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Summary: "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" rings eternal
Review: I find myself writing this review at 1:32 AM, and on my second reading of "Unbearable..." (page 169). I am struck with wonder at the insights with which Mr Kundera paints the canvas. How can a person possibly capture the essence of life in a book, for gawd's sake?My second reading, yes. The first time through, I was nostalgic of my ex. And even the second time through I am haunted by him. But this second go-round is inspired not by M., but by my curiosity for finding the truths which evade me in my life. Oh my, one has to take a stern look inside themselves to find what they want. But even easier: read "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and one will see the truths of life with great clarity and resonance. I read this book because I find myself unhappy. Reading the book, alas!, makes me happy. Whichever way this statement is impressed upon you, dear reader, think that there is a real person who says this with Feelings. You cannot do away with the characters in "Unbearable" so easily as you want to do away with this me, or at least, this mundane review. Take my word...? Es muss sein!
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Summary: THE BEST of Kundera
Review: After reading this book, one is likely to find any other Kundera novel disappointing. "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is Kundera at his best - an EXCELLENT novel.
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Summary: life is light but the lightness is unbearable
Review: 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.
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Summary: one of my favorites - ever
Review: I always seem to come back to this book during pivotal times in my life. For me, it's like checking in with an old friend, the richness of whose commentary inspires you to reach deep inside yourself. I see a little of myself in each of these characters. I am also fascinated with Prague and especially what was going on there in the late sixties. I have read this book many times and each time come away with something different. It has captured the most accessable and sacred space on my bookshelf.
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Summary: On the border between greatness and kitsch
Review: This can be a great book or a horrible book, depending mainly on your mood. The highly structured and sophisticated narrative may seem either an ultimate expression of harmony and literary mastery or contrived, artificial and overblown. The long metaphysic trips may seem insightful and cultured or dull and pretentious. And so on... I know I have experienced both kinds of feelings, especially positive ones in the first half of the book and negative ones toward the end. Overall, it is nevertheless a remarkable book. If you like Italo Calvino and Hermann Hesse you will love this book because it perfectly blends the (different) styles of the two.
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Summary: Unbearable is right!
Review: Am I the only reader who found this book contrived, soulless, meandering, egotistical and overrated?
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Summary: A book that will shock you with its beauty
Review: By far the most beautiful book I have ever read. Kundera writes with a simple passion that grips with imagination and heart. This book will leave you with the lightness and emptiness of Franz in Thailand and the great weight of Kundera's thought provocing words. This book will haunt you for the rest of your life.
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Summary: An amazingly simple look at life
Review: Milan Kundera takes the reader from the real to the surreal with such elegance that the characters become a part of you. Life's trivialities and complexities are meshed into an erotic and funny, yet absolutely philosophical story. Kundera's ability to make the reader become the writer, the character, and then the reader again leaves no choice but to fall in love with the book
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Summary: One of the most amazing books I've read, a true masterpiece
Review: This was my first book by Kundera, but it made me re-evaluate every other book I had read before it. MK blends ideas, themes, and narrative with incredible skill and brings to the reader incredible insights and observations on existence itself. I felt as though he had read my mind and expressed things which often seem inexpressible. Yet for a book of such breadth and depth, it is incredibly easy to read, it carries the reader along. Brilliant
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Summary: Ever been caught in real life?
Review: This is a book about the complexities of life and love in the turmoil of the Prague Spring (Russian takeover of Cszekoslovakia)....
Tomas is a succesfull doctor who has an innate ability for conquering women, and a love of the subtleties of each woman he conquers....
Sabina, one of Tomas' lovers, is a very sensual artist, obsessed with an old hat that her father left her....
Teresa, Tomas' wife, is a small town girl, obsessed by Tomas' need to look for love and sex in the arms of other women....
Together they form a triangle that shapes their lives and actions throughout the Russian occupation...
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