Immortality

Before this, I hadn't read any of Milan Kundera's works and had the vague feeling that they were probably the kind of serious novel people read in coffee shops to make themselves look like intelligent people (what do you mean you don't do that? Is that just me then? Oh dear...). Having read 'Immortality', I'll admit that I was wrong (well, not about people reading the books in coffee shops - for all I know, he's the number one coffee-shop-author). They (or at least the one I've read) are not serious books.

Yes, 'Immortality' deals with serious concepts, but not in a serious fashion. I was kind of expecting to be bored and was anticipating a dreary couple of days forcing myself to read a novel that was worthy, but uninspiring. Luckily for me, I experienced nothing of the sort. It was witty and entertaining and I read so fast that I was disappointed to come to the end.

Do I agree with Kundera's conclusions? Well, I don't know. If I'm honest, I'm not entirely sure that he actually comes to any definite conclusion - he seems simply to enjoy throwing around ideas. I have to say, I'm not entirely sure I would call this a novel - its purpose is not that of most novels. It follows a line of story, certainly, but I wouldn't say it has a storyline. If you see what I mean. If you don't I can only suggest that you read it, after which you will.

Kundera is exploring what it means to be immortal and why we are so attached to the notions of life and continued life, using the many characters who appear in the novel (I don't know what else to classify it as, so novel it shall remain) to do so. I particularly enjoyed the tales of Goethe and Bettina, which are essentially completely unconnected from the greater story.

I felt that Kundera was most sympathetic towards Agnes, though I found her a little cold. Saying that, no other character (except possibly Goethe) was spared his ridicule, making it very hard to take any of them seriously. I really enjoyed reading this, and would happily do so again. It's serious, yet funny, intelligent, yet accessible. Definitely try it.