The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

'A masterpiece' (Salman Rushdie) by the author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being.



'It took the temperature of the age as no other book did. It was the great novel of the end of European Communism: a novel of ideas and eroticism, the surreal and the naturalistic.' Howard Jacobson



'One is torn between profound pleasure in the novel's execution and wonder at the pain that inspired it.' Ian McEwan

One freezing day in 1948, Klement Gottwald addresses Prague, wearing his comrade Clementis' fur cap - and Communist Czechoslovakia is born. But after being hanged for treason, Clementis is airbrushed out of propaganda photographs. All that remains is a bare wall, and his cap. So begins an unforgettable voyage through seven narratives, interspersed with luminous meditations on politics, philosophy, music and history.

A dissident seeks his first lover - now a Party loyalist - to persuade her to return his romantic letters. A married couple manages their ménage-à-trois as Mother moves in. A clandestine horoscope writer is questioned. An émigré widow struggles to reconstruct memories of her late husband, before finding herself on an island of children. A butcher's wife embarks on an affair with a poetic student. And one man prepares to cross the border . . .

What readers are saying:



'Kundera embrace politics, sex, philosophy and history, with a seen-it-all cynicism that nevertheless manages to be fascinating and even uplifting ... It was addictive and fun, sexy and cool, easy to read, and made me feel brighter, switched on, and more alive.'



'You must read this novel. Can't tell you about it, you just have to do it yourself. Its bonkers-brilliant! Phantasmagoric originality like this comes very seldom in a reader's so-sweet life.'



'Kundera's unique writing style comes as a revelation ... This holds a special place in my reading history as the one book that I instantly began re-reading as soon as I finished it.'



'Absolutely enchanted me. It's such an unique novel. It speaks of so many things, from communism and regimes to love and art. For me personally, it is a perfect book.'



'I am not going to spoil the story here, but while the story is not supernatural in any way, it takes on a fantastical flavor, full of mysteries and strange emotions ... It is obvious that Kundera has thought a lot about life, about the meaning of life, and lets the reader in on his secrets.'



'Such a unique writer, Kundera! What a way he has to shine the brightest light on the deepest corners of human psyche.'



The French-Czech novelist Milan Kundera was born in the Czech Republic and has lived in France since 1975. He died in Paris in 2023.