Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař (Book Review and NOTES)
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2024
- Where do I start with this book?
It defies a genre yet is highly readable. You cannot guess what happens with each page and it throws in major philosophical questions about life. With big themes of love, revenge, personal transformation, politics, redemption, history, family and so much more, it's a book that makes you think long and hard during and after you put it down.
I couldn't help putting post it notes throughout the entire book because I felt I was barely scratching the surface with the undercurrent emotions and themes of this book. The one thing I DID guess was why Lenka left Jakub, the main character as I understood the path she decided to travel.
An amazing book that reminds me so much of Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (indeed I saw Jakub as Yossarian). While Yossarian was doing pointless bomber flyovers taking photos of an island and trying to grapple with the Catch-22 situation when around him, his colleagues and superiors were all mad; so too, in this book Jakub decided to go on a known suicide mission (to which he agreed to his corrupt capitalist political leaders who "sold him the dream") to investigate the purple dust cloud surrounding Earth only to come out of it, going through a personal transformation - let's call it a rebirth - to realise the meaning of life and the purpose of our lives.
A wonderful book and one that will remain with me for a long time as it has an alignment to my own personal history. It moved me to tears I must say. (I hope they don't spoil it with the movie that is soon to be out starring Adam Sandler).
My life lesson is "If an influencer or a government is telling you that you need to do a grand gesture to redeem or atone your life, that you'll be a hero, don't believe them. Instead, choose the quiet life. We all seem to return to it at some stage in our later life realising it was all for nought."
Over to you. Have you read this debut novel?
(I think they should make this into an educational text for high school students.....)
Buy the book here (Amazon Affiliate) www.amazon.com...
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Beautifully reviewed! I saw the movie 1st and I am going to read the book! My heritage is from the Czech Republic so this story resonated with me! Thank you for the review!
Thank you so much. This means a lot to me. I appreciate you watching and sharing your thoughts.
That was really enjoyable.
Your very enthusiastic book review kept me hooked to the very end.
A book or an event of some kind can really force us to ask ourselves the difficult questions. Questions I do sometimes wonder if we're meant to ever learn the answers to.
There's a book called 'Kinsman', by Ben Bova, I read it 30 years ago, but it was nothing like how I expected it to be. But from memory, some of it's themes might be similar to 'Spaceman of Bohemia'.
Obviously I realise you must get inundated with suggestions 😂
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts here and also your recommendation. I don’t get that many from viewers but it’s enough to expose me to different books and authors from different times and backgrounds. I’ll check out Kinsmen (I’ve actually heard of it and strangely, it’s the second mention of it this week. Maybe a sign?!). Happy reading!
Enjoyed your take on the book, one idea I had while reading is that the cable car in which his parents died, is similar to a spider, it rides along on an impossibly thin wire, high above
That’s right!! I hadn’t thought of that as a symbol.
I don't know a thing about Czech lit., but I do admire the movie I Served The King of England based on a novel of that title by Hrabal. I want to read it. Well, there's Kafka, but he's universal, so idiosyncratic that his POV is valid in any bureaucracy, maybe in any head. Not sure about that but it has never left me the idea that Kafka is observational of a sort of parabiological pantomime which he translates into narrative fiction. Anyway. Thanks for this introduction to something new.
I haven’t heard of that movie so I’ll look it up. The only Kafka I’ve read is Metamorphosis. I should read more of him….
Very interesting, so many different themes and thoughts...
I grew up under the communist oppression and could identify with it. Thanks for sharing.😊
Well then you’d definitely understand this book! Thank you for watching and sharing a comment.
I liked the book, but could have done with much less constant contemplation and introspection about everything in his life.
Although Hanus was his imagination, I would have liked more about their species.
Remember, Jacob said that Hanus would never have said he was God when he telepathically talked to Vasily.
Also, how did Hanus survive in space when he had no atmosphere or food/water.
Thank you. Hanus was an intriguing character that’s for sure. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and watching the video. Happy reading! 📚
I am Czech and I did not enjoy either the novel or the movie. Mostly because neither the plot, nor societal references were believable. When Kundera wrote about Czechoslovakia, it was believable, because he had lived it. This guy was born in 1988 and moved out when he was 15. Thus his interpretation of that society is a hearsay. Perhaps had he studies history, cultural anthropology or sociology, he could get it right. But he had not.
The flight itself reminded me of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it is a very week knockoff, on many levels. And Hanuš the bizarre giant spider simply didn’t make any sense - in his form and in his human thinking.
Probably reading the book is better then the movie, which cut off many rather important parts. That is, if you are ready for a mélange of disparate themes and ideas, as hinted in the video.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. I agree that it’s different experience of the diaspora versus those who lived through the actual experience. The diaspora have an entirely different viewpoint but also other feelings that they go through (guilt, shame…) and how they’re treated by those who remained in that country. I’d also say that these are valid and real experiences though. This book impacted me and I think it was because of those same feelings as it was in our family. Ultimately though it’s a novel. I watched the movie recently and although it wasn’t bad, I found the book far better.
I love Kundera and I am building a nice collection of his novels. I can’t wait to visit your beautiful country one day soon too! Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts. Are there any other Czech writers you recommend for me?