The novel's artful and philosophical prose meanders through a flurry of 1970's contemporary ideas including democracy, fear, sexual roles, and are intertwined by Kundera's poetical portrayal of memory in the varying degrees of propoganda through personal interpretation of past experiences. Additionally, as the title suggests, laughter plays a part, suggested by the author first as the devilish opposition of order, and as the natural feminine influence.Kundera recognizes his themes contained in the vignettes that makeup the novel, and exploits them by assimilating them into a single body of work. I've heard some people say about the book that they felt they didn't pay close enough attention, and that they couldn't tightly tie the fragments of this novel, but I disagree. Yes, Kundera attempts to distort the linear art of prose into the multi-dimension of the mind. The novel sometimes creates a feeling of deja-vu, sometimes a more obvious trick than others. This is skill of Kundera's that he might have mastered in his later work, Immortality. But here it is experimental and ambitious, albeit a confident delivery... it's a pleasant and stimulating discourse. So my advice is, get this book and relax ...let this grand storyteller carry you.
