" A bit less driven by ideas than most of Kundera's fiction (it was only his second novel), and so more reliant on throwing his often-irritating characters at the mercy of mechonized plotting finely calibrated to entirely ensure their disconnection, misunderstanding, and semi-willful alienation from eachother. It's not that it's badly done, it's just the sort of thing that I tend to find more tedious. And there is a pretty clear thematic center, afterall, it just gets less page time than the accompaniment. Klima, for example, who might be the protagonist: are we meant to like him, to sympathize with his struggles? I just couldn't -- all his problems were his own fault, and he acted only in the most self-serving manner throughout, yet he took precedence over the actual subject (of the book, of the "farewell party" itself) for much of the text. And given this, I have a few doubts about Kundera's feelings here. I still find him a sympathetic writer, but here his allegiances may be a bit off from my own. But still, not a bad book, just one I liked less than his others. "
— Nate, 11/9/2013