The Unbearable Lightness of Being

A Novel

By: Milan Kundera, Michael Henry Heim - translator

Narrated by: Richmond Hoxie

Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©1984; 1984 Milan Kundera; English translation © Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers

A THOUGHTFUL JOURNEY

This is not a typical love story. When the opening paragraph of a story references Friedrich Neitzsche, we may conclude this is not going to be light, easy reading. Kundera is a new author for me. I like to learn something about the background of a new author; I find I can better understand where the writer is trying to take the reader (listener) if I know from whence he comes. (Thank you, Google.)

Milan Kundera was born in the Czech Republic in 1929. He grew up in the Balkan area in the aftermath of WWI, the German Occupation in WWII followed by the Russian Occupation, rebellions and subsequent uprisings. He emigrated to France in 1975. His life has been long and intense and gave opportunities to gain wisdom and a wide overview of life.

The story is built around three major characters and Karenin, a dog: Tomas, a successful surgeon in Prague who is an unabashed womanizer with a wife and son; Tereza, a young student working as a photo-journalist during the turmoil in the Balkans who falls in love with Tomas; and Sabina, a free spirit artist with a faithful lover while she is Tomas’ mistress. Around these characters, Kumdera weaves his philosophical questions of irrevocable, never to return periods of life and eternally returning cycles to be repeated over and over again.

His writing is lucid and compelling. There is love in many forms, from erotic sex to the love of a beloved dog. And, there are points to ponder as we examine our own experiences. His novel is worth the thoughtful hours required to follow him.

Prague

Been there done that. A bit overly talky but filled with many truths. The place where Clinton played his sax? An Amerikan disgrace. The book, though was terrific.

Not sure what I was thinking

I used to like this book when I was young and foolish, but it’s too misogynistic to be able to enjoy now.

The Finess of all of the Czech Literature

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is one of the Greatest Czech novels that I ever read, both erotic and the depiction of the Counter-Culture movement in the Eastern Bloc.

Matter with Art

Great writing. Terrific narration.
Deeply developed characters. Author has a real grasp on human psychology.

Beautiful story, wise, unusual, superb narration

I saw the movies a long time ago and it was very good but did not do the book justice. The story made me reflect a lot about existence and the narration was outstanding.

it's ok

I was lured by the title, and I did finish it, but it's not much of a story. Narration is decent.

The movie is better...seriously.

The movie with Daniel Day Lewis captures the best ideas of the book, and ignores the uneven and unnecessary intellectualization in the book.

Teflon Meets Flypaper

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to a friend who has experienced being both stuck in a relationship with a person, career, or movement and also disengaged at these levels at various times of his or her life. Having had these experiences I found the story helpful in assessing my own life. It also helps me appreciate the balance I have now found.

What did you like best about this story?

I most enjoyed the various combinations of characters and situations that exemplified what can happen when a person needing freedom to experience all encounters one needing connection to express all. In the story this came together for me in Tomas' son, Simon. He could give all to God while not burdening another human being.

What about Richmond Hoxie’s performance did you like?

He served as a transparent medium for the story, which held my interest, throughout.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I wanted to use this for my commute and took a week to complete the book.

Any additional comments?

This was my first Audible selection, and I look forward to others.

Unbearable lightness

It’s a beautiful book. It felt like I was meant to read it during this lifetime.