Is this trash even worth finishing? I've read the first

>>9191704
I don't particularly like Kundera, but that's a great metaphor-- PARTICULARLY because one can't help but wonder, odd, what kind of ship would that be? ... It's a puzzle, and not a difficult one: relief, elation- but a manic episode doomed to fail like the escapees are doomed to fail, sooner rather than later. When reading one makes these notations quickly, wordlessly.... This said, a minimal writer who nonetheless splashes his books with amazing color is Philip Roth. Or he's the first that comes to mind. The first female is Penelope Fitzgerald. If economy's sought, one could begin to seek it there.

>>9191704
Sure, but don't exect to be blown away. It's good but not amazing.
I read it to my girlffriend during a camping trip. Was quite comfy.
>>9191906
>doomed to fail
How so?

>>9191704

I dropped this book about 100 pages in. If I am meant to return eternally to the point in my lifetime where I open up this book, it ought to be as short as possible.

>>9192029
Youre right. The operative word is 'crew'-- this is a victory, and not a mutiny. Writing too quickly on my phone I experienced one of those slight modifications that makes all the difference. My bad--

>>9191704
Interesting, I'm just reading this book right now and it starts a bit slowly, I like Kundera though as I've read The Joke and Laughable Loves so I'll definitely finish this one

>>9191704
This is the second worst book I have ever read.

>>9192334
What's the worst book you've read? Just curious

>>9192698
Joy Luck Club

>>9191704
It's like a European "art" film from the sixties.

It gets better if you realize that it's not so much about the symbols and the metaphors, but rather our attempts at giving meaning to love and life.

The prose is nothing special, but it does raises some interesting questions.

>>9193539
If these meanings aren't fresh symbols and metaphors, however, we risk tumbling headlong over the cliff of banality, with nothing but Disaster strong enough, or tidy enough, to break our falls.

Its a decent narrative with some interesting concepts that becomes unsustainably bloated and implodes in the final third. However, he has at least one truly compelling idea about love which would make it worth a read if the product as a whole weren't weighed down by unnecessary contextualization, aimless formal experimentation, and pseudo-political musings. I actually think much of his language is pretty strong, but most of it is lost in the mess of this novel. Give it twenty more pages and if it's a slog then drop it, alternatively you could just go to the source and read what Kundera is failing to emulate: Robert Musil's Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften.

>>9191704
if you're reading it to be absolutely blown away by how deep it is or something then no you're going to be very very underwhelmed