Amazing novel, I was having the best feelings reading it, but the ending made me fucking mad, like come on, a dream? but why go with that? It would have been a much better story if it was reality, imagine reading a long ass novel for the writer to hit you with, oh it's nothing buddy, it was just a dream 😁 Stupidest ending ever.
But the things we were exploring through the novel, Identity, Love, Jealousy, and more (I say and more because I didn't make a mental list of the rest, Sorry not sorry) these things remain the same, the questions remain and the answers? who knows really, I will be questioning for a long time after this amazing trip.
The existential fears of Chantal and Jean-Marc I felt them they were too real, from Jean-Marc I felt incredible love for her, but at the same time incredibly stupid jealousy, dude wrote her love letters because she was feeling down men didn't give a fuck about her anymore because she was old, and then became jealous from his created persona of her secret lover.
Also his fears that he wouldn't recognize her anymore, after mistaking another woman as her, to some extent this felt like first world problems, like we have no problems anymore, we are making up problems like what if one day I don't recognize the woman I love anymore, but still though even though I am making fun of it, I think it's valid, the thing that made me the worst boyfriend ever, was always my fears, I knew that nothing was permanent, and as we are now together, we are in love, everything is peachy, it could all end so suddenly, so I always kept those fears in front of me, and I voiced them, but that didn't only make me a bad boyfriend, it made me a bad friend, nothing like losing a friend of 7 years, to make you realize "oh shit! friendship isn't for life!" and each and every friendship after that, you know one day it will end, and the worst thing, is when it eventually ends, it's still devastating.
From her I didn't feel insincerity the entire novel, even when she was hiding those love letters, but I felt it from her when she decided to join a fucking orgy even though she didn't really partake, and because she didn't partake I felt something else, a deep love for Jean-Marc she wanted to do anything to escape that place and return to him, her vulnerability made me feel for her, and to some extent made me love her, I can't even explain it.
Milan Kundera is definitely all he is advertised to be and then some more, he just booked a permanent spot as one of my favorite writers, this was a very satisfying detour from Brothers Karamazov but we have to go back to Mother Russia now, and hopefully one day I'll read the rest of Milan's novels.