--- product_id: 12111577 title: "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting" price: "€ 25.33" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.pt/products/12111577-the-book-of-laughter-and-forgetting store_origin: PT region: Portugal --- # 4.3/5 from 821 readers Set during 1968 Prague Spring 7-part multi-genre narrative The Book of Laughter and Forgetting **Price:** € 25.33 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 📖 Dive into the novel that laughs, thinks, and lingers—don’t miss the literary event of a lifetime! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Book of Laughter and Forgetting - **How much does it cost?** € 25.33 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.pt](https://www.desertcart.pt/products/12111577-the-book-of-laughter-and-forgetting) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Rich, Relatable Characters:** Flawed, compelling personas that invite empathy and reflection, making every page a personal journey. - • **International Bestseller Status:** Ranked top 1,100 in Contemporary Literature with over 800 glowing reviews—join the global conversation. - • **A Masterpiece of Literary Fusion:** Seamlessly blends fairy tale, political tract, musicology, and autobiography into one unforgettable novel. - • **Wit That Cuts Through the Darkness:** Dry, sexually tinged humor balances serious themes, ensuring an intellectually and emotionally engaging read. - • **Historical Depth Meets Timeless Relevance:** Explores human existence against the backdrop of the 1968 Prague Spring, echoing today’s global challenges. ## Overview Milan Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is a landmark 7-part novel blending political history, philosophy, and humor. Set during the 1968 Prague Spring, it offers a rich tapestry of stories and characters that explore human existence with wit and depth. Celebrated internationally with a 4.3-star rating from over 800 readers, this novel remains a timeless classic for discerning literary minds. ## Description "An absolutely dazzling entertainment. . . . Arousing on every level—political, erotic, intellectual, and above all, humorous." — Newsweek " The Book of Laughter and Forgetting calls itself a novel, although it is part fairy tale, part literary criticism, part political tract, part musicology, and part autobiography. It can call itself whatever it wants to, because the whole is genius." — New York Times Rich in its stories, characters, and imaginative range, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is the landmark literary philosophical novel that brought Milan Kundera his first big international success in the late 1970s. Like all his work, it is valuable for far more than its historical implications. In seven wonderfully integrated parts, different aspects of human existence are magnified and reduced, reordered and emphasized, newly examined, analyzed, and experienced. Review: beautifully written, compelling storylines and characters - this book is in my top five favorite books of all time. it’s beautifully written and deeply compelling — each of the characters are flawed and also relatable and interesting and believable. Review: I Laughed and Won't Forget! - The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is an appropriate and well-fitting title for this exceptional novel. Milan Kundera, while now deceased, lives on in grand prose, in this, his first novel released internationally in the 1970s. He explores our human existence with loads of his unique brand of dry and sexually tinged humor, but a serious examination also pervades. The novel is set in Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring of 1968. Teachers, writers and historians were on the verge of tasting freedom from communism, but their optimism was obliterated in August of 1968 when the Russians invaded. Tens of thousands emigrated to other countries but hundreds of thousands who stayed lost their livelihoods and many went to jail. Kundera introduces us to several characters and stories in this novel of seven parts. He touches on sex, politics, music, fairy tales and even gives us an autobiographical look at what moved him during that important time in history. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is an appropriate and well-fitting title for this exceptional novel. The characters are rich and entertaining and there were many instances during my reading where I burst out laughing. I was also interested in his political views and the challenges that faced him during those difficult times, reminding me of similar circumstances that are occurring in the world today. Some of the passages that moved me and brought on the giggles: He shouted "Children, never look back!" and this meant that we must never allow the future to be weighed down by memory. For children have no past, and that is the whole secret of the magical innocence of their smiles. All of us are prisoners of a rigid conception of what is important and what is not, and so we fasten our anxious gaze on the important, while from a hiding place behind our backs the unimportant wages its guerilla war, which will end in surreptitiously changing the world and pouncing on us by surprise. When he was naked, Barbara held up the alarm clock: "Look at the second hand. If you don't get a hard-on within a minute, you'll have to leave!" "They stared at my crotch, and while the seconds ticked away, they started laughing! And then they threw me out!" The Book of Laughter and Forgetting: I loved it! ## Features - Literature - The Book of Laughter and Forgetting - Milan Kundera ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #93,007 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1,423 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction #4,940 in Literary Fiction (Books) #11,645 in American Literature (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 821 Reviews | ## Images ![The Book of Laughter and Forgetting - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/612Pp++YhNL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ beautifully written, compelling storylines and characters *by A***R on April 10, 2026* this book is in my top five favorite books of all time. it’s beautifully written and deeply compelling — each of the characters are flawed and also relatable and interesting and believable. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I Laughed and Won't Forget! *by T***L on March 5, 2024* The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is an appropriate and well-fitting title for this exceptional novel. Milan Kundera, while now deceased, lives on in grand prose, in this, his first novel released internationally in the 1970s. He explores our human existence with loads of his unique brand of dry and sexually tinged humor, but a serious examination also pervades. The novel is set in Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring of 1968. Teachers, writers and historians were on the verge of tasting freedom from communism, but their optimism was obliterated in August of 1968 when the Russians invaded. Tens of thousands emigrated to other countries but hundreds of thousands who stayed lost their livelihoods and many went to jail. Kundera introduces us to several characters and stories in this novel of seven parts. He touches on sex, politics, music, fairy tales and even gives us an autobiographical look at what moved him during that important time in history. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is an appropriate and well-fitting title for this exceptional novel. The characters are rich and entertaining and there were many instances during my reading where I burst out laughing. I was also interested in his political views and the challenges that faced him during those difficult times, reminding me of similar circumstances that are occurring in the world today. Some of the passages that moved me and brought on the giggles: He shouted "Children, never look back!" and this meant that we must never allow the future to be weighed down by memory. For children have no past, and that is the whole secret of the magical innocence of their smiles. All of us are prisoners of a rigid conception of what is important and what is not, and so we fasten our anxious gaze on the important, while from a hiding place behind our backs the unimportant wages its guerilla war, which will end in surreptitiously changing the world and pouncing on us by surprise. When he was naked, Barbara held up the alarm clock: "Look at the second hand. If you don't get a hard-on within a minute, you'll have to leave!" "They stared at my crotch, and while the seconds ticked away, they started laughing! And then they threw me out!" The Book of Laughter and Forgetting: I loved it! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent book, Different cover than shown. Happy to have a physical copy *by M***Y on May 2, 2014* The only 'negative' I have about this purchase is that the cover of the book is actually flat white with the title and illustration drawn by Kundera himself, similar to the cover of Immortality done in the same style. This did not bother me at all, and I was actually kind of happy to have it the way Kundera wanted it to be presented but is worth noting if you are aesthetically invested in the book as pictured. This book predates 'Unbearable Lightness of Being' and it's spiritual sequel 'Immortality' and you can see many of the themes from those emerging here. There is almost no narrative path connecting the entire book unlike the other two mentioned but as fans of Kundera might expect the whole work feels cohesive in a hard to explain way. The story shifts effortlessly between musings on the thematic intentions of classical composers to brutally objective descriptions of sexual debauchery. Even more than other books by this author this book almost requires repeat readings or extensive margin notes. Although the story never drags, it is often hard to get your bearings when you pick it up midway. The story is dense enough and Kundera's dry almost morbid humor is entertaining enough that reading in small chunks is not a waste but you will definitely reach the end wondering if you missed something important. The amount of 'taboo' subjects and crazy situations contained the book will make you cringe while trying to recommend it to your friends. It almost feels too personal to give any specific opinions about the book knowing that another person will have that in mind as they reached parts the evoke mixed and confusing emotional responses. All in all an excellent book but I wouldn't recommend it to my mom. ## Frequently Bought Together - The Book of Laughter and Forgetting - The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel (Harper Perennial Deluxe Editions) - The Joke (Definitive Version) --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.pt/products/12111577-the-book-of-laughter-and-forgetting](https://www.desertcart.pt/products/12111577-the-book-of-laughter-and-forgetting) --- *Product available on Desertcart Portugal* *Store origin: PT* *Last updated: 2026-08-24*