In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera tells the story of a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing and one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover. This magnificent novel juxtaposes geographically distant places; brilliant and playful reflections; and a variety of styles to take its place as perhaps the major achievement of one of the world’s truly great writers.
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"Brilliant . . . A work of high modernist playfulness and deep pathos." -- -- Janet Malcolm, New York Review of Books
"Kundera has raised the novel of ideas to a new level of dreamlike lyricism and emotional intensity." -- -- Jim Miller, Newsweek
"Kundera is a virtuoso . . . A work of the boldest mastery, originality, and richness." -- -- Elizabeth Hardwick, Vanity Fair
"Kundera has raised the novel of ideas to a new level of dreamlike lyricism and emotional intensity." -- -- Jim Miller, Newsweek
"Kundera is a virtuoso . . . A work of the boldest mastery, originality, and richness." -- -- Elizabeth Hardwick, Vanity Fair
"Brilliant...A work of high modernist playfulness and deep pathos." -- Janet Malcolm, New York Review of Books
"Kundera has raised the novel of ideas to a new level of dreamlike lyricism and emotional intensity." -- Jin Miller, Newsweek
"Kundera is a virtuoso...A work of the boldest mastery, originality, and richness." -- Elizabeth Hardwick, Vanity Fair --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Language Notes
Text: English, Czech (translation)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
“ This is the only book I read 3 times, and I think I'll read it again... It really cheered me up when I was wondering in my life, and I like a lot the story. ”
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
213 of 227 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is either a book of philosophy masquerading as a novel, or a novel about the lives of four or five characters with pretensions to be a book of philosophy. Either way, it's an amazing work. Since it is well-known and no doubt, well-reviewed, I might not be able to say anything new here. Kundera deals with his characters in a rather sketchy way, using them to pose a number of questions, rather than to go into great psychological depth. Yet, even there, the characters Tomas and Tereza do come through well. Their moods and motivations, even their dreams, hold a reader's attention. A couple of the others, Sabina and Franz, maybe Franz' wife, are very light indeed. Kundera is interested in sex and love, in the fact that they tie people down, in the fact that they are so fickle, so gosssamer light, yet so important. In a time when ideology and/or political oppression create craziness or stupidity and the common sense of daily life is overthrown---as in post-1968 Czechoslovakia and maybe pre-Gulf War II America---love and sex are more or less what is left for people to hang on to. Kundera also ponders the choices that people make, and the extremely haphazard way these choices come about, based perhaps on endless strings of coincidence.
This is not a novel long on plot. Rather it is a vehicle for some very intelligent musings. When living under oppressive rulers "is it better to shout and thereby hasten the end, or to keep silent and gain thereby a slower death ?" What is the nature of love ? Have you ever read the philosophy of excrement or kitsch ? You can find them here. Man is a cow parasite, he tells us, (though he's probably talking about a certain percent of humanity only) and goes on to say that attitude towards animals is a fundamental moral test of Man. We've failed.
... Read more ›55 of 58 people found the following review helpful
By Eddy
Format:Paperback
This novel represents the pinnacle of the career of a very talented and relevant writer. Kundera is a writer who can mix philosophy with satire, and humour with very accurate social observations.
In 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' Kundera tries to determine whether our actions on this earth have significance and therefore weight, or whether our actions have no ramifications and are therefore light and are dead in advance. The question he deems more important however, is which of these two situations is preferrable. Should we attach importance and weight to our actions, or should we live a life without consequence, doing whatever we want, whenever we want and to whomever we want.
Thomas' life is the perfect example of a life lived without weight. He slips from one affair to another without a second thought because he cannot stand the 'ball and chain' effect of staying with one woman. There are those who would see Tomas as a callous womaniser, but for Kundera he is the perfect tool with which to demonstrate the "lighter" way of living. The doctrine of "Einmal ist keinmal" is one that torments Tomas. The idea that a life lived once may as well have never been lived at all, and he will not get to return to test his love for Tereza against his love for other women. Although Tomas feels restricted by this situation, he ultimately grows to accept and even enjoy the lightness of being.
While Tomas battles with lightness, Tereza battles with weight. She is worn down and frustrated by Tomas' philandering, and of the two she is the one who is much more in need of embracing lightness. Through the events of the story and the shifting attitudes and conceptions of the characters, both of them end up coming to the same conclusion with respect to lightness and weight.... Read more ›
In 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' Kundera tries to determine whether our actions on this earth have significance and therefore weight, or whether our actions have no ramifications and are therefore light and are dead in advance. The question he deems more important however, is which of these two situations is preferrable. Should we attach importance and weight to our actions, or should we live a life without consequence, doing whatever we want, whenever we want and to whomever we want.
Thomas' life is the perfect example of a life lived without weight. He slips from one affair to another without a second thought because he cannot stand the 'ball and chain' effect of staying with one woman. There are those who would see Tomas as a callous womaniser, but for Kundera he is the perfect tool with which to demonstrate the "lighter" way of living. The doctrine of "Einmal ist keinmal" is one that torments Tomas. The idea that a life lived once may as well have never been lived at all, and he will not get to return to test his love for Tereza against his love for other women. Although Tomas feels restricted by this situation, he ultimately grows to accept and even enjoy the lightness of being.
While Tomas battles with lightness, Tereza battles with weight. She is worn down and frustrated by Tomas' philandering, and of the two she is the one who is much more in need of embracing lightness. Through the events of the story and the shifting attitudes and conceptions of the characters, both of them end up coming to the same conclusion with respect to lightness and weight.... Read more ›
62 of 67 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The world of Milan Kundera's writing is a special place. Long an admirer of his "Book of Laughter and Forgetting," I only recently sat back and read this marvelous novel of love and obsession, lust and oppression. "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is primarily the tale of a Prague physician, Tomas, who escapes with his wife Tereza to Zurich after the Russian tanks roll over their country in 1968. When his infidelities drive her to leave him and return to Prague he follows her, knowing there will be no other chance to escape Communism. An editorial Tomas has published in an anti-Communist newspaper loses him his license to practice medicine and he soon becomes a window washer. Much to his surprise he's happier for a while in a job he doesn't have to think about ("it's a terrific relief to realize you're free, free of all missions"). Meanwhile, Tereza continues to play the martyr as his philandering increases. The reader is left to wonder whether it is weakness or strength that keeps them together, and how much the lack of political freedom affects the way men and women love each other. Kundera's narrator explores these and other vital questions of being, sometimes with gentle prodding, and others with sudden incisiveness.
Writtten in 1984, five years before the Velvet Revolution would draw back the Iron Curtain from Kundera's Czech homeland, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is both a product of its era and a timeless work of art. It makes us wonder whether life is difficult because it is heavy, or because the fleetingness of it makes us too light to really make a mark. This novel of heavy concepts is written with such a light touch that the mark it makes cannot be denied.
... Read more ›Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
I know Kundera won a Pulitzer Prize for this, but I found it alternately thought-provoking and yet quite pompous in his depiction and interpretation of the main character's view of... Read more
Published 26 days ago by Joyce Hislop
1.0 out of 5 stars
Tricked out surface intellect. It's an attempt to try innovation...
This is not a true novel. It is a series of sketches held together by an artsy style that misses the mark.
Published 1 month ago by Charles H. King
5.0 out of 5 stars
Camus meets Dostoevsky (in Prague)
Looking through some of the negative comments, I couldn't help but be shocked. Someone wrote "it's more of a philosophical prose poem" and another, "I've read his ideas in Plato,... Read more
Published 1 month ago by K. Bond.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Book came as described. I would highly recommend this book to people. It shows a side of love that many might never experience.
Published 3 months ago by ryan mckee
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exceptional
This novel reads like a modern Dostoevsky novel, but better. It explores the lives and minds of not only the characters, but what is created and lost within the interaction of... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Brandon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excelente
Gracias, el libro llegue en perfecto estado y a tiempo . El servicio es excelente muchas gracias. Espero seguir comprando.
Published 4 months ago by MBM
2.0 out of 5 stars
This Emperor has no clothes
I am a Philosophy graduate, and was excited to finally start reading this book, celebrated for its great philosophical insights. What a disappointment! Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ferdino
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely...
I see that the 'bad reviews' say that this is a book for those who are not well-versed in philosophy. I think that is a better description for "Sophie's World". Read more
Published 4 months ago by Joyti
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fast shipping!
this book is awesome! It's really interesting and more people should read it because it's about a different view of love.
Published 5 months ago by Emily
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredibly well written. Fascinating story of relationships,...
Mlan Kundera is a writer who leaves no stone unturned. He demonstrates deep understanding of human psyche, both good and bad. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Vera Wiser
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