Rating: 
Summary: a glimpse
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful...to be read eternally.
Review: 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.)
Rating:
Summary: A great reading experience.
Review: To me the main theme of this book is responsibility, those who accept it and endure the consequences, and those who attempt to avoid it. Tomas and Sabina at the start of the novel represent the lightness of non-commitment and irresponsibilty, Tereza on the other hand is burdened by and committed to her love for Tomas. As the novel unfolds Tomas is forced to make decisions which eventually weigh him down and cost him both his postion as a doctor and his free-spirited life style. Kundera uses the theme of responsibilty to not only highlight moral issues in personal relationships but also the consequences of expressing one's opinions publicly(in this case in communist Czechoslovakia of the 1960's).
Kundera structures the novel around a Beethoven quartet, using the four characters Tomas, Tereza, Sabina and another, Franz, to represent different motifs or themes. Unlike other writers whose experiments with structure often interfere with the telling of the story, Kundera's choice of format does not. This seems odd when you consider that Kundera purposely brings attention to the structure of his book and even provides a account by the author himself during the story about his experience in putting together the novel. Thus Kundera's book like many postmodern works is both experimental and metafictional, but yet flows with a natural grace that makes the reading of the novel an enjoyable, accessible and intelligent experience in the tradition of all great storytelling.One aspect of the book I found particularly interesting was the way Kundera counterpoints the harsh rule of a communist state with the eroticism of his characters. As we follow Tomas through his life as a womanizing surgeon to a one-woman-only polictical outcast we are able to view the changes that take place in both his private and public lives and draw connections between the two. We're also able to view the affect of Sabina's life of betrayal, the burden of Tereza's steadfast love, and the complications of Franz's marraige and infidelities all through an examination of the characters' sex lives and their relationship to the state. The Unbearable Lightness of Being introduced me to the work of Milan Kundera after which I went on to read some of his other books. None, however, influenced me and entertained me as much as this one. There are many reasons why we like one particular author over another some of which are easy to articulate and some not. For me Kundera's prose, his tone, his thinking, his subjects, all of these I found attractive. This is one of the most beautiful books I've read and it provided me with many different insights into life and at the same time was a joy to read. You can't do much better than that.
Rating: 
Summary: Show not tell
Review: It took me a long time to read this book, even though I essentially read it in two sittings. I think that Milan Kundera is an insightful author, and there were several times where I paused and compared the events in the story with my own experiences. However, my main stumbling block was the heaviness of Kundera's writing. I do sometimes like books that explore grand themes, like The Plague by Camus. The problem with Lightness is that none of the exploration seems to take place outside of internal monologue. To be fair, now that I think of it Lightness is probably more like Nausea by Sartre (a tough read but ultimately rewarding) than The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. However, while reading Lightness I felt like I was being preached to by the author, rather than reading a narrative of the experiences of several characters. I'm not even sure exactly what Kundera's agenda is (although he certainly prizes hedonistic individualism over conformity and conservatism). To plagarize a friend of mine, the experiences of the characters should have a meaning that is ambiguous, that allows the reader to glean meaning within the context of their own feelings and experiences. Lightness at times imposes a burden on the reader of being cornered into an interpretation of descriptive events by its author.
Rating:
Summary: Lightness and Weight
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Kundera: "Es Muss Sein!" Me: Not Like This, It Doesn't."
Review: This is a largely problematic novel, from the title on down. The heaviest burden, as Nietzsche observed and Kundera reiterates here, is that our lives may live themselves out over and over again, an infinite number of times. Thus, if our lives are lived out only once, they are a light burden. The unbearable lightness of being, then, comes when we realize that we don't have infinite choices or infinite paths to go down, but in fact have one life down one path. I was looking forward to Kundera further examining this point, in the context of a fictional narrative. He does, but in such a way that subverts this central thesis. The novel's structure, ostensibly one of its strong points, is to blame. We see events repeated over and over, from different temporal locations, and from different points of view. It's as if lives are repeating all over this place. Kundera labels this 'eternal return', which sounds like the concept of Buddhist reincarnation, only without ever reaching Nirvana. Or, to put it in more secular terms, it's Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day", only instead of one day repeating, it's a whole life done over and over again. Thus, that realization that is so central to the novel's themes (and title) is made moot. I'll give Kundera a bit of the benefit of the doubt, for maybe he was intentionally subverting his own themes (an interesting conceit). It just wasn't explicit, or nearly effective enough. And this structure, while providing interesting thematic questions, at times clouded the forward momentum of the narrative. We learn early on of a character's death that will happen later on in the story. However, we never see that character die. Kundera promises a payoff (the emotional / visceral death scene), but never delivers it. This happened several times and was awfully frustrating. I did enjoy his brief flirtations with post-modern self-reflexivity (i.e., the novel's concern with its own status as a novel). A discussion about "Anna Karenina" feeling fictional and novelistic functions as Kundera subverting his own readers' protests that this novel is too novelistic. But this technique was used too excessively. Kundera, constantly intruding on the narrative asking me to forgive him for intruding on the narrative, while an intriguing concept, smacked of wanting to have his cake and eat it too. What makes this novel so paradoxical is that many of the things I liked about it, caused me to dislike other things. A section detailing the four ways people want to be looked at was quite good. It's a theory that I fully believe in, one that shapes personality, choice, attitudes, morals, ethics, etc. However, it points to Kundera's failure at creating characters based on their own actions and attitudes. His constant interruptions, usually to tell the reader what and how to think about a particular scene or character, intruded on the story. "Show" me, don't "tell" me. As for the quality of the prose, Kundera can be a chunky, cliched, melodramatic writer: "In death, [Name withheld so as not to spoil] at last belonged to his [again, withheld]. He belonged to her as HE HAD NEVER BELONGED TO HER BEFORE." [caps are mine] I hope, through the prison bars that are my square brackets, you can see how afternoon-soap-opera that sentence is. The only way it becomes more offensive is if you read it with a clenched fist and a single tear running down your face. And it's just one of many trite sentences sprinkled throughout the book. Kundera talks a lot about poetry, but his prose can be quite impotent One character's ideas are said to be "dangerous and [they] distanced her from the rest of mankind". Well, no they aren't. Or rather, they are, but only because she, and the shallow group of people she spends time with, believe that they are. Kundera's characters are self-destructive naval gazers. They pay lip service to the dangers of the Russian occupancy, but are really more concerned with the Big Ideas blasting around inside their Important Heads. The last chapter, the content of which I am loath to give away, concludes the novel fittingly. It made me groan, it annoyed me, it caused me to curse under my breath at the amount of time I had wasted reading this book. I'm willing to concede that many of the problems detailed could have been the fault of the translator. Maybe "Nesnesitelna Lehkost Byti" is a better book than "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". Thus, I can't be as harsh as I'd like to be. Still, the reading of this book was not a pleasurable experience. Hardly bearable, I'd say.
Rating:
Summary: not a favourite but not a waste of time
Review: I endeavoured to read this book in a vain attempt to look clever. Didn't work! You do actually have to be clever....no honestly, this book is confusing in parts but the character development of tomas and tereza was the key to this book being the enjoyment it was. I loved relishing in the cruelty Tomas inflicted on women, it was a revelation into the mind of manipulative men. Tereza bothered me as she seemed spineless but in retrospect i see the love she had for him and the insecurities in her own mind made her tomas' slave for love. Brilliantly written, poorly understood, although i wouldn't class this subject as everyday thinking material, one would most likely go insane!
Rating:
Summary: Love, recent history, philosophy
Review: This book is an unexpected love story, a philosophical essay and an account of dark and turbulent historical times. The events and consequences of the Prague's Spring gentle revolution are seen through a very personal drama. This masterful and poignant account gives out the author to be a real-life victim of communism and occupation. Written as a two-sided love story narrative, the book really conveys successfully only the male point of view and the male (mis-)understanding of the female sensitivities and insecurities. Tomas is the true and only protagonist; the attempt to describe what drives Tereza to Tomas and the imperfection of their union is somewhat tainted by a macho viewpoint. Same of the authors points are expremely overworked and appear again and again throughout the book.
Enjoy this masterful depiction of heaviness (difficult love, communism, occupation, exile) through light (will and hopefullness of main characters).
Rating:
Summary: I go backto this book every few years
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: The Unbearable Dullness of Reading
Review: This was a dull and very unimpressive book. Maybe I just don't appreciate high-art and metaphysical intrigue, but if you're like me and hate reading about existential crises and post-modernist ramblings for fun, then skip this one for your own good. If you're one of those people who can't appreciate Picasso's Cubist paintings, you'll be just as frustrated with this book. Plus underneath it all, it's just another harlequin romance (about a woman trying to find her ideal lover). If you really want to get your brains going in circles without all the pretentiousness, try Sartre's Nausea or Camus's Stranger.
|
