Synopsis
About Milan Kundera
See more books from this Author...the book generates little accumulating power: the oddness of its format requires great reader-patience--a patience that's rewarded only with evasive suggestion. And though Kundera's seriousness and natural grace are everywhere, they are finally beetled by the feckless anemia of the collage/pastiche approach.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of Being | See more reviews from KirkusA novel, even a novel by so engagé a writer as Kundera, must be judged in terms of art, and not of its moral, social or political weight. There is too much spilt politics in The Unbearable Lightness for its own good. What is remarkable, however, is that a work so firmly rooted in its time has not dated.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of Being | See more reviews from GuardianThese techniques in presentation serve to provide all the charm a reader could want in this entertaining book/series that is thought provoking without being ponderous.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of Being | See more reviews from NY Journal of BooksThere is too much spilt politics in The Unbearable Lightness for its own good. What is remarkable, however, is that a work so firmly rooted in its time has not dated.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of Being | See more reviews from GuardianThis is a shamelessly clever book – at times a little cold – but exhilaratingly subversive and funny. Kundera takes you by the scruff of the neck and shakes you pitilessly
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of BeingKundera has written an emotionally intense piece of literature that sets the groundwork for the reader to evaluate which should be chosen: the burden of heaviness or the unbearable lightness of being.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of BeingThis is a strikingly original novel about a Czech surgeon who has many women, but despite himself falls in love with a pretty waitress from a small town...Unbearable Lightness is full of telling details, truths large and small, to which just about every reader will respond. Few American writers, alas, even try to write books like this.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of BeingThe Unbearable Lightness of Being isn't driven by plot but by the incredible richness of the main characters’ inner lives. Partly philosophical and part poetry, Kundera's work is a treasure meant to be read again and again.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of BeingI wasn’t thrilled with all of the cheating male characters in the novel and struggled a bit to wade through some of the complicated prose (sometimes you just read a sentence and think, “huh?”), but ultimately, I am glad I stuck with it and read it.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of BeingReading the book for a third or fourth time, a quarter century after its writing (and nearly a half century after the historical event that is the fulcrum of its structure -- the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia), I can appreciate its formal elements even more.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of BeingThe Unbearable Lightness of Being is a graceful, nuanced work. In spite of its thoroughly post-modern sensibility, it unifies its quartet's geographic and sensual wanderings by setting up and exploring paralleled thematic opposites...the characterization of all four remains vivid, touching, and life-like.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of BeingFrom the very start you while see the gorgeous poetic prose within Milan Kundera’s writing and the unique plot concept will initially drive this book for the reader...In the end it’s just one of those books that sounds a little weird and unappealing but is really worth reading.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of Being...it’s a rich book, that turns in on itself again and again, never letting itself get pinned down, even when the author himself pipes in with his interpretations. Before discussing the book, I could see bits of what Kundera was trying to do, but talking about it enabled me to see even more—and to be more impressed with it.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of BeingKundera is a very stylistic writer, with an amazing eye for detail and emotion. His characters are as multi-faceted as they come and the story is certainly a page turner..his world of average people whom he places in average situations will leave you wishing the 314-page novel was 314 pages longer.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of Being...I truly mean that I did not experience as much satisfaction while reading this book as I usually do when reading other books. It was engaging, well written, provocative — not in the least unbearable — but for some reason it didn’t satisfy me as much in the act of reading.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of BeingThe novel is an attempt to identify what makes us need companionship in life so badly, trying to understand the relationships between the conflicting desires that humans possess and act upon...If you read deep enough into this novel you’ll repeatedly think, ‘he’s talking about me’.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of Being...is fairly consistent with Kundera's other works, and if anything I found it easier to follow. That said, it's certainly not straightforward...I really do love the way Kundera words things, the way he captures and crystallizes human motivations and desires so clearly but as a novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being just didn't quite work for me.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of BeingI pretty much hated it from the first page...I am a character reader. I need characters that I can identify with, that I can understand, maybe like... but these were none of those things. I don't know them, I don't understand them, I don't identify with them in any way... and I don't want to.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of Being...is an exemplary illustration of the deftness and wit which has brought me wholeheartedly into his camp. The novel explores relationships, human desire, and the capacity for love...but it’s not just all hearts and flowers – he also delves into the nuances of philosophy, music and literary composition.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of BeingPerhaps the thing to say about THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING is that it is an incredible experience that cannot be fully understood and appreciated in just one go. Perhaps what astounded me most about this book was how nuanced the characters are.
Read Full Review of Unbearable Lightness of BeingAn aggregated and normalized score based on 425 user ratings from iDreamBooks & iTunes
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