The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel | 
|  | | | Title: | The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel | | Author: | Milan Kundera | | Publisher: | Harper Perennial | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 01 October, 2008 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0061686697 / 9780061686696 | | List Price: | $10.00 | | You Save: | $2.00 | | Amazon Price: | $8.00 | |
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Product Description
A young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing; one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover -- these are the two couples whose story is told in this masterful novel. In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence, we feel "the unbearable lightness of being" not only as the consequence of our pristine actions but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.
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Customer Reviews:
• Unbearably True 04 January, 2009
Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being is a light masterpiece, encapsulating the philosophy of a writer who happened to be Czech, happened to live under a repressive regime, and chose to make the best of his life, realizing the futility of wondering "what if."
This is a book of ideas, though I cannot comment on its stylistic merit given my ignorance of Czech. It is not primarily a book of political protest. Rather, it is a philosophical flirtation with the possibility of finding meaning and dignity in one individual life. Tomas's philandering is (or so the author seems to argue) merely an attempt to find some "weight" in the peculiarities that separate one woman from another, supposedly only released during orgasmic ecstasy.
His wife, Teresa, relegated to the role of a docile "love" whose bed Tomas sleeps in after repeatedly two-timing her, is the knowing and passive victim of his affections. Kundera's metaphysical wandering sometimes covers what on the surface is little more than one man's rationale for cheating. Under cover of intellectual investigation and existential suffocation, Tomas uses what freedom is given him to compensate for personal dissatisfaction using easy sexual conquest.
Though Teresa does experience an epiphany toward the end, she still seems to be emotionally indentured to Tomas. But that's the price of allegory and books of ideas, I suppose.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A29SHFBU5O9BWO
• Returned It To Barnes & Noble 07 January, 2009
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.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3C38Y3UCPZ8U
• The Portal To A Plethora Of Enjoyable Fiction 08 January, 2009
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.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A16C008ZICD9Q3
• Good Title 03 January, 2009
this is not the best kundera book I have read. I preferred his "Immortality" which to me is a much deeper and challenging book. However, a Kundera book is always a gift and a challenge.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2I1E4I3UAPO9X
• Odd 07 January, 2009
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.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3VOM0SWPKFO6H
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