The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Korean Edition)

I read THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING by Kundera after I saw the film with Daniel Day-Lewis. I was unimpressed with the book although I recently bought the Criterion DVD of the film mainly because I am a very big DDL fan.
I have an occupational tee-shirt that says "Sociologists Get Good Marx" which we do if we study at the "right" university. Most writers don't get good Marx. Even most economists have only ever read Das Kapital. What was practiced in Eastern Europe was not Marxism but Leninism gone haywire and Kundera is reacting to this in THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING.
Sociologists struggle with something called the "Sociology of Knowledge" -- how do humans think about what they think about; what are the categories of understanding; how do humans frame "reality." Sociologists enter the realm of regressive thinking about thinking because they want to understand an esoteric process they believe exists--the transmission of culture from one generation to another. As "scientists" they must go one step further and attempt to operationalize and quantify this process (good luck). Think of the Escher print of the hand drawing the hand drawing the hand and you get an idea of this literally mind-blowing activity.
If you want to shoot Marxist thinking down as Kundera may have wanted to do, you don't have to throw darts at "progress" which is after all a very Western notion dating from at least the Renaissance. Rather you can accomplish your goal by identifying the idea of progress--including scientific progress--as a manifestation of "linear thinking" -- cause and effect thinking or teleological plodding.
Most of us use linear thinking to survive in "real" life, i.e. if I don't kill the Saber toothed tiger first he'll eat me later. If I don't behave like a capitalist and invest my money wisely now I may starve when I'm older--especially if there are no more left-wingers in the world.
Kundera begin his tale with a false premise -- that each human only has one life to live. A goodly part of the earth's inhabitants believe in Karma and Dharma. What if they have it right? Buy the film, it's great!!

Beginning with a précis on any of Nietzsche's ideas, especially beginning with eternal recurrence will most certainly date a book and could quite easily repel many a reader. However, introducing, as Milan does, a motif that will prick you every other page, beat out a subconscious rhythm on your frontal lobes, and remind you that at some point books were written to enlighten, amuse, and upend, rather than to dourly list a series of life events interspersed with clichéd cultural commentary.

This is a book built on characters who espouse our deepest musings on mundane drollery and philosophy, calamity and ideology, emotion and humanity.

You will find yourself in this book and you will most certainly identify with one of its many tragic characters, imaging their life as your own.

This book was, from cover to cover, beautiful. The characters were so tragic and real, it's hard to imagine this as fiction. The beauty with which Kundera writes is simply immeasurable. I've been trying to compare him to someone ... but it's impossible. His writing is unique and the story is breathtaking. The story, plot, characters, etc etc etc are deep and meaningful and familiar. You can't come away frfom this book feeling let down because in some way or another, Kundera has written about you. There is nothing light about this book.

Anyone who has read any Kundera knows what to expect - narrative, history, and philosophical musings mixed into an "experimental" novel. They will not be disappointed (or perhaps they will, if that's not what they were looking for).

For those new to Kundera, a few words of advice. If you don't like one of his books, you won't like any of his others, except for possibly some of his earlier ones. If you like one, you'll most likely like the rest. Kundera is smart - very smart - though possibly not as much as he thinks he is (some of his profound-sounding quotes take a way-too-large logical leap). The essence of his novels is not in the narrative but in the surrouding essays. The plot can almost never be condensed to a few sentences. The "I" in much of his works is - to all extents and purposes - him, Kundera himself, regardless of what some lit-critters want you to think. Finally, Kundera's books are intellectual, demanding, rewarding, brilliant, and insufferable.

On to The Unbearable Lightness of Being. All you've come to expect from Kundera is there - the section on kitsch is among his best mini-essays; the discussion of eternal return is insightful (pay particular attention to his remark about not rehearsing for life), sex is everywhere (and, in his books, should be), the dream (or is it?) on the hill is absolutely brilliant, and on and on.

But there are flaws - unavoidable, classical Kunderan flaws. First, he fails to convince the reader that lightness is bad and weight is good. *All* the characters are wretched, whether they're light like Tomas and Sabina or heavy like Tereza, Franz, the son, or the editor.

Next - and this occurs every time in his books - Kundera has no timing, and chooses not to have any. It is my personal opinion that the only purposes of literature to either 1) make the reader think and 2) make the reader feel. Kundera disdains the emotions (he hates feelings and is an uber-rationalist) and for some reason chooses not to go for part 1, either. Let me explain. Assuming the purposes of literature are those listed, then books that hit the reader's emotions or thoughts harder are the "better" books. The objective should be to hit harder and harder. How to do so? By building up to one climactic point, such as when Winston betrays Julia in the face of the rats, when the boys burn down to island to kill Ralph, when Yossarian wanders through the dregs of humanity, etc.

But Kundera intentionally puts the climax of his books before the ending (he wants his works to be like a "feast" not a "bicycle race"), with the result that the reader is enchanted by the beginning but let down by the end. If Kundera ended "Being" with Franz's death or the dream-not-a-dream sequence in Part 4, if Kundera ended "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting" with Tamina's drowning, if Kundera ended "Immortality" with Agnes's death, these three books would have been raised from, in my scale, "very good" to "one of the best books I have read."

Being my first but certainly not my last Kundera novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, exposed a great power of language; its ability to effortlessly move the reader. Kundera's novel holds meaning on three levels: the historical, the philosophical, and the romanctic. The intellectual reader and the everyday simpleton (of which category I shamelessly fall into) can both extract something valuable from this mature work of fiction.

There are the philosophical connections as Kundera dives into Nietzche's philosophy on eternal return or offers a German adage or an application of "kitsch". For those that might not completely grasp these concepts, Kundera writes in a third person omniscient style that allows hims to both stick to the the story line of Tomas, Tereza, Sabina, Franz, and Karenin but also go off on retrospective tangents.

Even by setting his novel in a Communist run Czech, Kundera succeeds in creating a timeless piece but fails to make it feel "autonomous":independent of any system of political beilef, because the lives of the characters are so affected and shaped by what is happening in their world. As the love story progresses, the reader finds so many symbols and questions for instance, about jealousy, the body and the soul, nakedness, misunderstood words, and dreams. Kundera plays with these ambiguious structures of signs to show the innate essence of human existence.

By far, I was moved by the realistic portrayal of human weaknesses and faults through his intertwined love stories. Not your typical "boy meets girl, they date, they marry, they work and have kids, and then ultimately die" love story, Tomas's scandolous affairs, Tereza's insecurites, Sabina's never ending betrayals, and so on keep the plot interesting. Man versus Man, Man vs. Himself, and Man vs. Animal are all themes that come together through Kundera's humor, skepticism, and fundamental pessimism. Warning at times the novel got heavy and depressing, but Kundera's vivid imagery and subtle injections of light and reflection created a perfect balance of meaning.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who wants "art for the sake of art". Anyone who truly wants to be moved into self-reflection and wants to take a journey through Kundera's infinite ways of interpereting the presented facts. The story doesn't hold a lot of suspense and action but is like a slow long walk that the reader never wants to end. This novel conveys an experience that is almost untangible as well as indescribable because Kundera dishes it in a way that each person must accommodate the meaning into their own existing schemas. Far from unbearable, this novel is sensual, reflective, and indeniably honest about the most essential themes concerning Man; motivation, purpose, and love.

From the get go I knew I would love this book. There's nothing better than when an author catches you off guard. Some people may be turned off by Kundera's approach to this story, but I thought it was what made it better. It's one of those things you love or hate. If you haven't read the book, what I am referring to is how Kundera throws himself into the story, not as a character per say, but into the process of how and why he made these characters as the story unfolds. I found this fascinating to be able to be apart of the process instead of just a reader of a story I was also let inside of author's mind while writing it. Now, is it one of my favorite books of all time, no, but it is a very good read. Worth the time

A complex book set against the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. The main characters Thomas and Tereza struggle to forge an accomodation that seeks to make the most of their disfuctional relationship. One veiw would be that the very fact that they stay together and seem to find some degree of happiness makes this a pessimistically hopefull book. That despite the cards life deals and a fatalistic inability to change fundalmentally disfunctional behaviour (Thomas incessant sexual conquests) that an reconciliation and acceptance of a relationship, that falls well short of satisfying, is possible and congratulatory.
Another view, which I hold, is that this accomodation is itself deeply depressing. The book seemed to suggest that change can only be incremental (at best) and that basically everyone just has to put up with life however awful. This seems so bleak and dismal and hopeless that it must be rejected. Life without dreams is no life at all.
There is little character development as they simply are the vehicle to present Kundera's broadly existentialistic philosophy of life. Too many times in the book I was left wanting to know more about the Russian invasion. If the book is also a metaphor of this invasion then too much of the detail is lost on someone as ignorant of the players and chronology of the event as I am.
Is Thomas and Tereza's move to the country, their tollerance of their imperfect love, their acceptance of where they have arrived at simply a reflection of the fact that you can't change the oppression of the strong. You may hate it, as Tereza hates Thomas' infidelity, but you have to accept it, deal with it and move on.
This central dilema leaves you with the question of whether Tereza's acceptance is deeply depressing or pessimistically hopeful??

I never thought I'd say this: this novel made a much better movie. Why? Because Kundera didn't write it. Although considered a virtuoso by many, Kundera can't tell a story without reminding you he's telling a story. Tereza, Tomas, and Sabina never come to life because the author of their story refuses to share the limelight with anyone. Over and over, Kundera adds his observations and such just when the story is beginning to roll. Furthermore, he's a condescending ass: how many scenes do you have to explain to us, Milan? Also, this Czech is definitely male: his women fall into the boring, old saint and sinner categories. Finally, if you've read Sartre, Nietzsche, or any philosopher claiming to be an existentialist, Kundera's philosophy is tedious rehash.

Wars and invasions have always had heavy repercussions for private individuals, no matter what time period or what countries are involved. But taking the Milan Kundera text, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I got a firsthand look at what the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia might have been like.

Historically, Americans have had a binary outlook at the two superpowers post WWII, Russia and the US. Americans generally felt that America was good, while Russia was evil. In terms of Kundera, America might have been described as light, and Russia as being heavy.

Kundera himself doesn't really invalidate America's viewpoint on Russia, and if anything he solidifies it by showing the crucial scene with Tereza and the "engineer" she met at the bar. After she slept with him, she started reflecting on the whole encounter, from the underage boy at the bar, and man haggling her about serving him alcohol, to the way the engineer's flat was laid out and what books he had in his bookcase.

The paranoia Russia caused within the daily lives of Czech citizens could be felt by Tereza wondering if the engineer was in fact a spy and informant for the government. Had he taken pictures when he said he was going to make coffee? Was he talking to someone? Would the pictures be released to Tomas? This is one of the first times we really get a feel for what hysteria of the time might have been like.

Obviously I wasn't around in 1968, nor have I ever been to Czechoslovakia, but Kundera enlightened me to the heightened tensions that quite possibly existed there. Tereza wasn't alone in feeling the heaviness of Russia's presence. In another scene, Tomas, after writing his letter comparing Russia to Oedipus, was forced to make a retracting statement nullifying the opinions he expressed in his letter. Taking the high moral road and refusing to pen the pacifying statement, he was forced to leave his job as a surgeon. Clearly freedom of speech wasn't too high on the list of things to uphold at that time and place. It is sad to think that his whole way of life as a surgeon, his passion and purpose, was abruptly changed by the powers in the government.

While this story was fiction, it seemingly contains traces of metafiction, as the author himself left the country, just as many of his main characters did. And just as Heraclites said you can't step in the same river twice, no historical event can be exactly the same as any other historical event. Even so, there can be parallels along the riverbed of history. Life isn't so simple as to say with complete certainty that Russia was evil, or heavy. Like a basket of feathers and bricks, it was both heavy and light. But no matter how you portray it, or from which country or time you present it, occupation, at least from the pint of view of the overtaken, will always see the invaders as oppressive and ruthless.

But to really see the feeling Kundera evokes, you must read this book. In the same way Tomas "penetrates" all the different women, so did Russia "penetrate" Czechoslovakia. Great book for a different cultural perspective.

As a person in intense hatred for the limitations of the english language, I found this book to be stunning in the ways of translating even the most difficult emotions to comprehend. Though the story itself is very plain, the emotions that go into the story are complex, and Milan Kundera ammends these limitations through the use of beautifully expressed images.

The novel takes place during an era of communist takeover in Czechoslavakia. Having less to do with political statements and bias, the novel deals with deep images within the roots of the movement as well as within character motivations towards their seemingly rediculous actions.

I would reccommend this book to anyone who has been a fan of the classics, but desires something more than just words to express meaning. The book is deeply philosophical, but strays away from the long-winded philosophy fiction that most people are aware of. It is a beautiful novel and extremely easy to read, if you are a romantic and open to the expression of life in images.

"Last of the great Lovers" is presumably how Kundera wants to be thought of with this self-aggrandizing tale - a thinly-veiled autobiography. I gather this book attained dizzy heights on the popular fiction charts. Students of genuine literature however will recognize here a dilletantish recycling of various genres and philosophies, the pseudo-intellectualism, the bowler hat dip into semiotics.
His characterization is engaging, however, and to be fair I enjoyed this book, probably because I read it with tongue-in-cheek. I also like the tone somehow, an overarching melancholy and futility. The authors massive ego is embodied in the (anti-hero?) of Tomas, a roving womanizer who apparently lacks flaws and takes himself a little too seriously. Ultimately a picture of a man living a pretty selfish, lonely and empty life emerges however.

I was really disappointed when I got the book, i was expecting something better. The book is really old, but that is not the problem. The problem is that the cover is broken, it looks bad and also there are some highlights and things written.

This book... where to start. First of all, I don't ever want to reread a book after I've read it once. I feel like, however, I could read this book over and over again. Maybe its just an illusion... but I feel like I know more about the world and life after reading this book. This book affected me more than just any typical story would... it affected me as if it were a real life experience and as if the characters in the book were people I knew personally. There were points when I hated the characters, points when I loved them, and my heart consistently broke for them. This is hands down the most thought provoking and purely beautiful book I've read.

Kundera uses fiction as a medium to explore various ideas. The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a rhapsodical exploration of four characters attitudes towards romantic relationships as they go through life, going off on many tangents about abstract ideas. If you like ideas like I do, this book is a great read, but if you are more interested in a solid, fast-paced plot, you probably won't care for this book.

With this book Kundera describes the life of a young surgeon living in communist Tjecho-Slovakia and his relationships. During the course of the story the protagonist is constantly searching for something that will give weight(meaning) to his life. He does this by having lots of relations with women. In this his social status in in constant decline. His non-compliance with the communist regime finally gets him demoted to window-cleaner and farm-hand. It is here where he finally finds an uncomplicated women who can give meaning (weight).
The storyline is constructed as a framework for remarkable philosophical observations.
Kundera takes his reader to strange, unconventional places with these observations. His views on life are sometimes disturbing, sometimes funny but always fascinating and these observations add enormous to the impact of the story.
These observations are the gems in the book, Kundera shows most of himself in these sections. His ideas are highly original and I enjoyed them very much. Read this book, it is a great work of art.

Can't forget the days when I was reading this novel. It felt I was living inside the book with those engrossing characters all the time. And when I was not reading it, I'd feel as if I had stepped out for a while and ould eagerly wait to re-enter that amazing world of romance and complications once again. A must read for those who believe that love is only a small part of life, for here life is a small part of love.

This is an amazing work. Kundera plays with opposing concepts, life and death, heaviness and lightness, dark and light, throughout his story. The characters are given a personality and set into motion. The narrator points out the way the characters think and then analyzes it along with the reader, thus blurring the distinction of whether or not these characters are people of the narrator's world or characters that he has created. And all of it set in a society of kitsch. Sentimentality, words that trigger emotions that we personally do not know nor can comprehend. Its wonderful how, in reading this novel, the reader can try to decide which life is happier: the light or the dark?

No doubt Kundera's most famous book,_Unbearable_'s fame seems more derived from its subject than its form. The novel more overtly deals with erotic/romantic love than many of Kundera's other works, a great commerical sell, but fails to convincingly stamp out a more transcendental meaning. Sure the amazing Kundera-esque insights abound, but they are somehow are unable to overcome a certain levity and at times frivolity, like old-wives tales that go in one ear and out the other. Perhaps this was Kundera's attempt to justify and invoke the title of the novel, but no matter how witty, it leaves the reader feeling at times patronized. To me Kundera's gift lies not in his ability to manipulate words, but as a writer who both seeks and is able to evoke tremendous understanding and empathy from his readers. This intent is more explicit in his best work,_The Book of Laughter and Forgetting_, which I highly recommend along with "The Hitchhiker's Game" in the short story volume _Laughable Loves_. But nonetheless read the novel before seeing the movie, which in all honesty, you could do without.

Kundera uses fiction as a medium to explore various ideas. The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a rhapsodical exploration of four characters attitudes towards romantic relationships as they go through life, going off on many tangents about abstract ideas. If you like ideas like I do, this book is a great read, but if you are more interested in a solid, fast-paced plot, you probably won't care for this book.

With this book Kundera describes the life of a young surgeon living in communist Tjecho-Slovakia and his relationships. During the course of the story the protagonist is constantly searching for something that will give weight(meaning) to his life. He does this by having lots of relations with women. In this his social status in in constant decline. His non-compliance with the communist regime finally gets him demoted to window-cleaner and farm-hand. It is here where he finally finds an uncomplicated women who can give meaning (weight).
The storyline is constructed as a framework for remarkable philosophical observations.
Kundera takes his reader to strange, unconventional places with these observations. His views on life are sometimes disturbing, sometimes funny but always fascinating and these observations add enormous to the impact of the story.
These observations are the gems in the book, Kundera shows most of himself in these sections. His ideas are highly original and I enjoyed them very much. Read this book, it is a great work of art.

Can't forget the days when I was reading this novel. It felt I was living inside the book with those engrossing characters all the time. And when I was not reading it, I'd feel as if I had stepped out for a while and ould eagerly wait to re-enter that amazing world of romance and complications once again. A must read for those who believe that love is only a small part of life, for here life is a small part of love.

This is an amazing work. Kundera plays with opposing concepts, life and death, heaviness and lightness, dark and light, throughout his story. The characters are given a personality and set into motion. The narrator points out the way the characters think and then analyzes it along with the reader, thus blurring the distinction of whether or not these characters are people of the narrator's world or characters that he has created. And all of it set in a society of kitsch. Sentimentality, words that trigger emotions that we personally do not know nor can comprehend. Its wonderful how, in reading this novel, the reader can try to decide which life is happier: the light or the dark?

No doubt Kundera's most famous book,_Unbearable_'s fame seems more derived from its subject than its form. The novel more overtly deals with erotic/romantic love than many of Kundera's other works, a great commerical sell, but fails to convincingly stamp out a more transcendental meaning. Sure the amazing Kundera-esque insights abound, but they are somehow are unable to overcome a certain levity and at times frivolity, like old-wives tales that go in one ear and out the other. Perhaps this was Kundera's attempt to justify and invoke the title of the novel, but no matter how witty, it leaves the reader feeling at times patronized. To me Kundera's gift lies not in his ability to manipulate words, but as a writer who both seeks and is able to evoke tremendous understanding and empathy from his readers. This intent is more explicit in his best work,_The Book of Laughter and Forgetting_, which I highly recommend along with "The Hitchhiker's Game" in the short story volume _Laughable Loves_. But nonetheless read the novel before seeing the movie, which in all honesty, you could do without.

I read this book a few years ago when what was happening in my life at that time made me think about the nature of romantic love, the nature of affection, and the nature of emotions in general. Reading this book gave me a vocabulary to express the things that had been crystallizing in my mind. What I concluded was that emotions are essentially 'light' (not in the sense of being trivial but in the sense of being fleeting, body-based and not amenable to concepts such as morality) and by their very nature, any discourse that assumes any permanence is irrelevent while talking or thinking about them. This was a huge discovery and it significantly changed my world view. I further concluded that to be happy one needs to keep in mind this essential 'lightness' of things. But of course, the 'lightness' is 'unbearable', by our very nature we are susceptible to 'vertigo' (another Kundera concept - I don't remember if he talks about it in this book or one of his later books) - a need to define things, make them solid, make them heavy. It is this paradox that defines most of the human experience. The experience of reading this book too is an essentially 'light' experience and very enjoyable.

This remains one of the finest novels of the twentieth century, in any language. That said, I'm basing my comments and star rating on the original translated edition. Since Kundera decided to play revisionist historian and re-edit the books based on the translations in French, wholly disenfranchising the powerful emigre heritage that spawned the novel in the first place, I feel that any changes after the fact cannot be in the best interest of the work and do not represent the message and intent of an author who, living in France for upwards of twenty years now, has lost touch with the person he once was.

Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being explores the significance of existence and life responsibility (burdens and obligations) through characters' carefree attitude toward sex. However graphically and saliently Kundera writes about sex, the book is far from salacious and offensive.
A prominent surgeon from Prague, Tomas was torn between his love Tereza whom he had met through six fortuities and his many mistresses. His failed marriage had bequeathed to him fear of responsibility and attachment. He lived a life of "lightness" through no-strings-attached "erotic friendships" which stipulated his complete withdrawal of love in his life. Portrayed as a libertine, Tomas claims he was not obsessed with women, but what in each of them was unimaginable during intimacy the thrill of the gap between an approximation of idea and precision of reality.
Tereza, who throws herself into Tomas' embrace, seeks to escape from her mother all her life. In 1968, Russians invaded the country, which forced Tomas and Tereza to relocate in Zurich. When Tomas' outrageous infidelities (sexual exploits) galled her, Tereza left and returned to Prague. Realized he had no chance to evade the Communists, Tomas wrote a denouncement of the Russians that exterminated his license to practice medicine. Tomas felt much "lighter" though being a surgeon was his deep-seated desire. Tomas abased to be a window washer but continued his sexual exploits.
In the meantime, one of Tomas' most favored mistresses Sabina, hit it off with a professor Franz. Out of his conscience and the volition to live in the truth, Franz divulged his affair to his wife and lived an unbearable lightness of being. On the other hand, Sabina felt the burden as her love became public.
The question becomes whether this "weightness" of life is laudable or despicable. If, like Kundera has asserted in passing at the beginning, the heaviest burden is an image of life's most intense fulfillment, then women shall desire a sexual orgasm in which they are weighted down by a man's body?
It's interesting to relate the notion of "weightness" to Kundera's another book, Slowness, which deals with the slowness with which pleasure (sexual pleasure perhaps?) should be attained. In an audacious statement, Kundera asserted that sexual intimacy being subdued to some obstacle to be overcome as quickly as possible in order to reach an ecstatic explosion. If such obstacle refers to the "weightness" of man that women try to get over, then the ultimate fulfillment of sex is forfeited and compromised.
Another interesting notion is lightness. What is lightness? How is it unbearable? Tereza wanted to learn about "lightness" after she moved back to Prague. Some readers might have accused her of taking revenge on Tomas' infidelities, inveigling him to return to the Communist reign and thus ruining his career, while she was exploiting the lightness and insignificance of physical love. So lightness becomes a euphemism of infidelity?
Political overtones and the pretentious rhetorical references to Beethoven and Nietzsche (and the obscure German phrase of which I have no knowledge) might take a native Czech to comprehend. What is it about a lack of political freedom that affects the sexual behavior of men and women I have no intention to understand. Such pretentious gestures only aggravate readers' confusion. The best way to approach this book, besides with an open mind, is to read it as is. The musings of individuals are far more appealing than Kundera's arduous attempt to psychoanalyze the characters.
The different parts of the book tend to overlap a little bit, especially true for the sections on Tomas and Tereza, whose lives are closely intertwined. The section titled "The Grand March" is filled with political and rhetorical references, which leave my scalp itchy. Through a third party in Sabina, readers will find out about the end of the couple's story. So what's the hype about this book besides the explicit and unrestrained affairs? 3.5 stars.

I don't need to tell you how good this book is. But I would like to tell you all that this book has changed a guy who thought reading is a waste of time, simply because all the book he read in his earlier life is not even close to the intensity how this book shocked my life. This is the FIRST book that I ever thought after I read a few pages that " aHHHH......this is really interesting and I never thought about things in such a way" instead of repeating the IDEA a few times with different interpretation like the rest of the book. I highly recommend this book to all of you. And if anyone of you are interested in the movie, I would suggest you to read the book before you watch the movie, since the movie didn't explain a lot of important ideas of the story. Best Wishes

Although I personally prefer Book of Laughter and forgetting and Immortality, none the less I still love this book and have read it atleast three times and watched the movie once. (The movie does absolutely no justice). I love this book because I subscribe to the philosophy that life is but a series of coincidences and there is no such thing as a predestined event. It just happens. That is what the book communicated to me. Also it paints a rather poignant picture of the lives of individuals and the effects of their own action in a situation over which they have no control. What was most wonderful was that I actually ended up watching Good Will Hunting after I had read the book a second time and it was a whole different experience.

This is either a book of philosophy masquerading as a novel, or a novel about the lives of four or five characters with pretensions to be a book of philosophy. Either way, it's an amazing work. Since it is well-known and no doubt, well-reviewed, I might not be able to say anything new here. Kundera deals with his characters in a rather sketchy way, using them to pose a number of questions, rather than to go into great psychological depth. Yet, even there, the characters Tomas and Tereza do come through well. Their moods and motivations, even their dreams, hold a reader's attention. A couple of the others, Sabina and Franz, maybe Franz' wife, are very light indeed. Kundera is interested in sex and love, in the fact that they tie people down, in the fact that they are so fickle, so gosssamer light, yet so important. In a time when ideology and/or political oppression create craziness or stupidity and the common sense of daily life is overthrown---as in post-1968 Czechoslovakia and maybe pre-Gulf War II America---love and sex are more or less what is left for people to hang on to. Kundera also ponders the choices that people make, and the extremely haphazard way these choices come about, based perhaps on endless strings of coincidence.
This is not a novel long on plot. Rather it is a vehicle for some very intelligent musings. When living under oppressive rulers "is it better to shout and thereby hasten the end, or to keep silent and gain thereby a slower death ?" What is the nature of love ? Have you ever read the philosophy of excrement or kitsch ? You can find them here. Man is a cow parasite, he tells us, (though he's probably talking about a certain percent of humanity only) and goes on to say that attitude towards animals is a fundamental moral test of Man. We've failed. As you live, you write the story of your life. You don't get the chance to "write" an alternative story; there are no comparisons for you. History is the same, he says, as light as individual human life. There is no possibility of comparison of chances either in history or life. These are only a small sample of the interesting thoughts and ideas Kundera mulls over. If that sort of book is your bag, you're going to love this one. The choice you make by reading it, may evolve into something completely different in your life, have totally different repercussions sooner or later. Will you recognize that ? After all, each book of any consequence you read leaves an imprint. THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING will definitely do so.

Every morning, I have toast for breakfast. Not because I like toast. Oh, no. I eat it because I know that I do not deserve a piece of soft, delicious jelly bread. The scorched surface of the toast is my blackened soul, destroyed by the betrayal of my mother that I perpetuated from the first day of my birth because I adored her. My mother hated beauty because she herself was beautiful, therefore she could not trust anyone who loved her. How was she to know if they loved her only for her beauty? So anyone who loved her could never be loved in return. Only to those who did not love her could she give her love. Because I betrayed her with my adoration, I eat toast to remind myself of my charred soul. And I do this because no one truly wants to be happy. Happiness is a burden too heavy for even the strongest being to bear.

Did you think that's an actual passage from this book? It could have been because every page is full of this pseudo psychological, existential, philosophical rubbish. If I'd wanted a badly executed lecture on these topics, I would have taken a Philosophy course at a community college in Burnt Corn, Alabama.

I might have better tolerated the ridiculous pontificating in this "novel" if it had any redeeming qualities other than its lovely title, but the characters are unlikable caricatures of people, created by the author to illustrate his opinions. And based on their interactions, I'm fairly certain that the author himself lives a miserable life of staring at himself in the mirror and questioning every thought, feeling or bodily function he must suffer through as a human being. There is also an excruciating disproportion between narration and dialogue, with the author frequently breaking the fourth wall to insert more lecturing. And the author's disdain for those of us not gifted with his brilliant insights into mankind is demonstrated by repetition to the point of redundancy, sometimes within paragraphs.

This was a book club selection that I read out of loyalty to the group. They now owe me big time, so I'd better get cookies at the next meeting.

This book is by no means an awe-inspiring masterwork but is certainly a wonderful, highly readable gem of a book. The images and characters in this novel remain with me still and the story is subtly powerful. This is a book that will cause you to question your personal dogmas, the meaning of love, and communication barriers between individuals. My main criticism is that the language was not quite thick enough for me. Personally, I favor rich, impractical language and a lyrical voice. I understand that this is not everyone's cup of tea, but I regard it as the major shortcoming of this work. However, in light of all the shining virtues of this novel, a little disagreement over word choice seems petty. You are fortunate to have found this work. It is, without question, a worthwile read.

Very good at evoking emotions. Four stars mostly just because some scenes are uncomfortable to read. I liked it so much more than I expected to, and a lot more than I liked Kundera's short stories. I would recommend it.

I really enjoyed reading this. The way he argued his opinion against Nietzsche's was surprisingly enjoyable given the heavy philosophical nature of the topic. I found myself relating the all of the characters even though they were all so different. I loved the way Kundera wrote. This is one that I must read again.

I found The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera to be one of the most thought-provoking books I've ever read. I chose it because my friend told me it was her favorite book. She explained the author's definitions of lightness and weight to me, which I thought were original and intriguing. Kundera's definition of lightness refers to the freedom we have in making decisions. Humans find this freedom unbearable, as the title suggests, because we want our decisions to matter and have weight- we feel helpless and lose our sense of control because our decisions are irrelevant to our fates.

The characters Tomas and Sabina personify this idea of lightness. Tomas cheats on his loving wife, Tereza, with countless other women, thus utilizing his lightness in decision-making (since he does not consider the consequences it might have on his marriage). Yet, his love for Tereza provides for an internal conflict of seismic proportions. One of Tomas's lovers, Sabina, shares this lightness with him. Her rebellious personality is reflected in her affection for her bowler hat that desecrates society's expectations of femininity. She, too, has more than one lover, and often makes impulsive decisions.

On the other hand, Tereza and Franz exemplify the weighty consequences of light decisions made by others. Tereza suffers immensely from her knowledge of Tomas's infidelity. It prevents her from loving him as fully and openly as she did at the beginning of the novel. Franz, another one of Sabina's lovers, experiences the same pain in response to Sabina's reluctance to be tied down to a single person. Franz's ultimate fate, as well, is decided by the incredibly and painfully light decision of a stranger.

Both Kundera's plot and style are simple due to the great complexity of his theories. He makes extensive use of symbols and metaphors to demonstrate his philosophies concerning lightness and weight in addition to his views on communism, sexuality, parenting, and dreams. He also discusses very Freudian ideas concerning the latter three.

The story takes place in Prague during the late 1960's, at the time of Russian oppression. The characters' attitudes about the Russian invasion serve to further illustrate their personalities. For example, the sensitive Tereza is visibly distressed when she sees the Czechoslovakian women teasing Russian soldiers, because she sees even these strangers as competition for winning Tomas's fidelity.

The book is full of philosophical musings that revolve around Kundera's interpretations of lightness and weight as well as the four main characters. I would not consider it "light reading," since I believe that in order to fully appreciate the novel, it is necessary to view it on a symbolic level. For example, the whole of part three is devoted to the differences and misunderstandings between Franz and Sabina. These can easily be viewed on a literal level, but they are intended to exhibit Sabina's defiant nature as juxtaposed to Franz's loyalty and optimism, as well as to foreshadow the ensuing misunderstandings.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being has become one of my favorite books. It is both interesting and enlightening. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in philosophy, oppressive regimes, or psychology.

I have read this book many times and have passed it on to every person I know. It is one of the most outstanding books I have ever read. Kundera is a remarkable author whose style is analytic and emotional all at once. I firmly believe that this book should be required reading for every member of the 16- 25 year old set. However, it is necessary to remember that this book IS NOT a light read. ( no pun intended) If you do not have a large ammount of time to devote to reading, wait until you do before picking up any Kundera novel. The heavily thematic nature of this books makes them difficult to follow if the reading extends over too long a period of time.

...or perhaps more appropriately, this book speaks to my life - describes my life - reflects my life. I believe, once in a lifetime, you come across something that so clearly mirrors your view of the world, but in a strange, beautiful, and unimaginable way.

Taken as a story, it is a compelling tale of love, life and the struggles faced in Prague during the Russian uprising. But when taken on a deeper level, an "ur-level," this book speaks to one's view on oneself and their relationship to the eternal struggle of life.

This is a book I have been reading every year for the last 15 years, and every reading brings about new thoughts, new ideas and new perspectives. Trust me - you will love this book.

Although the Nietzean philosophy at the very outset of the book may be a little thick to get through for some, this book is worth the effort. It's complexity allows it to be read three ways: as a historical novel, as a philosophical piece and as a simple romance. By far Kundera's greatest work, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is a thoroughly enthralling read with wonderful characters, a fully-developed plot and an engaging concept to back it all.

The book seems to have a poetic soul, but the translation has the tone of dumbed down new yorker magazine fiction. I like wordcraft so I was disappointed on that point alone.

THe book seems from the tradition of Russian/French depressive fiction (like existentialist lit and whatever), mixed with the sexual fiction of miller anias nin and those folks (sans poetry and soul) - throw in a dash of cinema like fellini and rashomon, and maybe some sly pretentions like vonnugot (however you spell that dude). If you like all that junk youre sure to be pleased.

The book is very inconsistent. Its even inconsistent in its inconsistency. its starts off SUPER TIGHT, each paragraph a mini masterpiece of concept and coffee house philosophy. Each chapter viewing the same events through a different character. THen it loses steam and devolves into slop. Lots of false starts, false endings, redundency, rambling in random directions. etc.

another big beef is that the story, the narration and etc, is very distant. the characters and events almost become concepts the author is playing with from 1000 miles away. so its kind of a lonely clinical read. none fo the male characters are likable. the female characters arent vvery likable either. even the main female lead - who is the most sympathetic would be an annoying side character in a truly charismatic story.

so the book has many low altitude flashes of brilliance. but doesnt measure up to its influences. IMO. it could use a massive rewrite to fully achieve its potential.

Speaking from personal experience, this is the best "beginner" novel for avid readers eager to delve into the wondrous world of Central and Eastern European literature. Kundera touches elements of the Human Condition like few other modern authors. His characters remain etched upon the brain for years to follow.

The thing that stirkes me more than anything in this book is the sad realization of the fact that very light things(like crossing a certain border) could bring down heavy consequences. Consequences that would shape ourlives and hence ourselves in a drastically different way. All over the story the inside of the man and the woman performed the same torturing dance. But only inside the heavy she became certain that he loved her. She was happy to know that he really did(happinees is light) and she was sad(heavy) to see him the victim of the proof. Milan Kundera flips the coin of heavy and light showing us different faces (of many different dark colors) for the same two sides of his coin until all the faces blend. He is a true magician.

I know, I know: It's won all sorts of awards and comes up for all sorts of acclaim. But don't take on the daunting task of reading this book unless you have long, boring, uninterrupted blocks of time to fill and there is no other book available. It's hard going and in too many places is unnecessarily confusing and disorienting. Maybe I'm just not intellectual enough... But if you suspect you might not be, either, then I'd suggest skipping this one.

This is definetely one of my favorite books ever. I read it fires time in college, and we all were fascinating by it. And I go back and read it again every few years.
Kundera writes the way that it feels like he is simply sharing his thouths and reflections with you while telling the story of the couple, not really knowing himself where is it going to. His language is easy and appaelling. He makes you think and feel, and explore human nauture but not to judge the characters.
This is not the book for someone who accepts only fast-pace action in the book. You need to slow down for this one, but you will find a pleasure reading it.
I also recommend the movie based on the book, under the same title, with Juliet Binoche starring as Theresa.

I was introduced to this book by a boy in college. I am eternally grateful to him for facilitating my discovery of Milan Kundera and his works.
Kundera has a spooky ability to narrate the inner world of women. I love the philosophical edge of his writing. I have read nearly every novel written by Kundera and I do not like belletristic literature - I read non-fiction. However, if I read novels, it is Kundera.
Thank you Bernard Douthit for recommending this book to me.

I'm using my girlfriend's account to write this review, so do not blaime her.

This book is outstanding. Most of the reviews focus on the concept of "unbearibale lightness of being" and they do a good job in describing the author's point of view. I don't think this the main point of the book. This idea is really "unbearable" - depressing - and for this reason I never focused on it.

There are four different characters in the book. Together, weighted in different ways, they can almost describe every person. They feel and interpret emotions and situations in different ways; everyone offers his/her relative point of view. The rationale is that everything must be seen from a relative point of view. We always need to keep in mind that something can appear very differently when seen from a different perspective. This is what I really liked.

D.

This book sheds wonderful light on the human soul and the ambiguity of life. It tells a story of a man an a woman who leave czechoslovakia for france yet eventually return back to communist rule. Their life is explored in depth and kundera provides narraration full of sympathy and understaning towards the characters and laters delves into politics, collectivism, and love. One of the best novels of this centruy-a moernist classic that any person who enjoys literature and great authors would enjoy.(After reading all of Kundera's work it is dissapointing that so much is autobiographically set in Czechoslovakia an deals with communism vs. intellectuals.)

Kundera writes beautifully, hs musing voice takes the reader into meandering journeys into human nature that can surprise us by our own capacity for empathy.
However, despite these marvellous insights and his grasp of philosophical tenets, ultimately, Kundera lacks any backbone to ground this novel in any sort of foundation common to the advancement of human civilization and the betterment of the human existence.
The characters in this novel are fundamentally nihilistic and inherently pessimistic, providing hours of excruciatingly balletic pathos and melancholy, but eventually dissipates like a bad nap, leaving behind a sensation akin to shellshock.
Kundera's exploration of the heaviness and lightness of life would drive a severely depressed man to commit a beautiful suicide, but as for anyone looking for a work that engages one's exploration of meaning and strength in this world with forthrightness, this book is like a wet weak slap in the face.

This is the first book that I read by Milan Kundera and it turned me onto several of his other works that were equally thought-provoking. Rather then sit here and write a pedantic review I will simply say that this book is a must for any reader who enjoys questioning everything and extracting those grains of truth from around us that generally seem so elusive. Following this I read "Identity" and "Book of Laughter and Forgetting" and was impressed by both, yet neither of them quite reached the level of "...Lightness of Being." If you like authors also in this vein (although I am sure some would debate me on this) I would also recommend novels by Italo Calvino.

Kundera's novel is brilliant. Quite simply, it's one of thebest novels I've read in a very long time. But I have to admit that Ionly decided to read it after seeing the movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis & Juliette Binoche. But the novel is far more satisfying. Kundera's definition of beauty being the ability to recognise coincidences and to draw meaning from them is just beautiful. And the existentialist Teresa is one 'minor' character readers will not easily forget. There is so much to this novel - philosophical musings, death, sex, politics, exile, love - that intelligent readers will literally have what Hemingway termed a 'movable feast' in their two hands when reading it. Bravo Kundera! You truly are a brilliant writer. END

What is "The Unbearable Lightness of Being?" It is the realization that, with no hope of knowing the right path from the wrong, there can be no wrong path. One is necessarily absolved of mistakes. If you are a Kundera fan, you know the book already. If not, you may be reading this because you know the movie. The movie was entertainment-- read the book to meditate on "the unbearable lightness of being."

This book is one of my top five books ever. It is wonderful. The type of book that you finsh and start over again. Most pages are dogeared and underlined. I would recomend this book to anyone who wants to get a little more out of a novel than just entertainment. One tip - don't watch the movie first...it is too hard to put into a movie the philosohpical doctrines that Kundera creates in this book. Read it first, then watch the movie.

I honestly don't understand the function of the angry bears in this story, and if anyone out there does, I'd love to hear it. It's a great book. Tomas and Tezra cope with existential angst, have sex, cope with existential angst, cheat on each other, and cope with existential angst. This is really a departure for Robert Jordan, whose perennial Wheel of Time series has carried him into fantasy legend; more importantly, however, it is a vehicle for actor Kevin Bacon, who (it is almost certain) will star in the screen adaptation. Without giving too much away, I will point out that there is a great deal of confusion near the end, involving a family of angry bears, an anthropomorphic bee hive and Tezra, wandering through the streets of post-war Czechoslovakia; I think there's some kind of message in there, but I'm not sure what. All in all, a great read.

Kundera's _Unbearable Lightness of Being_ was one of those assigned novels that I was sure that I would not like the minute I picked it up. Fortunately I was mistaken and found the book quite enjoyable. It was probably the dog, Karenina, who has to be euthanized at the end as she's suffering from cancer. It was also helped by a reference to Nietzsche's mysterious and obscure doctrine of the eternal return in the opening chapter, and NOT beginning with some pretentious Victorian social occasion, as most tedious novels tend to begin. I also admired the protagonist Tomas' courage in standing up to Communist goons in his native Czechoslovakia, even though it cost him his career as one of Prague's top neurosurgeons, though not his excessive womanizing. The book also makes some interesting observations on the nature of political affiliations and the appeal militant left-wing politics have for academics that live otherwise boring lives. The novel is also much better than the film version.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a wonderful book, based on a basic concept. It tells us that everything we do, every moment of our life is unique, because life itself is unique. When we born, we are not prepared for living and there is no second chance.

'Einmal ist keinmal' is the concept that the authors follow through all the book. One time is equal to no time, so everything that happens just one time, is better if it does not happen at all. Life and its decision, in this case seems like having no meaning and we consider them light, without weight; but soon we can fell the burden of this unbearable lightness.

I must admit Milan Kundera is a good writer and the book kept me captivated till the end ... i enjoyed his "somewhat" philosophical views and as one who is a realist and prefer realism in literature i liked his way of writing ...
what i hated about his book was his sexism ... women were mere sex objects with no souls or intellects ... while male characters were doctors and scholars who read and think
I also disliked the way he tried to philosophize cheating and infidelity ...
One of the problems with the book was how it banishes family ties ... both heroes left their children without looking back - without a reason even - not once in the book did either of them miss or even feel guilt towards their children ... also the book's idea about marriage is kind of disturbing ... men only marry women out of guilt and compassion ... and women (wives) always destroy men's lives ... there is no good in marriage ... life is all about sex
I cannot get the character of Tomas who seemed to me like a psychopath and a sex addict ... the author tried to make us respect and admire him, he tried so hard to philosophize what i thought was sickness .... i thought he was a disgusting person who is in dire need of therapy...
The book's attitude towards sex reduced it to lower than a mere animal act - no offence intended to animals - sex in the book was devoid of any meaning or reason ..to be honest the book made me - while reading it of course - feel disgusted and repulsed towards sex itself ...
In the book one has the conclusion - at least it's what i got - that nothing is fixed ... there is no reality to anything ... no meaning behind anything ... and the only absolute there is in the universe is sex ...

The novel was nice, and the psychoanalytic and existential themes makes the novel profound. However there seems to lack a traditional plot structure, which the Author probably intended, but nonetheless I found it fairly decent.

To explore the literary significance of this piece is to torch down a forest for the sake of sighting just one tree. Let the experts revel in their self-indulgent semantics; what is presented before you is a muse for the imagination, inspiration to choose a path less travelled. Hindsight may be clearer than foresight, but perception cannot be measured. The author presents a refreshingly honest, and sometimes brutal case for the ills of our modern society. Romance and apathy walk hand in hand on occasions, and foot in mouth on others. The question is not "why?", more so "why should it matter to you?" Excellent read and not too long in the tooth. A stunning choice for the intelligent reader.

This is one of the most amazing works of literature I have ever read. Kundera offers the reader a lot of insight into the different nuances that people have. There are qualities in the characters that one may recognize in one's self, but these reflections are done in a remarkable way that make each character refreshing.

The novel is filled with obvious, and not so obvious, insights and wisdom that a reader could pull apart and think on. I keep a journal to document and reflect on books that I read, and this novel took a good number of pages.

I definitely recommend this to any reader looking for something deeper, and perhaps just looking for something interesting.

This book is overly pretentious; so do not be fooled by the superfluous 5 star reviews that so many literary idealists have given it.

First, let me tell you what is good about the book. Kundera offers his readers some beautiful metaphors--in fact, some of the best I have ever read, but unfortunately the book's significance practically ends there.

Although Kundera's book starts off on a promising note, posing strong existential questions, his postulates fail to deliver any thought provoking "weightiness."

Ironically, it is Kundera's incessant attempt to produce "weightier" concepts as the book progresses that inevitably ruin it.

Kundera opens his novel with originality, discussing Nietzsche and eternal returns; but as his novel progresses he drifts far from originality, and as if he is struggling to appeal to mass market, or all those wannabe intellects sitting around smoke filled coffee houses drinking lattes and discussing what it is to feel "the unbearable lightness of being," he closes his novel with one of his last, "profound" philosophical discussions--analyzing God's potential bowl moments.

Wow, I feel enlightened already.

In addition, Kundera's attempt to present his philosophical treatise through his superficial story of Tomas, Sabina, etc. was meager.

Sometimes Kundera's storyline effectively embodied his philosophical exposition, and many times I was filled with hope and promise that the story would remain on that path, but on the contrary, I mostly found his characters completely contradictory to everything Kundera was using them to represent. Ultimately, I found the actions, complacency, and attitudes of Tomas, Tereza, etc. rather incredulous.

Everyone's childhood was plagued with malevolence, even Karenin's "puppyhood" was fatefully doomed. His bland storyline made poor attempts to discuss those human dualities, such as love and lovemaking, life and rebirth, all those dichotomies which produce lightness and weightiness.

I found myself replacing words with blah, blah, blah, blah, blah while I was reading; and most of the time, I found myself so disappointed that I felt worse than when Tomas suffered from those dreadful stomach aches.

This book was "unbearable" for me to read. However, what I find most fascinating is that when I finally finished the book, I was so elated that I experienced that strange, melancholy feeling, that "unbearable lightness of being."

Maybe that was Kundera's intention. Maybe he meant to write this book to incite exactly that emotion in his readers.

I guess I'll spend my time pondering over that philosophical question...then again, maybe I won't.

This book will forever be one of my favorites. Kundera has an uncanny ability to put into words questions that any thinking human being has to come across. I first read it in another language, and am not sure that the english translation does not obscure the overall tone of the book. However, it is still worth anyone's time who has a desire to look deeply into the human soul. Kundera's writing genius is backed by an immense knowledge of philosophy and the arts, and he ties ideas together from across the centuries to show the basic questions that humans have faced throughout history.

A man torn between thought and emotion, between love and lust. A woman who lives for rebellion. Another whose body is simply an amplifier for her emotions. Why is it that I keep coming back to this book? I read this book years ago, then on a trip to Europe read it again and found new meaning in Kundera's incredibly accurate insights. His ability to grasp the essence of human nature and then weave a tale around it is what makes his novels true classics. The Unbearable Lightness of Being will connect your mind and heart.

It is obvious from just reading a few pages of this book that Kundera is nothing short of a brilliant writer. Writing, however, is not all there is to a book, just as greatness - in true assurance of enlightenment or intellect - will not rest idly on an idea, but instead lies in muscle, flesh, and body, and without the whole the skin will wither, the heart will grow limp, and the bones will turn to slag.

It is this, then, that I contend with Kundera and his presentation of, the presentation of an undoubtedly beautiful narrative with the Cliff Notes embedded within; Kundera writes gorgeous, fleshy scenes and rapid, exciting dialogue, and then will interrupt the story, the flow, the movement, and tell you, like a sterile Woody Allen, the meaning behind what he writes. It doesn't stop there, though, because he will then go on to recite a quote from Nietzsche or whoever and then explain to you what the quote means contextually. The meaning, the beauty, the magic is robbed, then, and you are left with a book twice as long as it ought to be, burdened by the weight of its own explanations.

Someone offhandedly pointed this book out to me as I passed by a NYC book seller in the street. It was a wonderful suggestion. Reading it stretched my immagination and my mind. If you want a good story that makes you ponder the world, with some bits of philosophy thrown in, then this is your book.

We are all born, we live and we die. In between many things occur - some of which make us happy, and some of which make us miserable. Some even stir our loins for a moment.
That's it in a nutshell, folks! The writing is adequate, and numerous characters have sex with each other. If that is your cup of tea, and you revel in ennui and other French diseases of the soul, by all means buy this book. I did laugh uproariously at the remarkable section about the importance of feces. Funny stuff. Hence, two stars rather than one.

A book about feelings on the either side of betrayal; the infidelities of a man, the jealousy of his wife.The angusih she feels and the affliction he suffers from his compassion towards her.Explores the innate desire of a man.A woman trying to recede the pain of her mental rack, caused by her husbands "indecent nature," by her love for him. It also probes into the russian invasion.As always he writes very creatively, though if the text merely read with out thought seems allusive.I do like his very unique sense of metaphors, especially with regards to human psychology.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is truly a masterpiece. Like another reviewer, I bought this book on a whim [a recommendation from someone I barely knew]. I was so taken with the book in my first reading that I began keeping a journal to document my ongoing reflections about the book. I just finished reading it for a third time and continue to add to the journal. It is a beautiful, but realistic love story set in a momentous period in history.

I am an avid reader and this book came to me with the utmost of congratulatory reviews. I was very excited to pick it up and after about 15 small chapters in it took all my strength to keep reading.

All of his musings i have read before in PLato, Socrates, Aritotle, COnversations with God, Tao Te Ching, the Upanishads...and on and on. They are just recreations of thought from other texts written long long ago and written much better. This book is for people who LOVE john grisham and the davinci code and think those books are magical. This book is for those people who adore the alcehmist and the prophet and the secret and think those novels are the first ever to touch upon that type of thought.

if you haven't read any of the philisophical classics than you will enjoy this book and it will "blow your mind" if you have..don't bother..

If you only read one book by Kundera, you must choose The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I am not certain who translated the copy I read, but this is a magnificently complex story that is beautifully written. A top ten on my list! Genius.

Mlan Kundera is a writer who leaves no stone unturned. He demonstrates deep understanding of human psyche, both good and bad. As much as the protagonist is not a likeable character, you develop understanding of his behavior and through Kundera's historical and religious musings, you start to understand and start feeling sympathy for the main characters.

The book was recommended to me. However, I found the book rather boring and depressing. I heard about its reference of invasion of Prague. The must be some metaphor hidden among the pages. I have failed to find it.

This book has been so well summarized that I won't travel that road. I had read Kundera's "Identity" and was impressed. (This was my first reading of Kundera.) I thought it was wonderful, for a change, to come across an author who had serious observations about life and being. So, I took "The Unbearable..." from the library and settled down for a good read.

It started out with Tomas and Tereza. Then later it switched to Sabina and Franz. Then it told me the fate of Tomas and Tereza and yet went to the next segment to give me a lot of back-story about this pair. Now, why did the author do that? Would I really be so intrigued by this back-story after I learned that both of them died in a truck crash?

I guess what really began to bother me was why the author kept reminding the reader that this was just a story he made up. And all the philosophizing got to be a bit much. Here I was, in the 21st century reading a book by an omniscient author who kept talking to the reader and telling him/her how to think and feel about the story and its characters. I thought that was in vogue in the 19th century.

I won't trash the book because there is a quality in it despite what I consider its flaws. But is this talking to the reader and telling him/her that it's all a hokey thing he made up characteristic of "post-modern literature?"

I was frankly disappointed, and I've read a number of books on philosophy (seriously impressed by the "real" Epicurus, or what we know of him), and this is what caught my attention in "Identity," but I was looking for a novel, not a series of essays parading as a novel. I thought Tereza was a lost cause, and all her ruminations about her soul versus her body were symptomatic of a disordered mind.

I wanted to like it, but I was judging it as literature, not a hodge-podge of philosophy and "let's pretend we care about this story I made up to tell you." With all of the glowing reviews posted here I have to feel a bit of a skeptic. Did they really love the book so much, or are they just following the crowd to show how intellectual and cultivated they are?

I do look forward to seeing the movie, however, to see if it could make me care about the characters more than the book did.

Mlan Kundera is a writer who leaves no stone unturned. He demonstrates deep understanding of human psyche, both good and bad. As much as the protagonist is not a likeable character, you develop understanding of his behavior and through Kundera's historical and religious musings, you start to understand and start feeling sympathy for the main characters.

The book was recommended to me. However, I found the book rather boring and depressing. I heard about its reference of invasion of Prague. The must be some metaphor hidden among the pages. I have failed to find it.

This book has been so well summarized that I won't travel that road. I had read Kundera's "Identity" and was impressed. (This was my first reading of Kundera.) I thought it was wonderful, for a change, to come across an author who had serious observations about life and being. So, I took "The Unbearable..." from the library and settled down for a good read.

It started out with Tomas and Tereza. Then later it switched to Sabina and Franz. Then it told me the fate of Tomas and Tereza and yet went to the next segment to give me a lot of back-story about this pair. Now, why did the author do that? Would I really be so intrigued by this back-story after I learned that both of them died in a truck crash?

I guess what really began to bother me was why the author kept reminding the reader that this was just a story he made up. And all the philosophizing got to be a bit much. Here I was, in the 21st century reading a book by an omniscient author who kept talking to the reader and telling him/her how to think and feel about the story and its characters. I thought that was in vogue in the 19th century.

I won't trash the book because there is a quality in it despite what I consider its flaws. But is this talking to the reader and telling him/her that it's all a hokey thing he made up characteristic of "post-modern literature?"

I was frankly disappointed, and I've read a number of books on philosophy (seriously impressed by the "real" Epicurus, or what we know of him), and this is what caught my attention in "Identity," but I was looking for a novel, not a series of essays parading as a novel. I thought Tereza was a lost cause, and all her ruminations about her soul versus her body were symptomatic of a disordered mind.

I wanted to like it, but I was judging it as literature, not a hodge-podge of philosophy and "let's pretend we care about this story I made up to tell you." With all of the glowing reviews posted here I have to feel a bit of a skeptic. Did they really love the book so much, or are they just following the crowd to show how intellectual and cultivated they are?

I do look forward to seeing the movie, however, to see if it could make me care about the characters more than the book did.

I really enjoyed some of the ideas in this book - especially the central contrast between lightness and weight. However, Kundera's method of introducing these ideas -- usually by interupting his characters -- made the novel really choppy. A lot of times, it seemed like the characters had impossible foresight -- that no one living would ever think such a thing at such a time. The character's were far too analyzed, leaving the reader with basically nothing to do but sit back and attempt to enjoy the rather dry writing. Overall, ideas great, but style terrible. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

But "Es könnte auch anders sein" (It could just as well be otherwise)�
With a sweeping, stunning backdrop of Communism and the Prague Spring, Kundera�s book probes the questions surrounding personal identity and individuality and what shapes lives and how people are robbed of individuality. As an entire society struggles to be recognised as an independent entity under threat of Russian tanks and violence, the characters seek individuality in their own ways. Indeed, this individuality is personified by the way each character perceives and feels love.
The story of Tomas and Tereza, Sabina and Franz, as people, is compelling and beautiful (and tragic) enough. Kundera�s writing style and rich, philosophical prose is all the more rewarding. It took me years to finally sit down and read this book, and I regret all the wasted time. The book is far more rewarding than the film of the same name because the prose is so deep and worthwhile. The film, too, is good because Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche are luminous as always. Daniel Day Lewis plays Tomas well because his real persona seems to fit that of Tomas so perfectly.
Tomas is a doctor in Prague and happens to meet the woman who will be his wife, Tereza, when he travels out of town for some sort of conference. They meet by a number of chance occurrences, and the novel Anna Karenina is instrumental in bringing them together. �Early in the novel that Tereza clutched under her arm when she went to visit Tomas, Anna meets Vronsky in curious circumstances: they are at the railway station when someone is run over by a train. At the end of the novel, Anna throws herself under a train. This symmetrical composition�the same motif appears at the beginning and at the end�may seem quite �novelistic� to you, and I am willing to agree, but only on the condition that you refrain from reading such notions as �fictive�, �fabricated�, and �untrue to life� into the word �novelistic�. Because human lives are composed in precisely such a fashion.� �But is not an event in fact more significant and noteworthy the greater the number of fortuities necessary to bring it about?� �Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us.�
Tereza deeply believed in these episodes of chance and fate, believing their meeting was destined to be so. The more scientific Tomas was more inclined to believe, �It could just as well be otherwise.� Tereza did not know at first that Tomas was a reckless womanizer and that this would come to define both of them as their relationship progressed and in fact would be what further robbed Tereza of her individuality. Early in the prose, you learn that Tereza�s mother was cruel and deprived her of privacy and modesty. Tereza�s adult life is permeated by a sense of needing to feel different from and unique from others. With the love of a man, like Tomas, she expected she would find that he loved her and her alone, but his ceaseless, obsessive womanizing turned her into just another woman, just another body for him to use, in no way unique from any other woman in the world. Tereza had nightmares about her position. �She had come to him to escape her mother�s world, a world where all bodies were equal. She has come to him to make her body unique, irreplaceable. But he, too, has drawn an equal sign between her and the rest of them: he kissed them all alike, stroked them all alike, made no, absolutely no distinction between Tereza�s body and the other bodies. He had sent her back into the world she tried to escape, sent her to march naked with the other naked women.� Tereza began to see life as a concentration camp�people living cramped together constantly in a �complete obliteration of privacy.�
Tomas had many lovers, but among the most important (and central to the book) is Sabina. Sabina desired to disobey her father: �Communism was merely another father, a father equally strict and limited, a father who forbade her love�� Sabina, like Tomas, could not be confined to one lover. She wanted to disobey convention. Not only did she have Tomas, she had many other lovers, including another central character to the book, Franz. Franz is from the West (I cannot recall whether he is from Austria or Switzerland, but I suspect the latter). For Franz, �(Love) It meant a longing to put himself at the mercy of his partner. He who gives himself up like a prisoner of war must give up his weapons as well. And deprived in advance of defence against a possible blow, he cannot help wondering when the blow will fall. That is why I can say that for Franz, love meant the constant expectation of a blow.� Franz believed, �Culture is perishing in overproduction, in an avalanche of words, in the madness of quantity. That�s why one banned book in your (Sabina�s) former country means infinitely more than the billions of words spewed out by our universities.�
Eventually Sabina and Tereza meet one another, and they form an unlikely friendship, and they both share the need for privacy that drives Tereza�s search for identity. The book describes a private and intimate scene in which Tereza (who is a photographer) and Sabina photograph one another, in various states of undress. They see one another for the individuals they are, not through the lens of Tomas or external barriers.
Recurring images appear throughout the prose to illustrate different people�s places in other people�s lives, their relationships, perhaps. Kundera writes, �While people are fairly young and the musical composition of their lives is still in its opening bars, they can go about writing it together and exchange motifs (the way Tomas and Sabina exchanged the motif of the bowler hat), but if they meet when they are older, like Franz and Sabina, their musical compositions are more or less complete, and every motif, every object, every word means something different to each of them.� Kundera goes on to include a �dictionary of misunderstood words� which describes how words can be interpreted differently by different people depending on so many factors. (As an example, WOMAN, �not every woman was worthy of being called a woman.�
The characters all played roles with regard to the revolution that swept through Prague and eventually was crushed by Russian tanks. Tereza reflected on their naïveté. They had been so stupid, spending their days taking pictures of tanks and subversion. They believed they were risking their lives for their country when in fact the evidence they produced only helped the Russians in the end when the Russian overpowered the revolt.
Many people tried to claim that ignorance about what Russian Communism entailed would serve as an excuse, but ignorance, as Kundera explains, was no excuse for Oedipus. �Whether they knew or didn�t know is not the main issue; the main issue is whether a man is innocent because he didn�t know. Is a fool on the throne relieved of all responsibility merely because he is a fool?�
��Oedipus did not know he was sleeping with his own mother, yet when he realized what had happened, he did not feel innocent. Unable to stand the sight of the misfortune he had wrought by �not knowing�, he put out his eyes and wandered blind away from Thebes.�
Everyone was suspect and everyone ready to hide from the ideals that began the revolt in the first place. Tomas was reprimanded at work and was told to print a retraction to an article or letter he had written, and he faced an odd decision as well as unusual reactions from those around him, �And suddenly Tomas grasped a strange fact: everyone was smiling at him, everyone wanted him to write the retraction: it would make everyone happy! The people with the first type of reaction would be happy because by inflating cowardice, he would make their actions seem commonplace and thereby give them back their lost honor. The people with the second type of reaction, who had come to consider their honor a special privilege never to be yielded, nurtured a secret love for the cowards, for without them their courage would soon erode into a trivial, monotonous grind admired by no one.�
When this book was new and fresh in my mind and imagination I had so many more points to make about its finer points. There are so many details and fine points to ponder, but it has been a year since I indulged in this book, and I feel I am the better for having indulged.

By far one of the most impressive pieces of modern literature I've ever had the good fortune to read. The mosaic created by the lives of the four main characters, interspersed with intriguing philosophical blurbs and anecdotes, is superbly done. This translation is beautifully accurate. Really something that no educated person should go without reading; as a lover of good literature, I highly recommend it.

It seems that Kundera got confused between writing a philosophical treatise and a novel--a nasty experience to say the least. Instead of creating characters and action, Kundera get's bogged down in his own philosophical wanderings on life, and just him mentioning such greats as Nietzche and Tolstoy in this book makes me want to vomit. Thank God both those writers are dead, but I on the other hand was not spared from the stench of this literary poop. It truly contains some of the most frightful prose ever written. Yes.....it's that bad.

I think that I still don't really understand who this book was about. There were a handful of main characters who jumped around as the center of attention for most of the book, which also jumped back and forth through time a few times. None of which is an ideal characteristic in a book for me. Though I was confused most of the book, there were parts that I laughed at, cringed at, had ephinay-like thoughts at, and towards the end, even cried at. But because I was so confused, I decided that this book just wasn't for me. It was ok though.

The quintessential apex of the hierarchy in enjoying this novel unequivocally resides within Kundera's embracement of ideas and their translation to the page. The non-linear back-shadowing admist a political background is entertaining, as is the developing love stories between the protagonists. What is less inspiring, however, are the characters themselves, who are somewhat forgettable.

This was the first Milan Kundera novel I've read. Overall, I really enjoyed it. It was emotionally stimulating and intellectually daring. However, it was also incredibly pretentious. It felt as though Kundera was was costantly attempting to remind me of how profound his ideas are. I gathered that fact simply from the originality of this novel, and I didn't need Kundera to keep reminding me. This was really the only flaw I found in the novel. All in all, an exceptional novel-

This book put me in an strange position. Typically I either fall in love with a book (often because of the characters), or I wonder why I bothered finishing it (likewise). In this book, I honestly did not like the characters. It's not Kundera's fault--in real life, I would not like these people. But I liked the book. It wasn't a favorite, but it was worth reading. I enjoyed it.
My friends, on the other hand, adore it.

This novel is beautiful and sad, not because its plot or story, but because it will make us think about the meaning of life. There is a deep sadness, but also our own experiences and feelings, and many things that we have never thought before about life that are revealed by the author.
If you like The Myth of the Sisyphus by A. Camus, you'll love this book. I don't know other novel like this one.

I did not mind Kundera's unusual contemporary writing style. However, there were no noble characters in this book. The confused, selfish adulterous lifestyles of Franz, Sabina, Tereza, and especially Tomas, exemplify humanities hopelessness of which Kundera seems to celebrate through this novel. Despite humanities struggle to find or balance lightness and weight, hopelessness is inevitable without the external, absolute, and objective truth to anchor upon. The only character I was moved by was Karenin, the dog, who lived a much more purposeful life than his owners!

This book is different from what most have read and that alone makes it worth reading. It's heartfelt, sad and happy and it's hard to put down. Kundera thinks in such different ways that it makes the reader ponder on his ideas. The story is beautiful and the book itself is not a complicated read (even if the reader is young the references to the past and politics are easily understood in context). I would recommend this book to everyone.

I had no idea what type of book this was, nor anything about the writing of Kundera when I purchased this book. I wish I had.

The book chronicles different people's lives and journey's, but their lives are just a subtext to the writer's general philosophy on life, which is infused throughout. His philosphy is a little odd, and very VERY European. There is a tinge of melancholy that runs throughout his philosphy, and the very Un-American idea that things don't always work towards a greater good, or that things that happen don't necessarily have a point. (Did this book have a point?)

Reading this book was like being flipped upside down a few times and not knowing where you will land. If you would like to read a good fiction novel, this is not it. I think this should be put under philosphy, rather than fiction.

This book is one of my old time favorites. It doesn't follow conventional style of novel. it is a mixture of Kundera's philosophy and creativity. If you want to know what it means, you gotta read it. p.s. If you like it, you'll like "Immortality" by the same author.

Having watched this as a movie many years ago, I finally picked up the book. I enjoyed the first half and was able to focus on the story, and consider some of the more philosophical observations. Over time, though, Kundera's voice starts to ware away at the essence of the book, because he takes such a condescending view on his characters.

WOW! I was just online, randomly reading reviews of my novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, when I managed to stumble upon the secret that would change my life forever. (The many ways I could have missed it...!) Who knew, who knew? It is sheer genius that brings me to my knees. It makes my heart want to copulate with my soul in utter joy and astonishment. I never had imagined that the secret to good writing was simply, "Show don't tell"! Is that how Shakespeare does it? I guess my eighth-grade teacher back in Moravia, Mrs. Kvetka Drahokouplak, neglected to tell us that. Thank you so much!!!

Sincerely,

Milan Kundera

Absolutely fascinating book. Kundera's prose is unlike any other author's I have ever read. His psychological depth and pursuit of understanding the soul and relationships is absolutely breathtaking. Read it.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a truely incredible book, something that comes along once in a while. If you are able to get past the rude and crude every day world exhibited in this book, and look at it through a metaphorical level it offers us what we have all been looking for.

I thought this was a contrived attempt to wrap ideas round a story. It thus never develops any momentum.
And many of the ideas are oversimplified generalisations when you actually take a few minutes to reflect whether they are accurate or not.
On a positive note, it is a no-frills and, in my opinion, accurate description of the futility of most of the stuff which keeps our minds temporarily occupied in life.

"I've never thought about that" or "I've never thought about that in quite that way", is the best way that I can describe the overriding impression the Kundera's novel made on me. I won't attempt to describe the plot or the characters. Other reviewers have done a better job of that then I can, and besides, the plot and the characters are not exactly the point,as Kundera himself articulates throughout the novel. I will only say that even though The Unbearable Lightness of Being was published in 1984, it is eerily relavent in post 9/11 America. I found the author's description of kitsch, and particularly American kitsch, hauntingly appropriate given the hysterical flag flapping that followed 9/11, along with the pressure to support the political status quo and to never, never question their motivations .

The book is about love, sex, but not sex for the sake of titillation, politics, and being. Which is better, the lightness of freedom or the weight and substance of continuity and responsibility? Since we only have one life, we have no basis for comparison and so we will never know.

Most importantly this book will make you questions your assumptions, and perhaps, you too will look at lightness, weight and being in a new and different way.

I enjoyed this book a great deal. It was a requirement for a class and I thank God for higher education. This was my first book I had read by a foreign author. It was a heavy read, but I could relate to his struggles with reference to his female relationships. I was also enlightened on the history of the Czech Republic. I highly recommend this book to any scholar.

... and while I found the movie both fascinating, and amusing, (with Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche? forgetaboutit ...) the book is that and more.
I am not on par with the erudite reviews posted here, "The light and the heavy" and "The end of the grand march", but I can tell you why I like it.
In Kundera's writing, usually in some part of the narration about one of the characters, I meet myself, and invariably, someone I have known. This was my first meeting with Kundera, followed by _Laughter and Forgetting_. There are parts that I still re-read from time to time, for the peace that comes in knowing that the narrator understands each of us ...

Kundera is one of the greatest writers that I have ever come across. His books are beautifully written, touching, and bewildering. This book is also wonderful. I highly recommend that you read ALL his books.

Amazing mix of philosphy, extraordinary narrative and a little bit of history. The characters are so well delineated...each represents a very different way of viewing life without falling on stereotypes. This is a masterpiece everyone should read.

"The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is a masterpiece! A truly geniune work that must be a part of everyone's library. Thought-provoking, honest and real, it gives clarity and hope to every facet of life.

A decent book. Can get off course every now and again and I wasnt to fond of the ending. Overall it is a deep novel revealing more then just relationships. Hope this review helps I know those Rolling Stone wannabe's like to write essays instead of reviews to show how intellectual they think they are.

Excellent book, but the delivery was delayed by more than ten days! Don't go with this seller. Highly recommend other books by Milan Kundera too. They are all heavy reads, but always have something excellent to say.

Milan Kundera's book, The Unearable Lightness of Being was a great, light but heartfelt read. I am sure can all relate to Sabine's sittuation with Tomas and the feeling of being/ seeming wonderfull but never being 'the one'. Kundera's reading reminds me of Salinger and Kesey's works but is not as good.

to tell the truth, i didn't finish this book, so my review is limited to the hundred or so pages i did get through. i first heard of kundera's book from an instructor of mine in college. he, as well as others in the class, raved about the book, so i decided to check it out. but i just couldn't get through it. the characters did not capture me or make me feel any affinity towards them so that i would continue reading. and kundera's continuous interjections to contemplate philosophical issues disturbed the story's momentum. i suppose for those who enjoy philosophical inquiries and who have high levels of concentration and patience (i.e., lovers of zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance) this book is heavenly, but for those who can't endure 'authorial disturbances' (and characters as simply symbols) this book is a long and tedious experience.

I have never read a book that affected me more than this one. The relative style in which Kundera writes had me highlighting passages throughout the entire book just because I could say, WOW! that's so me. The story takes you on a fascinating journey through life; a roller-coaster ride you never want to get off of. Passionate, witty, emotional all in one. I am truly affected and SOOOO touched by this book. READ IT, ITS A MUST!

I just struggled to finish this book. I don't know what all the fuss is or maybe I just missed the point. I found the book to be very disjointed with only a vague story. I didn't feel that the characters' personalities were well developed. I can now say that I read it but for me it was a waste of time.

What can I say about the novel that created a new life in me?

Indeed, the greatest novel I've read so far...Kundera is a genius and this novel is simply a masterpiece.

I read it, and I wanted to laugh, cry and scream and smile, and I was overwhelmed by feelings I rarely felt before, and most importantly this novel made me think. It made me think in a whole new different way, and it opened my eyes to things I never noticed before...

This masterpiece deserves to be read!

I would stick a "weird" label on it. I cannot say I disliked it completely, but I think it is indeed odd book. A few episodes from life of 4 main chars of the book. All of them unfaithful and the writer sort of supports men's desire to sleep with as many women as he can, while he also shows how tolerant a wife can be if she loves her husband, even if his head has a smell of another's woman vagina. Sort of disgusting.

What was this book about?
Love?
Life?
Politics?
Philosophy?

...no idea, and the end is quite abrupt.

The only character that I really liked, was a dog, Karenin.

This book is incredibly uncompelling and dull. I felt the characters were weak and the story and philosophies disjointed. If you want to read a book where the plot is much more gracefully entwined with philosophy, read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence. This book was trying too hard to be pretentious...in fact, it was just boring. I don't mind pretentious books...if they are good. I was very excited to read this, as I never had, and found it to be a huge disappointment. Still can't get over how disjointed it was.

This is a masterpiece of cotemporary literature. This novel starts to make the way to the new stuff that we have not yet seen. Some people say that Kundera and Jung are the masters of cotemporary philosophy. I agree!

After a few recommendations and overheard remarks from people saying how wonderful this book was, how true, etc, although the recommendations did not inspire, they could not be ignored. I flipped through the book at a local bookstore and read a little bit and cringed, put the book away and bought something else. Then, as I left I noticed a pretty girl sitting in front of the store, indian style on the sidewalk, near the end of a book and I asked her what she was reading. Immortality, she said, by Milan Kundera. It was very good, worthy of a reread. So, in the spirit of the times I decided that might be interpreted by some as a sign, I might as well read Kundera.

Kundera begins the novel rather tediously, setting the tone for the next three hundred pages. He rather dryly and pedantically lays a mythological foundation to the novel, to which he constantly refers and elaborates. The "myth of eternal return", he begins discussing:

"The myth of eternal return states that a life which disappears once and for all, which does not return, is like a shadow, without weight, dead in advance, and whether it was horrible, beautiful, or sublime, its horror, sublimity, and beauty mean nothing. We need take no more note of it than of a war between two African kingdoms in the fourteenth century, a war that altered nothing in the destiny of the world, even if a hundred thousand blacks perished in excrutiating torment."

Then, he begins to invent, or derive notions of Lightness and Being from this myth, defining rather vaguely the duality of Lightness and weight, and their metaphysical interplay in the life of man. But this is not intended (I don't think) to be a sophmore's philosophy text on the meaning of love and the nature of life, a story then begins.

There are two main, unremarkable love stories in this novel, that of Tomas and Tereza and Franz and Sabina, Sabina being the mutual link, having an affair with both Tomas and Franz at different points in the novel. The narration of the novel is done in the first person, but by no character in the book. The story is told by a rather pedantic man, full of ideas, eager to talk about them, filtering the lives of the characters through these cobweb concepts, centering around his universals of Lightness and Heaviness, and Body and Soul and 'the duality of Sex and Love.'

There is little imagery in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Kundera is simply incapable of describing his characters. There is nearly no physical description at all and what little there is done clumsily, without depth. "She arrived the next evening, a handbag dangling from her shoulder, looking more elegant than before" is nearly the only physical description we have of Tereza. She's elegant. A novel is a universe, and the universe Kundera has created is full of "elegant", "tall" people, some that "wear glasses" and one has a "childish face." The book is done in black and white, with heavy contrast, little gray, lacking nearly any trace of color. We could be forgiven for thinking that Kundera was blind.

What's left is a heap of ideas about "reality" and what the idea of Love is to these generic characters. The novel cannot even be said to be a case study of particularly extraordinarily love affairs, or singular characters. The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a shallow story of a quartet of characters and how they stand in relation to the vaporous thoughts of a dull pedant.

This one was not as good as they say. It is a good literature book for people who love stephen king and michael crighton. But if you are looking for something more than an airplane read, look elsewhere. It is somewhat sensationalist and a bit hypocritical. It is enjoyable enough, but almost any other slavic writer is better than kundera.

This book is just plain awful. Avoid at all costs. Sweet 'n' low is less artificial than this book. I mean come on!! If you are gonna make up a story, at least use a little imagination and invention. *this is a story about absolutely nothing, with no subtext, no entertainment* Why do people praise this book? Probably the same people who go out and buy some tom waitts (another way overrated snake oil seller) cds cuz they heard he's cool. Kundera is about 75 (he's probably older - just lying about his age) so hopefully he'll kick the bucket soon, and not leave behind any manuscripts. How long will we let Kundera serve us a number two on toast and call it gourmet? Stop the madness!! This book bites.

I agree that this book is a boring read. It may aspire to a philosophical commentary, but as a novel, it fails to observe one of the cardinal rules of writing: show, don't tell. The author continually tells us what the character is thinking, what the impact is on the character or what something means to the character, instead of demonstrating it through the character's actions and dialogue.

The reader doesn't feel tension or anticipation when the characters are faced with difficult choices, or admiration when they take courageous action, because the author doesn't build any real sympathy for the characters. Even antipathy a reader might feel toward a character turns into rather disinterested disdain.

There is one way in which the author's writing puts the reader in the shoes of the characters. The reader feels the dulled senses of someone in depression. Not much in the way of peaks or valleys of emotion or energy. Just slogging through life and this book.

B-o-r-ing.

This book, poorly disguised as a novel, is in fact a collection of hodgepodge ideas and musings about premises postulated by certain philosophers. There are four main characters, but their only purpose is to serve as a binding element for, or a means of expression of, Kundera's thoughts on human existence, sex, love, and a great variety of random topics. He is an omnipresent narrator who constantly lets his presence known and interrupts the story with didactic passages, directly addressing the reader and throwing in high-sounding statements that mean absolutely nothing. The only aspect worth attention is his depiction of the Prague Spring and the persecution of intellectuals after the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, which is the time setting of this work.

Had this book been written by an unknown author, I'd not have made it past the first thirty pages. I found it unbearably pretentious, disjointed, and boring. It is exactly the kind of "discussion material" that you would mischievously slip to all those would-be intellectuals to contemplate in coffee houses, full of themselves because of their collective appreciation of this highbrow piece of writing, if you wanted to have a good laugh about what pompous fools they are making of themselves. Other than that, it is better to let the book gather dust on the shelf.

'68. "Socialism with a Human face." Sexual Liberation et. al. Pose straw men and women and shake their hands, then take them to bed, several times moreover, and in different combinations. Mmm just can't get enough of that plaid . . . Just heavy enough to discipline a cat with (not quite 1 lb) and just ontologically void enough to deflate your mind and defuse the imagination before you are able to (some 320 pgs, being 100 shy of 420 pages). This is the novel that defined a generation: that elected (x series of politicians), sexed up (insert anonymous free thinkers), toked up (x quanta of drug[s]). Now they tell you to shut up and rock the vote, Just say NO, Just say No and express yourself, but be sure to raise your hand first so you can wave that flag all the more higher. This is one of those books that make the eternal recurrence of the same that much heavier, beach reading during tsunami season, torchère for a mind on fire with rage. BUY NOW PAY LATER . . . Reading this book will make you more productive and in touch with the weltgeist and your inner child. What's that something of a salvo to broadside that thicket eh? Right through that protest in 19

i hated this book and quit reading it halfway through. it's been awhile but with all the glowing reviews i just had to throw this in. some people will NOT like it and will hate that they even wasted time trying.

if you're gonna write a book with a title like this, with this kind of poetic and enigmatic picture on the cover, don't you think you owe it to the reader to come up with a love story that has a magician, a kindly old homeless person and a lot of sex between good looking people? something like the Illusionist but without the heavy Austro-hungarian overtones. i was really hoping for a clever book with a bit of intrigue and a silvery little thread of love that no oppressive regime can extinguish.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is one of the great books of the last century. It's both a novel and a work of philosophy. The narrator presents his characters in action and then speculates on the meaning and motivation of said actions and characters, using metaphors and anecdotes drawn from literature and history. Sometimes the speculations seem like unrelated digressions, but eventually the narrator ties them into the story, and frequently the result is a startling revelation for the reader. There are many "a-ha!" moments in the book, and they are very rewarding. You would think that with all the philosophizing that the story would drag and even have a wooden, puppet-show feel. This is not the case. Tomas, Tereza, Sabina, Franz, and even Karenin the dog are "real" flesh-and-blood creatures--complex, fallible, contradictory, noble, weak, compassionate, etc--just like us. In the end, Kundera proves himself a great understander of the human condition, up there with Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Read this book carefully and patiently and you will leave it with a better understanding of people, relationships, and even society (for example, Kundera's thoughts on kitsch seem more timely today than when he first penned them). Highly recommended.

This book is set in a kind of limbo land with no real characters or even geographical references despite the plethora of city backdrops - Prague, Zurich, Geneva, New York etc. - and travels.

The characters are mere outlines and the author spends an inordinate amount of time describing their sex lives in a way that comes over as smutty rather than erotic, as the blurb claims.

There is none of the liveliness or black humor you often find in the writings of central and eastern European writers whose homelands have been subjected to the horrors of Nazism and Communism.

I feel it would have been better had the author written it as a short story rather than spinning it out over 300 pages.