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Review
"Ingenious witty provocative and formidably intelligent, both a pleasure and a challenge to the reader." -- Jonathan Yardley, "Washington Post Book World""Inspired Kundera's most brilliantly imagined novel...A book that entrances, beguiles and charms us from first page to last."-- Susan Miron, "Cleveland Plain Dealer""Brilliantly mordant...beautifully translated...strong and mesmerizing." -- "New York Times"
Product Description
This breathtaking, reverberating survey of human nature finds Kundera still attempting to work out the meaning of life without losing his acute sense of humour. It is one of those great unclassifiable masterpieces that appear once every twenty years or so.
'It will make you cleverer, maybe even a better lover. Not many novels can do that.' Nicholas Lezard, GQ
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First Sentence
THE WOMAN might have been sixty or sixty-five. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE WOMAN might have been sixty or sixty-five. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Reading a novel by Milan Kundera is a bit like taking a
long lunch with your favorite college philosophy professor,
and discovering that he's a wonderful storyteller. This
particular novel begins with a woman's beautiful but
fleeting gesture, and continues by telling us more about
her until both the history and the significance of her
gesture are revealed in their full, heady, context. On the
way, Kundera weaves in stories about Goethe, Napoleon, the
origins of sound bites and photo-ops, and of course, musings
on immortality. Like many good storytellers, Kundera even
presents himself as a minor character in his tale of love,
gestures and immortality. By the end of the novel, you will
feel intoxicated, as if your long lunch has been accompanied
by a number of good glasses of wine. And as you lift your
hand to wave goodbye to Kundera, you will realize that your
life has been changed, and that you will forever look at the
world with a slightly different view for having read this
amazing book.
long lunch with your favorite college philosophy professor,
and discovering that he's a wonderful storyteller. This
particular novel begins with a woman's beautiful but
fleeting gesture, and continues by telling us more about
her until both the history and the significance of her
gesture are revealed in their full, heady, context. On the
way, Kundera weaves in stories about Goethe, Napoleon, the
origins of sound bites and photo-ops, and of course, musings
on immortality. Like many good storytellers, Kundera even
presents himself as a minor character in his tale of love,
gestures and immortality. By the end of the novel, you will
feel intoxicated, as if your long lunch has been accompanied
by a number of good glasses of wine. And as you lift your
hand to wave goodbye to Kundera, you will realize that your
life has been changed, and that you will forever look at the
world with a slightly different view for having read this
amazing book.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As in the earlier "Unbearable lightness...", Kundera writes a novel based on extremely well crafted characters, and this time he also includes a couple of historical characters and himself as well. Kundera's style and language makes this novel very easy to read, but the material is in fact quite heavy. It's a joy to read, but quite troubling at some points. I highly recommend this book, but I tend to propose interested readers to read "Unbearable lightness..." or some other of Kundera's earlier novels before tackling "Immortality".
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Rue the day you bought this book, for it will ruin your life. This is the most tragic and disturbing novel you will ever read. It's also very amusing and sweetly romantic at times, but the overall sense you will have upon finishing it is that something has been changed within you and will never be the same again. Of course, if this is the main pleasure you get from reading then rush for your credit card now - this is the most refined piece of formalised horror you can get, even at Amazon!
Watch as the quintessential gestures pass from character to character, discover how your own individuality is unreal, see how the little people become transparent and sad, how their lives are shown to be imitations of eternal ideas, their achievements wrongly targeted, their thoughts not at all their own. If you can survive this with your ego intact, let me know how, because after reading this, I'm not sure I can think or exist at all, and yet the stereogestures keep on flowing. Seriously though, this is a bloody good read, and the most thought-provoking (if blasphemous to the human ego) thing you can subject yourself to. If you've ever read a Kundera, this will better it, and if you want to but haven't yet, forget the rest and go for this. (Then get all the rest as well.) Oh what the hell, this is the best novel since sliced... JUST BUY IT!!!!!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Es muss sein...
Today I recommended this book to a work colleague.
I must have read it myself nearly 10 years ago, but I realised that it was/is my favourite novel ever. Read more
I must have read it myself nearly 10 years ago, but I realised that it was/is my favourite novel ever. Read more
Published 18 months ago by E Reilly
Something for everyone
For those who are familiar with Milan Kundera's work, you sort of know what to expect: a mixture of philosophical musings, good story-telling, imaginative vignettes and of course... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Gurjit
What happens when you look on your bookshelf again
Funny what a little tidying will do. Found this extraordinary book lurking on the bookshelf, begging for a re-read some 20 years after my first outing with it. Read more
Published on 18 May 2010 by happy camper
Sensual, intoxicating, mesmerising...
From almost the first page, Kundera holds the reader with his assured, purposeful prose, and it feels as though we have been invited to watch the creation of the narrative itself. Read more
Published on 19 April 2009 by LittleMoon
Immortality
Milan Kundera states it best midway through his novel: 'Dramatic tension is the real curse of the novel, because it transforms everything, even the most beautiful pages, even the... Read more
Published on 22 Oct 2007 by Damian Kelleher
Genious...
Previous reviews have deconstructed this novel both fairly and accurately. When I was 18, I read this book (now 36). I re-read it when 21. Read more
Published on 8 July 2007 by Mr. C. A. Lillie
Outstanding - A Genius' Best Work
I'll start by saying that I consider Milan Kundera to be the world's greatest living writer, and then mention that I believe this is his finest work, encompassing everything that... Read more
Published on 6 May 2004 by whateverthismeans
Perhaps Kundera's last great novel
Although three novels have succeeded it, 'Immortality' is the last truly great Kundera novel, belonging not so much to this trilogy as to that represented by the earlier... Read more
Published on 18 July 2002 by "tardypigeon"
Immortal litterature!
Kunderas "Immortality" is a classic in more than one sense. First of all because of Kundera's classic intellectual style, second because of the timeless quality of this... Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2002 by "nordlem"
It will change your attitude to life
This book is academic but accessible. The narrative alternates between historical characters and fictional ones. Read more
Published on 29 April 2002
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