Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating characters.
Review: I see that lots of readers have commented on Kundera's ego.
Who cares? I enjoyed the story and that's what counts isn't it? One thing that I can say about Kundera's books is that if I were to see one of his characters on the street, I'd be able to identify him. The people in his books are very complex. Like us. He creates human characters with contradictions, strengths and weaknesses. I love to read about what motivates them and why.
What causes me to really enjoy his novels is Kundera's insight. I think that many readers will find some of their own characteristics in his writings. The Joke is no different. If you're a Kundera fan, I think you'll enjoy yourself. And if you've never read Kundera before, this is a good novel to start with!
Rating:
Summary: An existentialist commentary
Review: I was curious to see how many readers emphasized the political aspects of this book rather than the existentialist life philosophy which is exemplified. The truth is that the Ludvik's political joke that so backfired on him is only one of the jokes that life plays on the characters in this book. The theme, as I see it, is that we all have only an illusion of control over our lives--ultimately the joke is on us.
Rating:
Summary: A Mystical Thread
Review: In the very first part of The Joke, Kundera begins setting up character types using contrasting religious affiliations. Kostka is the most obvious and continuous religious reference. He not only adheres to Christianity, but to Communism as well. He achieves this contradictory blend of beliefs through a process of rationalization in which everything relates back to God's greater design. Kostka rationalizes most things in his life and in the world around him as God's will. Unable to come to grips with his own image as a seducer, he conveniently clings to the religious notions of martyrship and absolution for sin. While unknowingly adhering to rational thought, Kostka criticizes rationalism as the corrosive force of both Christianity and Communism throughout history. In his final segment, Kostka's false piety is revealed as he suddenly doubts his faith in God and calls out in futility.In this crowning moment of Kostka's development, Kundera is clearly having the last laugh. He seems to be telling us that it is not so easy and obvious to find God. Kostka is definitely not the image of harmony his name would imply, and, like everyone else, Kostka must struggle to find faith, salvation and comfort. Ludvik's later description of Kostka only confirms this interpretation and Kostka's character, with his dual beliefs, also serves as a platform for Kundera to criticize socialism and its hypocrisy. The character of Jaroslav allows Kundera to express ideas much closer to his heart. Jaroslav's notions about fantasy are centered around an ancient belief common to many faiths that the most holy and true things are the oldest things. Jaroslav believes in archaic bad omens and also in Kismet. His love of illogical folk music, whose rhythm cannot be written down in our notation system is mirrored in Kundera's comments about rhythm in The Art of the Novel. Jaroslav, with his strong feelings for the past, struggles to live in the modern world of his wife and son, because, to him, it is a world devoid of meaning. The Ride of the Kings is his bridge between the two worlds, and when Vladimir blatantly rejects being the King, Jaroslav's fantasy world begins to fall apart. At the same time, Ludvik suddenly beings to change places with Jaroslav. In true mystical Kundera form, Ludvik arrives at his changed state through some inexplicable revelation. From his irrational babbling, Ludvik ultimately arrives at a new faith that renounces the false faith of believing in eternal memory and redressibility and perceives the meaning of life as existing only in the moment. Living in the present, Ludvik is finally able to let go of his past and desire for revenge and find peace with himself. The imagery surrounding the character of Lucie is highly mystical. While not a strong character, Lucie is a stark contrast to Helena, Kundera's ultimate joke and most biting object of satire. Along with all of the magical reference to her, Lucie's life is much like that of the traditional mystic. She is isolated, anti-social and does not communicate through normal means, yet she is somehow a representation of ultimate truth. In reality, Lucie's image carries more mystical qualities than her actual situation. This idea of image is one of Kundera's key concepts. Rich in absurdity and reproach for hollow, hypocritical guises of faith, The Joke shows us that Kundera values a more intimate, abstract and individual form of faith as an avenue of meaning over the more formal, institutionalized religions created by man, which are often highly lacking in meaning.
Rating:
Summary: funny and sad and brilliant
Review: Is it "arrogant meanspiritedness", "authorial gracelessness",and "publishing astigmatism" to ask for a reasonable and honest translation? To ask that a translator save his "creative" flights for his own works? I say it is not. I say readers are more likely to be offended at and have a right to be offended at an unfaithful translation (as well as at the Kirkus review above). This is a brilliant book well worth the care Milan Kundera took with it, well worth the care Milan Kundera took with its re-translation. Also recommended: PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns.
Rating:
Summary: Kundera's best!
Review: Kundera's 1967 novel is definitely his best work. He merges the political situation of his country with the personal agony of his main character, masterfully showing how a single moment in a young man's life -an apparently harmless joke, actually- can turn it upside down forever.
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Summary: The "Joke" is a metaphor for the Communist system in E. Eur.
Review: Kundera's work "The Joke" is an intricate metaphor which describes the impact of the communist system in east central Europe. Kundera describes how communism actually robs E. Europe of its culture by imposing a rigid uniformity which is actually intended to eliminate culture and nationalism in these satellites. By eliminating culture the Soviet Union will not have to contend with dissent. Ultimately, the Czechs and other eastern Europeans will see the communist system for what it is - oppressive- and will rebel. Emotion will replace blind devotion to ideology and Czech culture will prevail.
Rating:
Summary: Kundera's best
Review: Milan Kundera is smart, perceptive, and a brilliant writer. Unfortunately, he knows it. He gets caught up in his idea of the novel and refuses to abide by the techniques of suspense and narrative. But there's a *reason* those techniques are the norm - they're tried and true. They *work*. Kundera jettisoned those techniques in later works, putting the "climax" of his novels in awkward places. The results, in my opinion, were very good novels, not great ones.
The Joke is Kundera's first novel, and his current style of writing will not fully appear for another decade. This definitive fifth edition is, I believe, the best of Kundera's works (and to an extent leaves me wishing he didn't abandon what worked so well right here).
The first thing you notice about this brilliant novel is the narration. It switches narrators repeatedly (a technique that Kundera cannot use today because he puts himself into his novels as the first person writer/narrator). The idea is that events in real life do not come to us fully formed - we hear one point of view, and another, and another, and it is up to us to unravel the various stories to find out what "really" happened. As everyone knows, one person's point of view will never be the same as another's. The Joke's genius lies in its unabashedly saying exactly that.
By the seventh and final part, the point of view is switching rapidly from character to character. What is only slightly meaningful to one character brings another to the point of suicide. The final chapter is brilliantly lyrical - it reads like poetry and not like overblown purple prose (an aside - Kundera's greatest strength may be that he *never* writes purple prose; some may call him arrogant, but he's not pompous, and there's a difference).
The Joke is, frankly, not very political (it is certainly less political than, say, One Hundred Years of Solitude, which itself was mostly apolitical). Nor is it a period piece, as the (pompous *and* arrogant) literary critic Harold Bloom says. It is both ambitious and well-executed, both perceptive and melancholy. Kundera's books are barely recognizably in his first novel - and that may be good or bad, depending on your point of view.
Put it this way - I would recommend The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and Immortality to everyone who loves to read, think, and most of all, test his or her mind. I would recommend The Joke, however, to *everyone*, whether they think that Catch-22 was drearily boring (c'mon, it's *funny*) or that The Lord of the Rings is the greatest book ever written (Harry Potter is better, and you know it! ;) ). More than anything, it answers the question, "What if history plays jokes?" The answer doesn't bode too well for all of us.
Rating:
Summary: Mind-expanding.
Review: My reading "The Joke" opened my eyes to an entirely different style of prose than I have ever experienced before. Kundera has more respect for his characters than any American novelist I have ever read. Rather than creating characters to tell the world about himself, I felt that Kundera revealed these characters' lives to tell us all something about the world. The best book I read in 1996 due to its complexity of story yet ease of reading, its engaging characters, and its honest depiction of people who learn to live thier lives despite the expectations of their society. The feelings experienced by these people - alienation, betrayal, revenge, and, in the end, a kind of defiant acceptance - are experiences most of us in late 20th century America can relate to
Rating: 
Summary: Beyond Ballard Book Club
Review: The enemy is indifferent. Ludvik is a party follower with a predilection for silly jokes. As a young man, he teases a beautiful, serious woman and his joke destroys the future he planned. Kundera writes of the gray paradise of a penal town and the true love from a common girl. For those of you who are new to Kundera, this is not a Jackie Collins book. In JC's books, the hero as a child has been hurt and then as a young, sexy adult, s/he takes control! In a Kundera book, the hero must learn to let go, let God do the driving. Kundera's heroes also have sex, but it's the yearning that's the true pleasure. The Beyond Ballard Book Club gave this book 3.5 stars, with those who prefer a story that moves fast, giving it 3 stars and those who enjoy words and ideas over swift story, giving it up to 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it . . . no joke
Review: The first thing you notice about this brilliant novel is the narration. It switches narrators repeatedly (a technique that Kundera cannot use today because he puts himself into his novels as the first person writer/narrator, much the same way that McCrae does in his "Bark of the Dogwood"). The idea is that events in real life do not come to us fully formed - we hear one point of view, and another, and another, and it is up to us to unravel the various stories to find out what "really" happened. As everyone knows, one person's point of view will never be the same as another's. The Joke's genius lies in its unabashedly saying exactly that.
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