Books

Optimism is the opium of mankind! A healthy spirit stinks of stupidity. Long live Trotsky». A postcard with this phrase (a joke by Ludvik, the book's main character), served as the motto for the story created by Milan Kundera, which gave rise to the novel «The Joke». The phrase, somewhat stereotyped, carried some irony about communist ideals at the time.
The novel surprises as we leaf through it. We get to know Ludvik and the phantom love that haunts him; Jaroslav, conductor of a cymbal orchestra, who expels Ludvik from the Party; Pavel, Marxism professor at the University; Marketa, university student; Helena, journalist, who falls in love with Ludvik; Lucia, a mysterious young woman who steals flowers from cemeteries. On top of these and other rich characters, a carousel of events. "The Joke", Milan Kundera's first book, disturbing and inspiring, conquered the former Czechoslovakia (which later disowned him), and the rest of the world as well.

https://www.portaldaliteratura.com/livros.php?livro=7718