Product Description

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a story of irreconcilable love and infidelities in which Milan Kundera addresses himself to the nature of twentieth-century 'Being', offering a wide range of brilliant and amusing philosophical speculations. First published in 1984, Kundera's masterly novel encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy and was at once hailed by critics as a contemporary classic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34345 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 306 pages

Review
'Read this book; here is a writer who really matters.' Malcolm Bradbury; 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a work of the boldest mastery, originality and richness.' Vanity Fair; 'A dark and brilliant achievement.' Ian McEwan.

About the Author
Milan Kundera was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia and has lived in France for almost thirty years. His other novels include The Joke, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and Identity.

Customer Reviews

A joy and a revelation
Milan Kundera is an unconventional storyteller. He never lets you forget his presence as author and narrator and even goes so far as to speak in the first person. He introduces his characters like acquaintances and his stories like anecdotes although parable is the more appropriate word. The story is far from incidental in his work and his characters are fully fleshed and involving but Kundera never lets his reader forget a wider significance. He also takes lengthy asides to expound a particular point or explore a particular train of thought yet this all adds rather than detracts from the beauty of the work.
Primarily this is a work about love and freedom which Kundera explores metaphorically through the opposition of weight and lightness. The essential question asked by this book is is it better to be weighed down by responsibility or to chose the unbearable lightness of being where our actions are "as free as they are inconsequential"? What price love?
This is explored through a number of different prisms and Kundera is equally at home discussing medieval theology as he is the death camps. Perhaps inevitably the Prague Spring of 1968 is given a major role and Kundera, as one who lived on both sides of the iron curtain is keen to demonstrate the way such experiences shape perception.
Kundera writes with a simple wisdom that makes his truths seem self evident and make you more aware of the way you view the world. The themes he deals with are both localised and universal. This is certainly one of my favourite books of all time and one that I keep on coming back to, either in its entirety or in small section like a reference book. Unsurpassed.

Beautiful!
I happened to pick this book up by accident. Intrigued by its title, I read through the first two pages. It was very dense, and I thought it would be a hard read...but it flowed easily while touching many philosophical questions. As you followed the characters along, you realize how the characters represent what is human in all of us. This book was an amazing experience. Kundera develops the characters so well, that you become very attached to them. They become a part of you. Kundera also beautifully describes their thoughts and experiences. He puts into words everything you have thought about life and people and (mis-)communication but never really made it to the surface of your thoughts. A wonderful read that keeps you captivated until the end. It's not difficult to read, but you will constantly be thinking.

Masterful
A book about fidelity and infidelity, communication and misunderstandings, and why people do what they do.

This is a work of considerable confidence and control that follows the differently connected lives of a group of people as they fall in love and fall into line, disperse and return. It's all about how our lives are all about making mistakes and never being able to do things again.

In the telling of it, Kundera's voice is often particularly strong, and his plot has the freedom to follow threads which you barely noticed to begin with. It's often philosophical and yet eminently readable - I devoured it in 4 days. Thoroughly recommended.