Identity by
Milan Kundera,
translated from the French by Linda Asher

Nominated by:

Sometimes - perhaps only for an instant - we fail to recognise a companion; for a moment their identity ceases to exist, and thus we come to doubt our own. The effect is at its most acute in a couple where our existence is given meaning by our perception of a lover, and theirs of us. With his astonishing skill at building on and out from the significant moment, Kundera has placed such a situation and the resulting wave of panic at the core of his new novel. In a narrative as intense as it is brief, a moment of confusion sets in motion a complex chain of events which forces the reader to cross and recross the divide between fantasy and reality.
The Franco-Czech novelist Milan Kundera was born in Brno and has lived in France, his second homeland, for more than twenty years. He is the author of many novels, the most well-known being the The Unbearable Lightness of Being: he has written in both Czech and French.

Here's what the members of the Reading Group based at our Raheny branch library think of Identity:

The title of the novel perfectly describes its theme. The work explores the search for identity by the two main characters, Chantal and Jean Marc. Chantal copes by having "two faces", one a mask to hide the unpleasant things in her life. Her second "face" is reserved for home and her lover, Jean Marc. Having only one face, Jean Marc has no ability to endure unsatisfactory situations and moves on in search of an ideal. The author very successfully portrays the insecurity of a menopausal woman and her lover's fears for their endangered relationship. His attempts at improving her self-esteem by sending her anonymous letters, backfires. Chantal fantasises as to the identity of the sender. Jean Marc resents her secrecy regarding the letters and the efforts made by her to appear more attractive to an unknown admirer. Fact and fantasy become intertwined in this intense and beautiful love story. It is a slim volume, which deserves to be read slowly, every sentence savoured.
(Member of Raheny Library Reading Group.)

Kundera came to my attention with the translation of his book The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which was set during the revolution in Czechoslovakia. It was both humorous and poignant. However, France, where Kundera has lived since 1975, is the background for his most recently translated novel Identity. The central theme is the relationship between a middle-aged couple and their growing awareness that they may not know each other as well might be expected for people who have lived together for a decade or more. While it is beautifully written and witty, as are Kundera's previous novels, the central characters simply do not encourage affection from this reader, and therefore the machinations of their relationship left me quite cold. Often I recognised emotions and anxieties that Kundera described as occurring between the protagonists, and initially his characterisations were psychologically interesting. However, for all the author's cleverness in attempting to sustain the reader's curiosity about whether the events described were reality or fantasy, by the end of this short book, my ultimate reaction was that I didn't care. (Member of Raheny Library Reading Group)