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A review by huwy
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
2.0
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is about Tomas, Tereza, and Sabina and their search for an idyllic life. It gives us a glimpse of the various lives of the characters, and their desire for commitment and freedom, all while being imprisoned in the political chaos.
The book felt choppy and disorganized, like it was a rant. But I could say that it’s one of a kind, and didn’t regret reading it, despite the unlikeable characters and slow plot progression. Basically, Tomas has slept with more the 200 people in his life —including Sabina (who felt desolation and apathetic to everyone but Tomas) — and Tereza appears and in his own words, “was put in a bulrish basket and sent downstream towards him” like an abandoned infant he had no choice but to accept.
Honestly, this book exhausted my mind. There was so much going on, so much philosophical ramblings and details about the characters that I really didn’t care for. I had to force myself to read it through the end just to get it over with. But I understand the appeal, during the end of the book, I actually quite enjoyed it (Except for the Karenin part).
It did gave me some enlightenment, that life is inherently shit no matter how much love and purpose we cling on. We don’t know what will happen and what we ought to do is appreciate the “lightness” that we’ve achieved before we fuck it up, and we will fuck it up eventually. I don’t know if this is the real message of the book but that’s what I got from it. Some times, I did enjoy reading it, especially when I could be alone with my thoughts— but I couldn’t help feel incredulous at the characters most of the time. I had to stop myself from throwing the book against the wall.
The book felt choppy and disorganized, like it was a rant. But I could say that it’s one of a kind, and didn’t regret reading it, despite the unlikeable characters and slow plot progression. Basically, Tomas has slept with more the 200 people in his life —including Sabina (who felt desolation and apathetic to everyone but Tomas) — and Tereza appears and in his own words, “was put in a bulrish basket and sent downstream towards him” like an abandoned infant he had no choice but to accept.
Honestly, this book exhausted my mind. There was so much going on, so much philosophical ramblings and details about the characters that I really didn’t care for. I had to force myself to read it through the end just to get it over with. But I understand the appeal, during the end of the book, I actually quite enjoyed it (Except for the Karenin part).
It did gave me some enlightenment, that life is inherently shit no matter how much love and purpose we cling on. We don’t know what will happen and what we ought to do is appreciate the “lightness” that we’ve achieved before we fuck it up, and we will fuck it up eventually. I don’t know if this is the real message of the book but that’s what I got from it. Some times, I did enjoy reading it, especially when I could be alone with my thoughts— but I couldn’t help feel incredulous at the characters most of the time. I had to stop myself from throwing the book against the wall.