Customer Reviews

Unbearable Lightness Of Being

5 star:		(86)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I had no idea what I was getting into when I bought this book. But it turned out that I enjoyed it, and although it was more tedious to read towards the end, I would recommend it to anyone who can speed read.

To me this book was written as one incredibly long train of thought. The train itself breaks off into other smaller trains of thought, but it always goes back to the principle story: that of Tomas and Tereza. While Kundera may turn off the reader who doesn't enjoy straight story-telling, he does tell a story here. It's not just a book of random musings and incoherent philosophizing.

That said, the stories of "Unbearable.."'s characters are simple enough. Tomas is a philanderer, torn between his lifestyle and his love for Tereza, who kind of fell into his life by chance. Tereza is his wife, who is tortured by his infidelity but cannot leave him. Other more minor characters include Sabina, a mistress of Tomas, and Franz, another married lover of Sabina.

These four characters are Kundera's chosen examples of the human experience. He reveals their inner desires and motives, and otherwise tells their psychological stories along with their real-life stories. They each have "issues", as does everyone in this world. But it's interesting how their personal philosophies, having been shaped by both their human experience and their intrinsic individuality, are so different from each other's. This in return shapes the experiences they have with each other. Tereza and Tomas lived for so long together, yet they never really thought alike. And because of this, they lived totally separate lives.

That, in full, is my take on the book. Kundera presents many other theories on the human experience, and I found them all interesting, but the one element that I found carried the book through was the variance in the characters' personal (as in mental, emotional, and psychological) life experience. This variance made a whole world of difference, because what is life, outside how we perceive it?

The real-life stories are also interesting, but I think they are meant to be in the background. The main story is mental, it's in their reactions to life, which drives their future actions. I say this because their lives end quite insignificantly, as though they might as well not have lived--a phrase in the book proves this "What happens but once might as well not have happened at all."

And yes, if our lives are perceived this way, we might as well rule them out as insignificant. Our lives can be taken so lightly that is in unbearable--the unbearable lightness of being. But Kundera makes this point in the beginning: his characters are merely that. Characters. He uses them to illustrate his theories on the human experience.

So is this book a negative commentary on life's insignificance? Is Kundera trying to tell us that life means nothing? I doubt that. I think viewed from the outside, our lives might seem like they mean nothing. But to each of us, our life is colored and perceived by what we bring to it: by our history, our philosophy, our dreams. Life is a personal experience, and if it means nothing to everyone else, it at least means something to us, for we are the ones who live it.

This book is so hard to describe. It's human, yet it's not. It's multifaceted, yet it has a persistent theme. It's light reading, but it's heavy reading.
I had never read any works from Kundera, and I now truly realize what I was missing. This book can be as inspiring as it can be depressing. It has so many messages and morales and so self-sufficient. The author does a very explendid job inmersing the reader into the storyline. Kundera should be revered as other genius authors are (e.g. Hemingway, Twain, et cetera).
This book brought many a smile, reflection and tear in me. It evoked so many feelings and imagery. It made me think about the self, the soul and the body. Additionally, the philosophical implications of the book are rather important and deep in substance as it regards the concept of the self. Further, the author gives the impression that he is in the same agnostic position regarding Existentialism and Transendetalism as many other people still is (including myself). The author questions many things, among them: love, sex, the physical body, the "image" body, faithfulness, human-to-animal relationship, and even religion.
Wonderful book, and will highly recommend to anyone interested in smart, and reflective reading.

i really enjoyed this book, it's one of those ones you have to think about. the story follows two couples, tomas and tereza and sabina and franz. these people are used to embody certain ideals and characteristics, and i interpreted their actions more as metaphor rather than just an act in itself.

i suppose one of the major themes in the book is expressed in the title, this idea of weight in association with how we interact with the world, and whether or not it is a good or bad thing to have. i understood the weight to be our ties to the world, our responsibilities. like a sac we carry. the question is -is it better to have the sac full of stuff you may need or want with you or is it better to be unburdened? what i found helpful was that for the perspectives presented, the opposite perspective is presented to contrast, neither one being more right than the other.

each of the four main characters had some sort of struggle they were attempting to overcome (which i loved reading about. there is nothing more enlightening and empowering than to watch someone overcome what discontents them). all of the struggles have to do with how the characters interact with those they know, which i saw to be a preference for either weight or lightness.

this is one of those books you could (and should) spend hours thinking about.

I saw the movie which was made from this novel, many, many years ago, and while I absolutely loved it, I thought it was about an hour too long. Hence, my hesitation with tackling the novel. But a curious thing happend, for what I found was that the book actually "seemed" shorter. Go figure. I love the story, whether it is the film version or the written word, and Kundera's telling of it is remarkable. That said, I would recommende the book more so than the movie. Perhaps my reason for so highly praising the novel is that I was able to put it down, whereas with the movie, I was not (I saw it in an "arts" theatre many years ago.) My point is this--it's a very good read and you should check it out.

Also recommended: McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD

Writer Italo Calvino suggests "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" confirms The Ineluctable Weight of Living: "His novel shows how everything we choose and value in life for its lightness soon reveals its true, unbearable weight."

Kundera muses on the above central theme via the following topics: the dynamics of fidelity and adultery; the interrelationship of body and soul; Nietzsche's Eternal Return; the 1968 Russian invasion of Czechoslavakia; the nature of kitsch; the nature of chance (to name but six).

The polyphony of topics are rendered in a array of forms, from emotionally-intense storytelling to dictionary-style definitions and essays.

The structure of the book is akin to musical architecture. Kundera creates cohesion through variation: he constantly redevelops the central theme in different styles and from the different perspectives of the characters. His writing is lyrical yet metaphorically-lean and direct.

All this said, I am moved most by the story that lies at the core of the book: the beautiful and sad tale of Tomas and Tereza.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is an interesting mix of social commentary, history lesson and relationship examination all rolled into one novel that is told, not by a narrator, but by Kundera himself.

The lightness of being is at the focal point of this novel. We are first presented with a brief essay-like section on whether life is a light or a heavy experience, and if it differs for others. He uses historical figures as evidence as to the weight of life, some, like Parmenides, consider life to be a light burden, as 'lightness' is positive and so is being alive, and Nietzsche appears to agree, though for very different reasons. Throughout the novel, Kundera takes over the narration to discuss, contrast and compare the actions of the characters as regards to the philosophy of great men, trying to determine whether life is in fact light or heavy. The conclusion he seems to come to is that it is up to the person themselves to decide, and after that, to decide which out of light or heavy is the negative aspect.

In terms of story, most of the activity centres around Tomas and Tereze, who met through a bizarre sequence of activities. In another show of polarity, Tereze considers these amazing coincidences proof that they should be together forever, whereas as Tomas thinks it means that their relationship will be as fleeting and ephemeral as the chance of them ever meeting. We also get to see on of Tomas' (many) mistresses, Sabine, although the details of her life are presented more to understand Tomas.

About halfway through the novel, we are taken on an excursion into the way life was in Czechoslovakia, with the threat of the Russians and communism, and the way people were deluded. This part is interesting from a historical and social aspect, as our heroes are involved in the proceedings, but thankfully the author does not let his own political ideology take over the narrative at the expense of the characters.

Since we are being told this story by Kundera and not some nameless, faceless narrator, the writing is very playful, tangential and casual. Many things are explained then further explained in brackets (like so), which might seem like the author is bashing our head with the point he is trying to make, but it never comes across as this. Rather, we are thankful for such personal insight.

The book can be very sad, and very weighty, but most of the time it remains light-weight and playful - thus mimicking the subject matter and narrative structure of the story itself. The insight into the Czechoslovakia as a nation and as people is quite interesting also, but as said above, the focus remains on Tomas and Tereze's relationship, and through that, an analysis of all relationship's is made.

Anyone with a background in philosophy might do a double take upon reading the title of this book; "Being" is not typically thought of as being unbearably light but as heavy. The difference in this book is that for Kundera, amidst the Communist invasion of Czechoslovakia, our being becomes utterly without weight, devoid of substantive meaning.

The book begins with Kundera explaining Nietzsche's idea of the eternal return (and Kundera is incredibly well read, citing not just philosophy but religion and mythology as well): the only way that anything can have any meaning is if it can be repeated. Since this life cannot be repeated, the question becomes whether or not this life can have any meaning? Kundera does not give an answer to that question, choosing to instead flesh out his characters by not only giving philosophical weight - no pun intended - to the narrative, but by giving psychological insights on their motives and actions.

It is hard to say what the real narrative of the book is. Is it the meaninglessness with which Tomas engages in his endless womanizing? Is it the utter falsehood that Tomas tries to make real in claiming that sex has nothing to do with love? Despite his telling his wife that his womanizing has no effect on his love for her, it could easily be argued that what makes his promiscuity so depthless is the fact that he has no love for anyone. In the end, we see that the body and the soul are intimately connected, not divorced from one another. The interweaving of these multiple narratives is part of what makes the book so insightful.

The book would be little more than a trashy (at points) psychological romance novel, however, if it weren't set in the Communist invasion of Czechoslovakia; indeed, it is the psychological and philosophical insights that are born of the experience of Communism that give the book its weight. Communism's utopian ideology was so fanatical as to be murderous - similarities between this and violent religious fundamentalists today beg for comparison - and was utterly indifferent to the particular people in the particular countries that it imposed itself upon. Communism is the socio-political embodiment of the indifference of someone such as Tomas and as such is horrifically insightful.

The unbearable lightness of being is heavy; this is not a bad pun, but a recognition of the tremendous irony of it all. The isolation and erasure of meaningful, particular histories in a world devoid of giving and listening renders everything unbearably light: and therefore unavoidably and oppressively heavy. Substantive notions such as love lose all of their substance; to borrow from Marx, "all that is solid melts into air."

Kundera's book is both well written and incredibly tragic. Ideology at the expense of humanity - either your own or another's (or both!) - is at the root of any soul/body dualism: the infidelity between lovers or the totalitarianism of Communism (and isn't Communism simply soul/body dualism politically imposed on a mass scale?). Such soul/body dualism is nothing more than the imaginings of philosophers; the unbearable lightness of being cannot help but to become indifferent, oppressive and violent.

Let there be a space forever reserved for this book in that most exclusive of literary categories - the novel of ideas. Here we have an author with something important to say about the fundamental nature of life as we know it. Kundera is a world-class philosopher, cleverly disguised as a world-class writer. Rarely do we come across someone who wears both hats so comfortably.

Yes, there is a wonderfully layered and textured story here. And for most writers and readers that would be enough. But the story is certainly secondary here to the powerful message that Kundera delivers about what it means to be human. In the first few pages he cuts to the core of man's existence in a complex, unpredictable world. I grabbed my highlighter after just seven pages, having already come across three basic Truths - yes, with a capital 'T' - that I wanted to come back and revisit. "What can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself?" Therein lies one of the most complex questions ever asked. And in this book lies one of the most eloquent answers ever given.

I really enjoyed reading THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING, though it wasn't anything like I thought it would be. I haven't seen the film, so the book was a completely new experience for me. Because of its title, I was expecting something lighter and more playful and, despite its dark subject matter, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING does have a "light" quality about it, though it lacks the playfulness of most of Kundera's other works.

I think THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING is Kundera's darkest book. In it, he seems to be pointing out that, to a large degree, our lives are controlled, not by us, but by the forces of fate and chance. He also shows us that once an action is taken (or not taken), its consequences can never be undone. These consequences affect both our life and the lives of those around us. In a very real sense, Kundera tells us, the actions and whims of others go far in shaping our own lives.

In the novel, Tomas's life was affected greatly by Tereza's impulsive return to Prague from Zuerich. Tomas, of course, made choices of his own, but it was Tereza's choice that really set things in motion. Life, Kundera seems to be saying, is both serendipitous and irrevocably binding. We are who we are, not through our own direction, but through chance and luck.

I'm not a great fan of books that are "told" rather than dramatized in scenes and THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING is definitely a book that's "told." "Telling" rather than "showing" seemed to work well in this book, however. There's not much of a plot here and I felt terribly distanced from the characters, but in this case, that was okay. THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING is a thematic book and its theme is universal. The characters could have been anyone, anywhere.

The narrative told the stories of Tereza and Tomas and Franz and Sabina and Sabina and Tomas and constantly cut back and forth. Kundera's writing, however, is seamless and smooth and I thought the narrative flowed beautifully. Despite the darkness of its theme, the narrative had a light, breezy quality that made it a very fast read.

Although THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING is probably Kundera's best-known work, I don't consider it his masterpiece to date; I think IMMORTALITY is. I enjoyed THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING thoroughly, though, and I can't imagine why I waited so long to read it.

Readers who both liked and didn't like THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING should take a look at Ivan Klima's LOVE AND GARBAGE as well. It, too, is a genuine masterpiece.

One of my favorite books ever read. Magnificent.