Book Review: The Festival of Insignificance by Milan Kundera

About:
The Festival of Insignificance by Milan Kundera, translated by Linda Asher, is the long awaited novel by the France based, Czech author. This is Mr. Kundra’s eleventh novel.

• 128 pages
• Publisher: Harper
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062356895

 

My rat­ing for The Festival of Insignificance — 2

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Thoughts:
I could not pass up a novel with the wonderful title of The Festival of Insignificance. I have yet to read any of Milan Kundera’s works and was looking forward to reading one. This is a very short novel, sometimes funny, sometimes I found the joke to be overextended, and with several themes to it.

I laughed here and there, but I found the book to be more thought provoking than funny. I’m glad the philosophical discussions in the book weren’t much longer, even though they were fascinating. Reading the book felt as if it’s not a standalone novel. By not reading the previous, highly touted, novels of Mr. Kundera it’s almost as I was left out of the club and had no background knowledge to “get” the joke or significance.

I read this novel in one afternoon. While I thought it was both entertaining and somewhat humorous, it did not stay long with me.

Synopsis:
The novel involves five main characters, in France. Alain whose mother left when he was a little kid, Ramon, an intellectual, D’Ardelo, a narcissist, Charles, an actor who runs a catering business, and Quaquelique, a horny old man who can’t stop speaking.

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More Books by Milan Kundera

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free from TLC Book Tours.
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