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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
yes!,
By r.narula@bigfoot.com (Oslo) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Slowness: A Novel (Paperback)
There is no one else quite like kundera. Indeed, even the president of iran, Khatami, is of this opinion. I concur. No other author can turn a perfectly ordinary phrase or event into a philospical discourse, and yet, keep it light, make it sprightly, and bring it to an open-ended conclusion. An oxy-moron? Not in Kundera's case. Its a study of speed and slowness, and the process of forgetting and remembering. a touch of sex (invariably with a dose of S&M), and mundane events. But what i find fascinating (more so than anything else) is that he doesnt tie up all the loose ends - stories go on, just as life does. there is no neat little ribon at the end, people are ordinary with limited views, mortal thoughts, and always, display a strong weakness of the flesh. The pathetic remain so: the inglorious acquire no immortality. His eye censors nothing in its translation to the written word.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Light and entertainingnot bad at all.,
This review is from: Slowness: A Novel (Paperback)
After reading "Immortality", "The unbearable lightness of being", and the "The farewell party", I must agree that this novel, "Slowness" was the lightest of all of them. Still, it's interesting and entertaining, maintains Kundera's style of finding profound observations in the behavior of their characters. This time the plot takes place in a medieval castle in France, and in two different time periods: in an entomologist congress in our days (most of the novel), and also with flashbacks of sex intrigues that took place in the same castle centuries ago. The key to enjoy this book is in not giving too much importance to it. Just read it and have fun. If you have read just before a book by Grisham, Wolfe, Clancy, Archer or one of that kind of best-selling authors, you will found "slowness" profound; if you have read Dostoievski, you will not. The characters are all well built, and all of them are interesting. The author shows us their thoughts and feelings, their pride, guilt, excitement; their different personalities and the interaction between them. We enjoy the book as we identify with all of this, relating these characteristics to us, or with somebody we know. It's quite simple but very entertaining. In fact, this characterizes all of Kundera's titles. However, I believe that this is not a good book to start reading Kundera, it might give a wrong impression of the author. It's better to start with "Immortality" or "The unbearable lightness of being".Good book, I gave four stars to it because there are better titles by the same author. If you want to read something good, but light, "Slowness" is a perfect choice.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
In Praise of Slowness,
By
This review is from: Slowness: A Novel (Paperback)
Ironically, Slowness is a brisk read. The book is 156 pages long, and it could easily be read in one or two sittings. I, however, took my time, impelled, in part, by the theme of the book-slowwwnesss. And yes, the book can be enjoyed at a slow pace-that is until you hit the latter 100 pages, when the plot turns into a farce, and the prose reads so easily, so joyfully really, that you cannot help but finish quickly. As always with Kundera novels many specific lines struck me, and I commemorated them with dog-eared pages. One quote seemed to be lifted from another Kundera novel, Immortality. In Slowness Kundera writes, "...beyond their practical function, all gestures have a meaning that exceeds the intention of those who make them. When people in bathing suits fling themselves into the water, it is joy itself that shows in the gesture, notwithstanding any sadness the divers may actually feel." Kundera is talking abut Immaculata, a character who has just jumped into a pool fully clothed, but he could just as easily be talking about Agnes, the heroine of Immortality: "the essence of her charm, revealed itself for a second in that gesture and dazzled me." Reading Immortality, you sense Kundera's compassion for Agnes; reading Slowness, with Immaculata, and the various other characters, you sense Kundera's contempt (although this may be too strong a word: in Kundera's terms, most of the characters here aren't even deserving of contempt.) But Kundera does show compassion for several characters from an 18th century novel, characters who seem to embody the ancient idea of slowness-an idea all but lost to the modern characters of Slowness, all of who seem to be caught up in various fiascos. (These fiascos culminate in a ridiculous scene at the side of a swimming pool in a château.) I read the book during the course of several mornings, and then I finished the last 100 pages in one sitting, in the evening. It is a good book for Kundera fans, although I am not sure I can agree with the critics line, quoted on the front cover of the book: "audacity, wit, and sheer brilliance." What does Kundera have to do to earn some mediocre praise?
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