The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“There is no perfection only life.”

“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? That is why life is always like a sketch. No, “sketch” is not quite a word, because a sketch is an outline of something, the groundwork for a picture, whereas the sketch that is our life is a sketch for nothing, an outline with no picture.”


“Loves are like empires: when the idea they are founded on crumbles, they, too, fade away.”


“And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself?”


“Perhaps all the questions we ask of love, to measure, test, probe, and save it, have the additional effect of cutting it short. Perhaps the reason we are unable to love is that we yearn to be loved, that is, we demand something (love) from our partner instead of delivering ourselves up to him demand-free and asking for nothing but his company.”

This is one of those books which I find difficult to review as while reading this book I experienced a mix of emotions stirring within me.
This was the first time that I was reading Milan Kundera and I had heard of him as someone who's deeply influenced by Franz Kafka. That piqued my interest and I decided to give this book a shot. To begin with, Milan has a very weird and unique style of writing. I found it gripping and fast-paced but at the same time banal and pretentious.
Yes, there are some beautiful metaphors and aphorisms here and there, but overall I didn't quite like his indulgence in philosophical ramblings about lightness and heaviness. It seemed at times like he's overdoing it and I had to bear through some trite paragraphs.

One of the things which I detested the most about this book is the author's portrayal of women and the language that he has used throughout his book. The blatant objectification of women and the way he has described the women characters in this book is utterly disappointing and at times, miserably disgusting. This bothered me the most while reading the book.

Narration and storytelling wise, I would say the book doesn't do that great. Throughout the book, we see his characters struggling between the extremities of “heaviness” and “lightness” of being.
Thomas with his selfish promiscuous adventures and infidelities. Franz with his need to seek validation from the imaginary Sabina in his head. Tereza with her insecurities and jealousy. Sabina with his need to be free from everything and all attachments. The characters are suffering and having their own struggles swinging from one end to another. But at the same time, the characters do nothing in their power to change their situation and their moral ambiguity adds to their woes. As a reader, it makes the book unbearably tedious to read.

The theme of the book is too depressing and melancholic and the last chapter hits the final nail in the coffin. But I guess that's how most existential books are.
I found this book tolerable. Well, it does have some bits and pieces where it excels in terms of prose and its aphorisms but overall, I guess I could have skimmed through it and that'd have been a better choice. If you enjoy reading bleak existential philosophy, you perhaps might enjoy this book. However, there are much better existential fiction books out there. Personally, I found the Unbearable Lightness of Being, an unbearably dreary read!