Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera

2 reviews

daughterofceres's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

TW: Sexual Violence

I was excited to get into Kundera's books and started with this one. His writing is nice & there are definetly lots of quotable moments in this short story. The reason my rating is so low is that it seems Kundera has an obsession with rape and sexual violence. In nearly all of these short stories there are unnecessary mentions of sexual violence or desire to be sexually violent, the demented fantasies are more often than not superfluous and distract from the plot and progression of the book rather than progress them in my opinion. I've picked up another book of his, but at this point I'm very nervous and hesitant about starting it.

Edit: This does not impact my rating, but it's worth it to note this is a compilation of seven short stories, I was expecting one continuous story based off the desriptions here. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ludmireads's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

This is an absolute trash of a book. There are many mentions of a main character wanting to r@pe some woman. The characters (men) misogynistic and all the women who are progressive or feminists in this book (well, let's be honest, ALL women) are presented as stupid and... and their only purpose is to serve as a pleasure "device" for men.
I also hate the author's obsession with sex, not to mention the scene when the children are giving pleasure to a GROWN woman. Disgusting.
The writing is trashy, it gave me huge Colleen Hoover vibes. 
And Kundera's "witt" is more like a pseudo-witt. 


Expand filter menu Content Warnings