And Maybe Not

I have willed myself time and time again to reconsider out of want.... But it's just not going to happen.

I am not crazy about the book Ignorance by Milan Kundera. I wouldn't re-read it later in my life; once was more than plenty. Milan, being Franco-Czech, has an obsession with the Czech Revolution, which is the basis of this book (well, for the major event the book centers). The other basis is the idea of being ignorant in remembering things/events/how things transpired exactly. Like I said in my previous post - Milan does a fantastic job at looking into the human psyche. His books have the most "I can't believe someone else has thought/felt that, too" feelings of the books I have perused.



I cannot get over the Odyssey allusions, although they are well-placed. They make sense, Irena reluctantly returning to her homeland after having made a new life in another country. Although Odysseus was not reluctant, his return home was not as welcoming as he wished (or so Kundera makes us believe). Josef - don't even get me started on that "man," ugh. So infantile, and silly; not even understandably so. On top of it the story seems broken and hard to follow, and this is my from where my dislike stems.... The names become a blur, the pronouns interchangeable, the story line fuzzy, and the time similar to an acid trip - you lose track of it.

To die; to decide to die; that's much easier for an adolescent than for an adult. What? Doesn't death strip an adolescent of a far larger portion of future? Certainly it does, but for a young person, the future is a remote, abstract, unreal thing he doesn't really believe in (105)

I would recommend this to read, purely to say you've read it. If you enjoy philosophy-heavy books; if they make you contemplate memories, life, and the value of each person's story they have to tell - because every person has one to tell - then yes, you will enjoy it. Milan Kundera is an amazing author, he constructs beautiful sentences, images, and situations that every person can relate to at least some point in their lifetime.


My vote for the 1,001 Books to Read: Skip

Now, it is time for some oddities - a little game of Catch-22 anyone? For those that have read it - like? dislike?

Opinions of Ignorance if you've read it?