The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Isis)

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Summary: Magnificent insight into the human nature
Review: A prolific attempt to identify what makes us need companionship in life so badly. Kundera explores psychology of his characters to an amazing depth, trying to understand the relationships between the conflicting desires that we possess and act upon. What makes a man leave the woman that he loves and is perfectly happy with and seek something intangible in arms of a mistress? Why does the same man sacrifice everything he has - freedom, social status, and his life's work - only to go back to the same woman he absolutely had to leave earlier? Is any kind of a permanent responsibility bound to eventually become a horrible "weight" - a burden pulling us to the ground? Is the absence of any responsibilities and ties in life really "light"? Could this absolute lightness turn into absolute emptiness and thus become unbearable at some point? Kundera brilliantly examines all these questions, and often comes up with mesmerizing insights of what being human is all about. Unbearable Lightness Of Being is fabulously humane and kind, showing how vulnerable we are, and how miserable we can be made by our contradictory desires and aspirations. I am convinced that anyone who reads deep enough into this novel will be shocked many a times, and will incredulously mutter: "Oh, my God! Kundera is talking about me!"

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Summary: right brain or left brain
Review: 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.

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Summary: Cynicism is an awful disease
Review: This novel has a sickening cynicism that is hard to take. I like the film much better. This doesn't mean that I like my reality lite. I just think that cynicism harms the world. The film is no walk in the park, mind you. It is painful, powerful, and passionate. And it gives you a lot more to like than the novel does. I don't know why this novel is thought to be a masterpiece, but I'm glad the screenwriters of the film thought it was, because I love that version of the story. The novel is repetitive and its narrative style is somewhat pretentious, too. Way too much Kundera coming through.

Rating:
Summary: Top five
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Positive Weight
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A life-enhancing novel
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: Deeply Moving
Review: A great book, sad and moving. A story about men, women and the differences among them.

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant masterpiece!
Review: This is the kind of novel that changes your life. For anyone who appreciates the brilliance of the writings of Kafka or Havel, this is a must read. The book's primary theme is that of lightness versus heaviness. Lightness is casted negatively by Kundera, and rightly so. A great read due to its message and unconventional style. Kundera is a master of the written word.

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Summary: Kundera's "Lightness" is Hopeless
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: No Meta for Milan
Review: 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.