The Unbearable Lightness of Being: 'A dark and brilliant achievement' (Ian McEwan) Paperback – 21 Aug. 2000

Excellent insight into human condition explored with polyamory, communism, war, career and religion as backdrop. Well translated too. Will read again

There are some really touching bits within this book which illustrate the beauty of life and its attachments to other humans and animals (such as Karenin and Tereza's storyline) and also it makes some very pertinent observations and reflections of human relationships. However, I also felt that this is a book which tries to paint itself as intellectual but when you pulled back the veneer it was really a lot of words to make some quite simple points. It was a thought-provoking read, it's definitely not a book that you can sit and read in long stints as you need to think about what's being said and at times it felt a little hard-going.The book made some really interesting points with regards to adult relationships and human life in general, where the book excelled was in it's observations of human action and connection such as;* Compassion being likened to being an emotional telepathy.* The description of characters in books being an extension of the author which goes beyond the realm of the 'I'' (that which they cannot or don't wish to express in real life).* Vertigo as the human desire to destroy everything and leave yourself with nothing (lightness).* Love as an accumulation of chance coincidences with two possible viewpoints - choosing to see the coincidences as just that or adding meaning to them because we want them to exist and in doing so we are choosing to see the beauty of the world.Whilst reading I felt the book tried to take the complex matter of human relationships and reduce it down to neat boxes of the separate ways that men and women think and feel but upon trying to write this review it is possible to see that there was a lot of complexity in the writing. On the surface the book presents men and women as stereotypes; women as subservient and on a quest for deeper meaning and heavy love (heaviness) and men as philanderers who want as little emotional connection as possible (lightness). This can be seen with Tereza where she looked to Tomas to give her meaning and soul and wanted him to treat her as more than just a body, and Tomas in return treated her as a body the same as all the other women he slept with. However if you look a bit further more reflections can be made - is the story of Tereza and Tomas the tale of two people ultimately unsuitable for each other who stay together for no obvious reason? Tomas made Tereza feel weak through his repeated cheating but felt he couldn't leave her because he was the one who had made her feel weak, in turn Tereza felt insecure and needed Tomas to continually prove his love to her, which he did but in turn it made him feel weak. Or is this a story of the depth and lightness that flows through all relationships? Some people seek meaning and heaviness through reliance, gestures and words whereas others seek a sense of ease, comfortableness and independence.I enjoyed the discussion and exploration of human relationships and emotions but I felt the sections attempting to link politics to the plotlines were too much of a juxtaposition and took away from the flow of the book although I do understand why this plotline was included as it allowed for additional observations around politics and human action to be put forward. This narrative allowed for conveying the point that all humans are more similar than we are different and the tiny differences between us being what makes us who we are and additionally it allowed for some interesting observations around the importance of integrity and staying true to yourself and also the belief that lacking knowledge and blindly following instructions without knowing the implications or consequences is no excuse.On a total side note I have found a fair bit of humour in the contrast between description of 'Kitsch' within this book being the ideal that we force upon something/what we want it to be rather than what it actually is and the way it is currently used by many businesses in modern life to describe things.Highly recommended as thoughtful read, it's one of those books that I wish I could sit and discuss with someone to find out what they took from reading it.

This book is a must read. I came across it during my uni days and fell in love with it instantly. It is very poignant, emotive; and written in both a stunning and poetic way. I first had in on my ipad but that has since disintegrated - as apple products tend to so I had to get a physical copy. Which by the way, is as good as new.Bracing myself for a second read as the first time I read it (albeit not to the end) it made me cry!

I have very mixed feelings about this book.Overall, this book has strong ratings on Goodreads but it seems to be a love it or loath it affair.Me, I think I liked it or loathed it at different times whilst reading it.The good stuff: it's easy to read, there are times when the philosophical musings hit home and the final part of the book is heart-breakingly effective.However, it is also meandering with no set structure, flitting about all over the place. Some of its philosophical musings are either nonsensical or confused. Worst of all, I can take the misogynistic main character Tomaz but not the fact that Kumdera seems so sympathetic to him, he even seems to suggest the character is autobiographical and that I cannot stomach.Overall, a mixed bag for me but I think I enjoyed it some of the time.

I was just going through old Amazon order hsitory and this was a book I read back in 2007, but just wanted to write a review as when going through 20 years of book orders it's one of the ones that really stood out the most. A bit strange as it's in many ways a simple story at its core, but with so much imbedded within it, and told so beautifully and with such emotion. Would highly recommend.

Saw the movie many years ago and decided to revisit the book was not disappointed at all. The book is all about what is lacking in today's paperbacks.

In this interesting but confusing book, Milan Kundera mixes too many themes and genres, including1 A passing but devastating account of the 1968 Russian occupation of Czechoslovakia, now Czechia, the repressive nature of the Soviet Union, the compliance of its newly recruited agents, the pervasive reach of its regime, communism’s distortion of human life, including in Vietnam.2 Sprinklings of philosophy which are stated unargued and unexamined. The vast array of philosophers Kundera cites deserve more than walk-on parts. Kundera seems to focus on the transience of life, which he too easily assumes translates into its insignificance.3 His characters are obsessed with sex. Although in the English translation, sex is rendered as ‘making love’, Kundera in fact marginalises the metaphysic of love within the physicality of sex. Sex appears rather as irresistible mechanical urge, obsession, dominance, control, weaponised by threat of exposure. A skilled surgeon, an intellectual academic, an artist, are all driven by their sex urge. This is not a holistic account of humanity, either ethically, or empirically.Kundera writes well, so a deeper treatment of any of these themes might prove more satisfying.

Some books change your mind, some change your heart, the very best change your whole world. This is beautiful, lyrical, comedic, sensual, and highly memorable. Much has been written about this, perhaps Kundera's masterpiece, and all of it justifiable. A mighty piece of work, that will shape your life for ever more.