Reviews

Slowness by Milan Kundera, Linda Asher

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outcolder's review against another edition

3.0

I laughed out loud at the novel's climax, but overall it was pretty obnoxious. Why do only male characters get names? I felt like I was missing something because I've never lived in France. I guess he was saying that society keeps speeding up because we're embarrassing ourselves so much in front of audiences because life is so much more public and we're speeding everything up so that we can forget it all, but I still think I maybe missed part of the point, that there was something extra-French about it that I'll never really get. Also, I think he's weird about women.

matissrv's review against another edition

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4.0

Kundera savā labākajā elementā ir, kad ir īss un koncentrēts – vai tas būtu vienā īsā darbā (kā šis) vai vienā atsevišķā, konkrētā nodaļā (kā nodaļā par Gēti "Nemirstībā", piemēram). Kā ierasti lieliski izstāstīti savīti stāstiņi ar trāpīgām pārdomu atkāpēm. Būtu gribējies, lai virsrakstā un sākumā pieteiktajām ātruma, lēnuma, aizmiršanas, atcerēšanās tēmām tomēr būtu veltītas vairāk atkāpes arī stāsta gaitā.

the_oblivious's review against another edition

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funny inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

tizzy_eileen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging funny lighthearted mysterious

4.0

novabird's review against another edition

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1.0

I am so glad that I never gave Kundera five stars on any of his previous works. Because this awful, absurd, ugly little book had really skewed philosophical content. His best content was his take on Epicureanism - that even love making as a pleasure was doomed by its own struggle and therefore could not be deemed as a pleasure. He applies this philosophy to the desires and copulations that are performed by the characters. Characters that Kundera likens either to that of a performance dancer or viewed by a worldwide audience and in opposition to Kundera's statement that, "epicureans stay hidden." He toys with the ideas stated in his perception of existentialism, "any new possibility that existence acquires, even the least likely, transforms everything about existence."

Kundera's shifting viewpoints presented through the various characters' eyes are so disjointed that I began to wonder if in all Kundera's talk on the 'border,' previously in his other works had propelled him into the border of madness or at the very least absurdity.

Maybe that was the whole point that when we lose ourselves to speed we lose our capacity for memory and then life becomes absurd, but he negates this position when he has the chevalier from the past experience the slowness of passion and then awakens to the idea that he has been used as a pawn.

The central idea is that to examine the struggle with love, is to analyze the courtship struggle as a philosophical concept. I think in Kundera's perception he meant to say that in its final analysis courtship and therefore love is absurd.

Kundera proves himself an elitist existentialist when he says "Forgive me, you're the victim of my crazy imagination ... as if your dreams are a wastebasket where I toss pages that are too stupid."

He cleverly crafts an allegory to the readers that he thinks do not understand his message. Therefore Slowness becomes a double entendre where he refers not to Speed vs Slowness, but Intelligence vs Slowness.

The best insults are those that are wrapped up in philosophical packaging that is 'above the head,' of the intended recipient.