Milan Kundera

A young woman is in love with a successful surgeon, a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing. His mistress, a free-spirited artist, lives her life as a series of betrayals—while her other lover, earnest, faithful, and good, stands to lose everything because of his noble qualities. In a world where lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and fortuitous events, and everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence we feel “the unbearable lightness of being.” A major achievement from one of the world’s truly great writers, Milan Kundera’s magnificent novel of passion and politics, infidelity and ideas, encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, illuminating all aspects of human existence.

A Novel

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

'A cult figure.' Guardian 'A dark and brilliant achievement.' Ian McEwan 'Shamelessly clever ... Exhilaratingly subversive and funny.' Independent 'A modern classic ... As relevant now as when it was first published. ' John Banville A young woman is in love with a successful surgeon - a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanising. His mistress, a free-spirited artist, lives her life as a series of betrayals - while her other lover stands to lose everything because of his noble qualities. In a world where lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and fortuitous events, and everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance and weight - and we feel 'the unbearable lightness of being'. A masterpiece by one of the world's truly great writers, Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being encompasses passion and philosophy, infidelity and ideas, the Prague Spring and modern America, political acts and private desires, comedy and tragedy - and illuminates all aspects of human existence. What readers are saying: 'Some books change your mind, some change your heart, the very best change your whole world ... A mighty piece of work, that will shape your life forever.' 'One of the best books I've ever read ... A book about love and life, full of surprises. Beautiful.' 'This book is going to change your life ... It definitely leaves you with a hangover after you're done reading.' 'A must read - loved it, such beautiful observations on life, love and sexuality.' 'Kundera writes about love as if in a trance so the beauty of it is enchanting and dreamy ... Will stay with you forever.' 'A beautiful novel that helps you understand life better ... Loved it.' 'One of those rare novels full of depth and insight into the human condition ... Got me reading Camus and Sartre.' 'One of the best books I have ever read ... An intellectual love story if ever there was one.'

nattie

How could someone who had so little respect for people be so dependent on what they thought of him?

The brain appears to possess a special area which we might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful. From the time he met Tereza, no woman had the right to leave the slightest impression on that part of his brain. 

Culture is perishing in overproduction, in an avalanche of words, in the madness of quantity. 

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. This special hardback edition commemorates the twentieth anniversary of its first publication in English. 'There are novels that are tragic, or entertaining, and this one is both. There are very few that give a fresh perspective on existence, and force the reader to reassess his own life and attitudes.' Sunday Times 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a work of the boldest mastery, originality and richness.' Vanity Fair

It is wrong, then, to chide the novel for being fascinated by mysterious coincidences [...] but it is right to chide man for being blind to such coincidences in his daily life. For he thereby deprives his life of a dimension of beauty.

But is not an event in fact more significant and noteworthy the greater the number of fortuities necessary to bring it about?

Necessity knows no magic formulae—they are all left to chance. If a love is to be unforgettable, fortuities must immediately start fluttering down to it like birds to Francis of Assisi's shoulders.

So fateful a decision resting on so fortuitous a love, a love that would not even have existed had it not been for the chief surge on's sciatica seven years earlier. And that woman, that personification of absolute fortuity, now again lay asleep beside him, breathing deeply.

A young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing; one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover—these are the two couples whose story is told in this masterful novel. In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence, we feel "the unbearable lightness of being" not only as the consequence of our pristine actions but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.

Looking at herself, she wondered what she would be like if her nose grew a millimeter a day. How long would it take before her face began to look like someone else's? And if various parts of her body began to grow and shrink and Tereza no longer looked like herself, would she still be herself, would she still be Tereza?

That afternoon, he gave his lecture, then went straight to Sabnia’s from the university. He had decided to ask her whether he could spend the night. He rang the doorbell, but no one answered. He went and sat at the café across the street and stared long and hard at the entrance to her building. Evening came, and he did not know where to turn. All his life he had shared his bed with Marie-Claude. If he went home to Marie-Claude, where should he sleep? He could, of course, make up a bed on the sofa in the next room. But wouldn't that be merely an eccentric gesture? Wouldn't it look like a sign of ill will? He wanted to remain friends with her, after all! Yet getting into bed with her was out of the question. 

Tomas did not realize at the time that metaphors are dangerous. Metaphors are not to be trifed with. A single metaphor can give birth to love.

If a mother was Sacrifice personified, then a daughter was Guilt, with no possibility of redress.

She took after her mother, and not only physically. I sometimes have the feeling that her entire lite was merely a continuation of her mother’s, much as the course of a ball on the billiard table is merely the continuation of the player's arm movement

“i am my mother’s daughter” esque line

Staring at herself for long stretches of time, she was occasionally upset at the sight of her mother's features in her face.

The body was a cage, and inside that cage was something which looked, listened, teared an object as the body. thought, and marveled: that something, that remainder left over after the body had been accounted for, was the soul.

To love someone out of compassion means not really to love.

She was unable to fall asleep; in his arms she would fall asleep no matter how wrought up she might have been.

There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison. We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself?

We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come. 

Lily Cooper

Yes, it was too late, and Sabina knew she would leave Paris, move on, and on again, because were she to die here they would cover her up with a stone, and in the mind of a woman for whom no place is home the thought of an end to all flight is unbearable.

Maria Buitrago

What remains of Beethoven? A frown, an improbable mane, and a somber voice intoning "Es muss sein!" What remains of Franz? An inscription reading A RETURN AFTER LONG WANDERINGS. And so on and so forth. Before we are forgotten, we will be turned into kitsch. Kitsch is the stopover between being and oblivion.

Here he was, doing things he didn't care a damn about, and enjoying it. Now he understood what made people (people he always pitied) happy when they took a job without feeling the compulsion of an internal "Es muss sein!'" and forgot it the moment they left for home every evening. This was the first time he had felt that blissful indifference. Whenever anything went wrong on the operating table, he would be despondent and unable to sleep. He would even lose his taste for women. The "Es muss sein!" of his profession had been like a vampire sucking his blood.

Magda 

A husband’s funeral is a wife’s true wedding.

Daria claymore

לעולם אינו יכול לדעת במה עליו לרצות, משום שהוא חי רק פעם אחת ולא ניתן לו להשוות את חייו להווה לחייו הקודמים ולא לתקן אותם בחייו הבאים

Interweaves story and dream, past and present, and philosophy and poetry in a sardonic and erotic tale of two couples--Tomas and Teresa, and Sabina and her Swiss lover, Gerhart.

The unbearable lightness of being

Elina Berzina

i really enjoyed following the lives of these characters. this is most definitely a character driven novel, so keep that in mind! it had a unique structure, going back and forth between certain events in their lives. the author is very good at fleshing his characters out, and adding their strengths and weaknesses, which then seep into their relationships. i will admit that some moments made no sense to me, in particular the mentions of politics/history/government. but as always i loved the philosophical takes <3 i would recommend this if you want a literary style "romance", though i use that term very very lightly. these characters and their relationships are very flawed but that's what i liked about it!

Karmen 

kundera u twisted fella, honestly sickening how good a human can be with words. 

nietzsche is a heavy reference in this text, so u gotta do some homework prior to better digest this text. but i loved the entirety of it. we only have one choice to make in life, and we cannot compare it against anything else because we will never know the unknown, merits or failures. responsibilities evolve, and so do their weight. we can always choose to live the lighter way and to be present in the now. i appreciate how kundera weaves in the concepts of metaphors into being, it has truly changed my perspective on how things can be. love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost, the whole meaning of life is to be loved and to love. 

kundera u twisted fella, honestly sickening how good a human can be with words. 

nietzsche is a heavy reference in this text, so u gotta do some homework prior to better digest this text. but i loved the entirety of it. we only have one choice to make in life, and we cannot compare it against anything else because we will never know the unknown, merits or failures. responsibilities evolve, and so do their weight. we can always choose to live the lighter way and to be present in the now. i appreciate how kundera weaves in the concepts of metaphors into being, it has truly changed my perspective on how things can be. love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost, the whole meaning of life is to be loved and to love. 

This is a much awaited review. It is still in the back of my mind of course. Every chapter gave me different all kinds of feelings. The use of metaphor names for the character's pov is genius. I also love how the author would start with philosophy and then would go on and connect that to a character. 

I did not agree with the male lead character's behavior though, truly gave me the ick but this is a situation where nothing is black and white. Which made me love it since they felt alive in front of me. They felt human since humans are full of complexities. They were not perfect at all which made this story perfect. 

Their story is heartbreaking though. For Tomas when he met Tereza, it was compassion. Merely out of his fondness as he sees her as this baby in a basket washed up in a shore with no one to care for. But for Tereza, it was coincidence; everything is falling into a sign where their fate would inevitably intertwined. 

But of course not every relationship is perfect. Tomas lay with women every day and for this Tereza resents him but what can she do, he is her savior. Save her from rotting in her mother's den. 

Honestly, there are so much happening in this book. There are love affairs, a war happening, wholesome moments, and of course death. 

I think I haven't truly digest the book overall, a reread with an aged mind, someday it will happen. 

Can I also talk about the wisdom in every page, I'm afraid my highlighters would run out as how I keep on highlighting passages. And oh, the sex scene, it was written beautifully. Everything is written beautifully. 

I feel sad that this book doesn't hit the popular classics yet but maybe it's because as I said, it was too close to humans' complexities. It was like looking at another human being full of flaws but yet you never cease to love. Please if you're reading this, give the book a try. It might change your life or not who am I to conclude, just give it a chance. 

This is a much awaited review. It is still in the back of my mind of course. Every chapter gave me different all kinds of feelings. The use of metaphor names for the character's pov is genius. I also love how the author would start with philosophy and then would go on and connect that to a character. 

I did not agree with the male lead character's behavior though, truly gave me the ick but this is a situation where nothing is black and white. Which made me love it since they felt alive in front of me. They felt human since humans are full of complexities. They were not perfect at all which made this story perfect. 

Their story is heartbreaking though. For Tomas when he met Tereza, it was compassion. Merely out of his fondness as he sees her as this baby in a basket washed up in a shore with no one to care for. But for Tereza, it was coincidence; everything is falling into a sign where their fate would inevitably intertwined. 

But of course not every relationship is perfect. Tomas lay with women every day and for this Tereza resents him but what can she do, he is her savior. Save her from rotting in her mother's den. 

Honestly, there are so much happening in this book. There are love affairs, a war happening, wholesome moments, and of course death. 

I think I haven't truly digest the book overall, a reread with an aged mind, someday it will happen. 

Can I also talk about the wisdom in every page, I'm afraid my highlighters would run out as how I keep on highlighting passages. And oh, the sex scene, it was written beautifully. Everything is written beautifully. 

I feel sad that this book doesn't hit the popular classics yet but maybe it's because as I said, it was too close to humans' complexities. It was like looking at another human being full of flaws but yet you never cease to love. Please if you're reading this, give the book a try. It might change your life or not who am I to conclude, just give it a chance. 



Apurva Shah

Great book, really liked the perspective it brought for living in another city. 

rebi🦇

In this novel - a story of irreconcilable loves and infidelities - Milan Kundera addresses himself to the nature of twentieth-century 'Being' In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. We feel, says the novelist, 'the unbearable lightness of being' - not only as the consequence of our private acts but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.Juxtaposing Prague, Geneva, Thailand and the United States, this masterly novel encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, and embraces, it seems, all aspects of human existence. It offers a wide range of brilliant and amusing philosophical speculations and it descants on a variety of styles.

Maureen

“We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself?”

***

So many highlighted pages! I loved this book even before I knew what it was about. The title was enough to catch my attention. Turns out, it's so much deeper than I expected. Compared to The Alchemist, the philosophy of this book is deeper and more rational. Usually, when most authors introduce a concept to relate to their story, I lose interest. But Kundera does it so well. It becomes evident why such explanation was necessary. 

The book's structure is like an essay because of the narrator's presence, but I love how he infuses it into his storytelling. It's definitely the kind that needs to be read again to discover what you might've missed during the first reading.

Sajiya Chaudhary

I started reading this book about a month back. It's never taken me a month to finish a book before (fictions). It's a unique book. It made me think about how I never give too much thought to chances, destiny, what feels heavy to the heart, what light, and what is unbearable? Too philosophical? It doesn't feel philosophical when you read, but rational, logical. I understand the author's concept of light & heavy, dark & light, yes & no, compassion, kitsch, love, desire. 
The author wanted to put ideas, thoughts in the reader's head. Fictional authors don't do that very often, don't talk to you, themselves. Authors like Woolf, Milan Kundera, write because they want to talk. They have something to say. They want to reach out to you, and I am glad they do because it makes one feel less lonely. 
Their characters are too deep, too retrospective, thoughtful. Their thoughts are laid bare to us. It's unnerving because all one has private are their thoughts. 

It is a beautiful book. I enjoyed it too much. It has given me much to think about.

Louisa

No words left to describe how great this is ❤️

Elisavet Rozaki 

I don't know how to feel. Most of the time, I was bored. There were some enlightening parts, but overall, I couldn't comprehend the point of this book.

i think im too young to have completely understood this book but i will definitely be coming back to it, i've never read anything like it

Anh Nguyen

you: to shit
me, an intellectual: to void one's bowels

Set in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s, the story revolves around a young doctor who has a way with women and an aversion to politics. He suddenly finds himself caught up in his country's political turmoil and in a crisis of commitment with the women in his life.

Colton Ray

This book was very tough to get a grasp on. Though there is lots of sex, it's still one of the coldest and most sterile things I've ever read, probably because the characters aren't characters so much as they are mouthpieces for the author to talk about various subjects. The main character is a prick and the women aren't much better. I'm sure things happened in this book, but I felt no emotion and wouldn't have cared if the Communists loaded Tomas and Tereza into a giant cannon and shot them at the Sun. Maybe then, they'd stop being so angsty and solipsistic! I think good stories can bridge across cultures; this book did not do that for me. It felt like watching a foreign art film - like there might be some message there, lost in translation.

This was one of those book I knew nothing about, I picked it up from the bookshop because I was looking for a book that is outside my comfort zone and would challenge me psychologically as I had just finished 'All The Lovers At Night' by Mieko Kawakami. It was difficult to get into at first because of the style of writing, it is quite philosophical.

Onto the the actually plot, it was a roller coater of emotions and complexity. There are several plots and subplot in this book that it is hard to pinpoint the moral of the story. It deals with infidelity, childhood trauma, the idea of the long suffering woman, the political communism in Europe (Russia, Prague and Czech Republic). We are given an insight into the mind of men that are wrestling with the nature of marriage and fidelity; social morality and personal conviction. We see the women deal with their past and present, revealing levels of self worth and self deprevation as well as complacency. 

I am unsure of how to categorise this book. For me, in the aspect of sex and romance, its paints it as quite perverse and seemingly the actualized male fantasies. It had alot of truths about loneliness, love, marriage, trauma and the harsh realities of political tyranny. I would recommend this book but I cannot guarantee that you'll like it.

**Spoiler: Tereza reminded of women who stay in relationships where the man is constantly unfaithful, she tries so much to rationalise his behaviour which was sooo sad. When she told Tomas to wash his hair, that was WILD!

This was one of those book I knew nothing about, I picked it up from the bookshop because I was looking for a book that is outside my comfort zone and would challenge me psychologically as I had just finished 'All The Lovers At Night' by Mieko Kawakami. It was difficult to get into at first because of the style of writing, it is quite philosophical.

Onto the the actually plot, it was a roller coater of emotions and complexity. There are several plots and subplot in this book that it is hard to pinpoint the moral of the story. It deals with infidelity, childhood trauma, the idea of the long suffering woman, the political communism in Europe (Russia, Prague and Czech Republic). We are given an insight into the mind of men that are wrestling with the nature of marriage and fidelity; social morality and personal conviction. We see the women deal with their past and present, revealing levels of self worth and self deprevation as well as complacency. 

I am unsure of how to categorise this book. For me, in the aspect of sex and romance, its paints it as quite perverse and seemingly the actualized male fantasies. It had alot of truths about loneliness, love, marriage, trauma and the harsh realities of political tyranny. I would recommend this book but I cannot guarantee that you'll like it.

**Spoiler: Tereza reminded of women who stay in relationships where the man is constantly unfaithful, she tries so much to rationalise his behaviour which was sooo sad. When she told Tomas to wash his hair, that was WILD!

No words of mine will be good enough for this book. I am in awe.

jack

this has a spoiler but nothing major! sorry in advance!

wow! first thought is damn kundera really dedicated a whole section of the book to the death of a dog.... damn!

anyways! this book was beautiful! lots to love here! the constant internal struggle between depicting life as eternally recurring and only lived once was really cool! there is a ton of really great insight on relationships that really hit home for me. i didnt like how he condemns all radical politics to being insincere and kitsch but whatever.

the whole time i couldnt get it out of my head that kundera is just john green for philosophy majors lmao.

★★★★ // romance, political consciousness, existentialism, and more. layered characters bearing the weight of their choices, as a consequence of our existence and being. kundera truly understands nietzsche, and this book is an incredible vehicle of his philosophy, if you ask me.

y✦

✦ leaves a lot to think about
✦ a self-help if ur brave enough or u hate accountability
✦ so many quotable quotes
✦ some weirdly written sex scenes but i get it
✦ setting just as intriguing as the plot

lexie

tereza is a good person, she will do anything for tomas, she’s very well written. tomas is a horny asshole. side characters: sabina is a chill character. overall it was melancholy.

Ivy Vatsala

The book overwhelms with its pathos, to the point of rendering the reader incoherent in his response to the book. The book turns out to be a delightful study into the author's mind but if you are looking for a good story with well etched characters, give this book a wide berth. Though intriguing, the characters are disappointingly one dimensional and the story never really picks any pace. 

The only thing I liked in the book is the author's lovely pondering about life and its various motifs and meanings at multiple places. But even that loses its charm after a while. Read if you like your fiction strewed with smug philosophical digressions from the author.

Geetika 

3.5
While the themes do deal with a normalcy that I personally felt taken aback by, the book showcases some beautiful scenes of love, understanding and humane tendencies. The book even delves into 1970s Prague and the political rebellion of that time (will be so interesting when i get to see the city myself ;)). There was so much depth and nuance in all four characters Tomas, Tereza, Sabina and Franz. Wasn't a major fan of the last (5th) part though.

Mia Caven

I think this is what normal people wanted to be. I love how it was written and I actually got attached to the characters. The only book where a relationship that is toxic makes sense to the story.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being A Novel

Reviews

Highlights