Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Rich in its stories, characters, and imaginative range, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is the novel that brought Milan Kundera his first big international success in the late 1970's. Like all his work, it is valuable for far more than just its historical implications. In seven wonderfully integrated parts, different aspects of human existence are magnified and reduced, reordered and emphasized, newly examined, analyzed and experienced.

Review:

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, by Milan Kundera was on my list of "classic" book I have wanted to read.  Maybe I am not sophisticated enough to "get" him, but his narrow view of women, and sexual relationships made this challenging for me to read. This is a shame because there were many profound insights and passages.  But, some parts of the novel were so repugnant, I had to lower my rating from five to three stars.

What I Liked:

Format:

The book is presented as a series of short stories that eventually tie together.  Some of the stories are more like fantasy, with strange things happening to the characters.  In other stories, the author uses the names of famous poets in place of the actual character names.  I loved his reasoning.  Kundera wrote this book when he was still an exile in France, and didn't want to use actual names of people he knows.  Therefore, he says, it's his story, and he can name the characters anything he likes!

Themes of Forgetting:

I really thought the author's point that the various Czech governments change things (street names, for example),  so that its citizens will forget the past (and accept the future) really resonated with me.  The erasure of names, languages, and cultural traditions is how a people are subjugated, as is the case with indigenous peoples throughout the world.  

Kundera also uses forgetting to discuss his relationship with his father at the end of his life.  Although he never explicitly says this, it appears that Kundera's father had dementia.  As he nears the end of his life, he gradually loses the ability to speak.  So, by forgetting, Kundera shows that someone can lose the ability to communicate.  This loss of expression is a loss of power.

What I Didn't Like:

Themes of Laughter:

Kundera's other major theme is that laughter is evil.  He seems to equate laughter in the bedroom as an emasculation of men.  He has several situations where men and women laugh in sexual situations.  When this happens, it kills the moment (for the man) and therefore it's always a negative.  This is a very narrow view of sex between two people.  

Other stories have people laughing at inappropriate times, such as at a funeral. I think he sees laughter as something humiliating, instead of an acknowledgement of the absurdity of life. 

Sexual Abuse Excused:

One of the recurring themes in this book is that rape is an essential part of eroticism for men.  Sadly, this may be true for some men.  But I refuse to believe that this is just part of the male DNA.  Rape, and rape culture, is learned.  Kundera's insistence that men are just like this excuses mens's behavior.  He is basically saying that men can't help it.  

He also has a story where a woman is sexually abusing children.  He says that the children are initiating the contact, and makes no attempt to place blame on the woman.  Again, it is excusing her behavior.  I almost put the book down, at that point, but it was close to the end of the book, and I felt that I needed to finish it in order to really judge it.

After I finished the novel, I did some research on the author. It's really no surprise that he vocally defended the notorious Roman Polanski who raped a thirteen year-old child back in the 1970's.  I think he truly feels that men forcing themselves on women (and children) is natural and just how things are.  This book was written in the 1970's.  I really wonder if his thoughts on this has evolved since then.

Triggers for Sexual Assault and Abuse

Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐

Release Date: 1979

Author:  Milan Kundera

Publisher:  Harper Perennial Modern Classics

Page Length:  313 Pages

Source:  Public Library

Format:  Paperback Book

Recommendation:  This book had many parts that were thought-provoking.  But I had a hard time with the viewpoint that sexual behavior, of any type, is natural and doesn't have consequences.