Slowness in Around the World in 80 Books

May 04, 2014 Bogdan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: central-europe

I had numerous deception with highly praised writers that I could not enjoy. This is why I lowered my expectations before reading this first novel from the works of Czech/French author Milan Kundera. But the irony from the very first pages and the phlegmatic style helped me to switch my mood from cautious to starting to enjoy it.

The plot created to support the premise is fairly simple. Yet the premise is one found also in late 20th century philosophical books. We need to slow down in order to en I had numerous deception with highly praised writers that I could not enjoy. This is why I lowered my expectations before reading this first novel from the works of Czech/French author Milan Kundera. But the irony from the very first pages and the phlegmatic style helped me to switch my mood from cautious to starting to enjoy it.

The plot created to support the premise is fairly simple. Yet the premise is one found also in late 20th century philosophical books. We need to slow down in order to enjoy life, which I think it is a true statement. A very interesting topic supported by an interesting plot, made me to give it the maximum points, 5, for premise.

The form plays an important role in this novel. The two narrative lines separated by 200 years are meeting near the conflict resolution, although both stories remain at least partially with open questions. A pretty interesting literary device, not used by too many writers. This is why I will give it another 5 for form.

In terms of originality, I mentioned about a philosophical book on the same topic and this will diminish my rating for this attribute. Apart from this the novel is fairly original, so I will give it a 4 for the level of originality.

The characters are not necessarily the focus of the novel. They are pretty much sketched, but fairly well differentiated. I had to admit also that at least some characters were stereotypes, but not the kind of mainstream literature stereotypes that we are all so tired of. They are cartoons of politicians, notorious persons or scientists from ex-Communist countries that were oppressed before 1989. This simplification is intentional without targeting a real person and makes up the irony for the entire society represented by those characters. In my opinion, this deserves a rating of 4.

Regarding the complexity and difficulty, despite its relative few pages, the novel is not so simple or straightforward. Of course that at the same time it is not a philosophical treaty. To be fair with it I will rate it with a 3 for complexity and difficulty.

In terms of credibility, there are certain implausible events, more on the sensational side. Despite it, most of them could be some headlines from daily news. All except the only thing that can only happen in a work of fiction. The bending of time, pretty much common for science fiction works is not a element I would expect in this kind of fiction. Despite this, the effect made by it compensates in part its striking comparing with the rest of the novel. My rating for credibility is therefore 2.

The last criteria is edition. This coquette edition from Humanitas printed on clear white paper with a lot of attention to detail is a joy for any reader. Thus, I will rate it with a 5.

To summarize, there is no wonder that the 20th century was nicknamed the century of speed. Not only the things we build are faster but most of us are living our lives in such a hurry that we forget to enjoy them. And the 21st century is not slowing down at all. All in all, my final rating for this novel is 3.86, which I will round it to a 4 on Goodreads system.


+--------------------------+-----------------+
| Criteria | Rating |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Premise | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Form | 5 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Originality | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Characters | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Difficulty/Complexity | 3 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Credibility | 2 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Edition | 4 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+
|Total | 3.86 |
+--------------------------+-----------------+

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Aug 13, 2012 Kent Winward rated it it was amazing

Speed is the velocity of forgetting. Slowness is the velocity of memory. Kundera excels at the philosophical novel of ideas. Read it slowly -- or two or three times -- so you remember. The description of "dancers" probably applies most aptly to GoodReads' reviews, he writes, as he pirouettes out of the review. ...more

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