Rating: 
Summary: The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Review: I found this book discouraging and a difficult read in the way that it rambles on and so its hard to get into. Its a book about the decisions we make in life and what causes us to make those decisions. Its about how we could change are decision if we had the power to go back in time. The novel focus's on the idea of eternal return - it focus's on the lives of 4 characters and how their lives revolve around each other and sex. Throughout the novel Kundera is continually questioning himself. He asks questions such as: which is better light/darkness, fineness/coarseness, warmth/cold, being/nonbeing all questions brought up by the Greek philosopher Parmedides. But Kundera focus's mainly on the question of: lightness/weight. In a way he tries to disprove Parmenides's theory that lightness is positive and weight is negative. Kundera corresponds his characters to either lightness or weight and by doing so explains how everyone is different. It's a sort of chinese, ying-yang, point of view of looking at life. Philosophically you can say that this book is addressing matters, that haven't been addressed before in such an outright manner, in a very new and intelligent way. But if you really think about it you realise that the author is getting a bit to carried away. Especially with sex. It seems to be the author's point of view that the only thing that is certain in life is sex. Sex is basically what the characters do throughout the novel. They try to figure things out, make decisions, etc. all with the idea of sex in their minds. Basically what Kundera says in his novel is that if someone is too light then the weight of the bed will bring them down. Quite frankly I don't believe that sex is everything in life - although it does play a major role - I think that people can depend on other things even if they aren't as enjoyable as sex. Finishing off: This book is also very depressing. Some characters are narrow minded and all characters are too philosophical - most people just don't think in that way - thats why I say that this book is depressing and makes us simple people feel wothless in a way. It gives a negative view on life but at the same time opens our eyes and makes us realise that everyone is different and that everyone is worth something. I also think this is a well written book and that Kundera's view should be taken into perspective. I recommend this book because it's good to know what other people think and what other people's outlook on life is. I don't recommend this book because as I said before it can be very depressing and quite frankly by the time I had finished it I was feeling very dismal. I didn't enjoy it. It's your choice - weigh out the pros and cons.
Rating: 
Summary: An outstanding, challenging read...
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Kundera's genius
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: What's the hype about infidelity?
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: ok
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: doesn't deserve its reputation
Review: This book is more of a philosophical prose poem than a real novel - the characters are simply embodiments of various attitudes and have little depth. The story itself is disjointed, jumping from the sexual relationships of four main characters at the core of the plot, to unrelated essays on politics, the psychology of kitsch, and other vaguely philosophical topics. The only really redeeming moments come from the intricate and fascinating depiction of the "Prague Spring" of which Kundera was a part. But with this book Kundera is one of those intellectuals who props up his light-weight curiosities with weighty metaphors and a pompous academic tone. Kundera's intellectual meanderings leap over logical chasms with a single "therefore" or "it follows that" with little reason for us to follow him. He demands too much from an idea based on a single metaphor. For example, at the very beginning of the book he confidently asserts "In the love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighted down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment." It sounds profound until you actually think about it. Kundera exaggerates the weight of a man's body during sex into the "heaviest of burdens" - links it with a "therefore" - and makes that sexual weight into "life's most intense fulfillment." This is supposed to illustrate how weight, which is often taken to be a negative thing, can also be positive, but it's a very slipshod connection. These kinds of rhetorical games, combined with recurrent references to Nietzsche and Beethoven, create an intellectual facade that seems much weightier than it really is. Built on many false presumptions and bolstered by an epic, scholarly tone, the novel is interesting in its musings, but should not be taken too seriously as a work of philosophical or psychological depth. All in all, I feel that "Unbearable" can be an interesting diversion if you want to know Milan Kundera's opinions about sex and society, but it's ultimately rather irrelevant and not deserving of its reputation.
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Summary: Lightness instead of Heviness
Review: Why does the title of this book focus on "Lightness"? Milan Kundera says that there are things people usuaslly regard as "heavy", which are burdensome. However, isn't "Being" one of the heavest? Especially to the characters such as Tomas and Tereza? It must be true that "Being" or "Living" is a burden regardless of the happiness or pleasure from itself. But Kundera definitely expresses it in his own way, "Light." Sabina is the one whose life is a light burden that she never puts down anywhere. Like a snail, she drags her shell of "Being" wherever she wants, whereas Tereza's "Being" is dragged by Tomas. To Tomas, Tereaza herself is the heavest burden but at the same time it exists as "hope" of his that he is never able to abandon till the end of his "Being." In the last half, Tomas decides to leave the city for the countryside and live with Tereza under the name of "husband." He quits his job of doctor in which he once put all his effort and faith and becomes a window-cleaner with much comfort in his mind. Although it seems to Tereza that she is guilty for ruining his life, it turned out differently. The "Being" of Tereza was love, salvation, and "The unbearable lightness of Being" to Tomas. We can surely derive this from the very last scene of the book when Tereza dresses herself in the most beautiful clothes only for the one person, her husband Tomas, he says that he doesn't regret having moved to the coutryside and being with her and that the part of his life is the best and happiest moment of the whole life. Sometimes it is easy to ignore "lightness" of some things or people. On one hand, something light fades or flies away so fast that we no longer need to consider it important. On the other hand, what we consider "heavy" is not always necessarily vital to our "Being" in that it gives you so much pressure and suffocate yourself. I read this book recently and even skipped two meals concentrating on reading. We don't have to be "Tomas," "Tereza," "Sabina," or "Franz" because we already have the mixed characters inside. Time to time, we tend to become one of them but what is important is that no one's being, actually, in the book was really heavy at the end. Heaviness is not the same factor with "Burden" in our "Being." Moreover we should focus on the writer's omniscient view and his comments on love or goodwill. This book is recommendable to everone who has ever thought about philosophy of life.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Yeah, maybe...But
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A Novel of Great Literary Prowess
Review: This Milan Kundera novel is easily one of the very best novels I have ever read. And even more amazingly, I only bought this book on a whim, even without knowing anything about Kundera. First of all, I love how this novel is set in Prague at times. Who wouldn't use Kafka's hometown as a literary staple? What Also, this is one of the most philosophical books I have read, even without being purposely pretentious as most intellectual writers tend to do. Who can pass up a book that makes many allusions to Nietzsche, Beethoven,Kafka, Stalin, and Oedipus? Another thing: the characters are "unbearably" real. Many authors would [love] to have this sense of personality in his creations. Anyway, enough of my ranting, buy this book now. You won't regret it a bit.
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