unparalleled by most other writers. I always feel a better, wiser person when coming away from his books and The Book of Laughter and Forgetting did just this. In particular, the story of the two types of laughter in 'The Angels' chapter was superb and a stroke of wisdom I hope to keep with me.

However, I did find I was bored and rather lost by the end of this book. The same thing happened to me in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I worry that it may be because I find the books so intense that by the time I get to the end (usually just a day or so later as I find myself obsessed with finishing Kundera books) I'm no longer really reading the story, I'm just trying to find the nuggets of wisdom and searingly beautiful turns of phrase that litter these novels. In terms of characters, I would find it difficult to relay the names of any of them back (except Tamina, whose name I thought was so pretty I may name a pet after her one day). In terms of story, I would be at an absolute loss if explaining it to anyone else.

So how to sum up a book that I truly enjoyed and loved, and yet don't remember?! Perhaps that's why it's called The Book of Laughter and Forgetting!

Must find this a great home to go to soon.......

Many, many thanks to peanutlion. I hope that someday an opportunity to return the favor will arise. And cause another book to fly.