Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Insustentável Leveza do Ser by Milan Kundera

9 reviews

soumil_da_vinci's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I gave a five star rating simply because I've never read anything like it.

This book reminds me of Murakami a lot. But here in this book, Kundera himself is a character, an obscure narrator who ponders and shares his thoughts with you on his creation- like a God sort of. It gives a sense of someone telling a story right before you and by Gods, I can listen to Kundera speak for eons.

There are just four main characters as mentioned in the blurb/summary: Tereza, Tomas, Sabina and Franz. Franz is the only one who is a bit distant from the other characters and I didn't quite like Franz. I didn't like a lot of characters at a lot of places but by the end I had found peace with them. Tereza is the only character who might feel close to something "good" and so the wider population might align with her thoughts and motives. But by the end, I too changed like Tereza and learnt to love the characters- all of them except Franz.
Franz-Sabina plotline brings in a lot of political commentary and picks up the political scenes of that time yet when I was reading the Tereza-Tomas portion, it never did itch me because it felt almost perfect for the characters and for the book as well. During the Franz storyline the political stuff get too much and I began to miss the philosophical comments which began at the start or the end of the chapters. It got a bit overwhelming at the latter half but I wanted to finish the book so I got with it and thankfully it was all worth it because "Karenin's Smile" and the first part of the book are the best parts. It ends in a way like the Christopher Nolan movies- at a point of catharsis not the actual end, although the "end" of the characters is given already.

The magic realism used here is the best of its kind. It emphasises more on the realism than the magic and the closest comparable thing is Norwegian Wood. 
You won't miss the magic or you won't question why it is even called a piece of magic realism because it is used in such a subtle and realistic way. If you think of it, he magic realism which happens in this book, also happens in your life but you ignore it or choose to forget it because it's unimaginable.

Anyway, it was a great book, arguably the best book I've read this year...but unlike the Murakami books, I won't be returning to this one soon. This was good for one reading but since the author practically discusses everything with you, there's nothing much to do by reading it again. That is not a bad thing for me.

Kudos!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Car accident, and War

milaniezh's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and War

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death

mandoriin's review against another edition

funny reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Sexual content

Minor: Death

chsm8's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, and War

Minor: Gun violence and Death of parent

navayiota's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Not an enjoyable book, but certainly one that has a lot to say. I want to read an analysis of it, because I feel like I have no idea what it was truly about. Very thought provoking though, in many ways... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Cancer, Sexual assault, Excrement, Car accident, and Alcohol

risemini's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Car accident, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

jelliestars's review against another edition

reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

novelyon's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Gorgeous writing and reflections that is unfortunately hampered a bit by really long and dare I say boring segments of infidelity. While some of the reflections and ideas that are brought forth from the characters' infidelity are interesting, they weren't deserving of all the time spent on the act; other reflections based off of things like war and religion were far more captivating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Car accident, and War

Minor: Medical content

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

a complex--and complexly structured--philosophizing novel w/ thought-provoking, brow-raising ideas + ruminations that has quite a bit of truth and wisdom, and offers a fascinating study on the complexity of humans, in addition to spot-on, if a bit ironic, depictions of american imperialism, leftist self-righteousness, etc. def didnt understand everything, but i do get why this is considered a contemporary classic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, and War