Unbearable Lightness of Being

great

16 months ago

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… + read more

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A bit lacking, but good nonetheless

This review is from: The Unbearable Lightness Of Being: A Novel (Trade Paperback)

5 months ago

It is sufficiently apparent that Kundera is a talented author who poses poignant and thought-provoking questions not only to himself, but to his readers as well. The rub of this novel however is that it wears the veil of philosophy, tricking you into thinking that the novel's content is strictly philosophical in nature. Though this novel is greatly thought out and raises amazingly profound questions in its readers, Kundera seems to lack the conviction with which to follow through with his… + read more

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Truly Insightful

2 years ago

This book is a definite page turner. Milan is an intresting writter with a unique style that is quite his own. Very insightful and entertaining, the lines he draws between events and deceptions are quite entertaining and provoke thoughts into the communism, love and the weight of being.

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Purposeful Ambiguity

9 years ago

In the novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera takes great pains to mask what is essentially, an indictment against lightness. Through a process of purposeful ambiguity, Kundera sets up three important and interrelated themes in the novel. These three themes need to be examined at some length in order to understand Kundera's complexity and unravel his indictment against lightness.
Firstly, there is the psychological construct of the eternal return as developed by Friedrich… + read more

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being

9 years ago

Kundera's novel is an amazing piece of literary work that will keep readers entertained and captivated from beginning to end. A novel about life and its trials; it deals with love, longing, loathing, and everything in between. In drawing parallels between the metaphysical and all that is tangible, Kundera attempts to enlighten the reader, by giving us the opportunity to understand how life is "unbearable lightness of being."

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• 1 person found this helpful

the unbearable brilliance of literature!

9 years ago

Milan Kundera's "Unbearable Lightess of Being" is a book of love, emotion, fate and making choices that change your life. The book is so smoothly written that it leaves the reader with a lot to think about and at the same time makes it clear what the author is trying to tell us. Set on the backdrop of communism in Czechoslovakia during 1960s, it intertwines politics with love and the standards of fitting into society. Written in a very original style, (the author gives his own views on life… + read more

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