{"product_id":"the-joke-a-very-beautiful-novel-salman-rushdie","title":"The Joke: 'A very beautiful novel.' (Salman Rushdie)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe debut by author of modern classic \u003ci\u003eThe Unbearable Lightness of Being, \u003c\/i\u003eof which Salman Rushdie said: 'It is impossible to do justice here to the subtleties, comedy and wisdom of this very beautiful novel.'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e A funny, sad, gripping, wise, marvellous book.' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLudvik returns to his hometown a bitter man with a single aim: to do unto others what has been done to him. Expelled from the Communist Party as a student for a youthful joke, he has spent years exiled to a bleak labour camp. awaiting his chance for revenge on those who betrayed him - and one-time friends, lovers and comrades soon become entwined in his machinations as he devises the perfect plan . . . \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKundera's iconoclastic debut novel was a sensation during the Prague Spring: later banned, it launched his worldwide literary reputation, and its passionate exploration of humour, censorship and individualism is even more powerful over half a century later.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 336 pages | Published August 2000\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GARDNERS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63997179298141,"sku":"9780571166930","price":12.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0978\/3459\/8749\/files\/9780571166930.jpg?v=1774584526","url":"https:\/\/www.thebookmark.ie\/products\/the-joke-a-very-beautiful-novel-salman-rushdie","provider":"The Bookmark ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}