The Unbearable Lightness of Being

A Novel

By: Milan Kundera, Michael Henry Heim - translator

Narrated by: Richmond Hoxie

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

Liked it

Yes the elements of misogyny are undeniably there and yet, with all of its flaws, a rather fascinating book. Philosophical speculation, blah! Nietzsche....tired of an overrated post-modern obsession with the thinker who said too much and thought too much (what is so post-modern about a thinker who loved his own metaphysical abstruse expostulations - eternal recurrence of the same?)- a "perverted" Hegelian, as I like to call him. And yet, to repeat, a rather fascinating book. It left me uplifted. The best of the book is at the end- Karenin! Loved, loved, loved depiction of Karenin. Her is even on the cover. Is he the central protagonist of the novel?

Strongly recommended!

A wrestling

Beautifully written, pleasantly performed with a light & matter-of-fact approach well-matched for the telling. Makes a space for the ways the political & philosophical move alongside the national & cultural. Each shapes & is shaped by the lives of unsuspecting characters living out their complicated drama in the midst & in response to the conflict of revolutionary impulses and a significant shifting political power & ideology. The characters & the author-narrator who burst through occasionally. Love & passion, ambivalence... our striving to order life, make sense of things, or to seek ways to satiate need, repair what's broken.

A woman in search of knowledge

A friend recommended this book to me. It's completely outside my normal reading realm, but I've fallen in love with it. I highly recommend listening to it. However, do not listen then set it aside for a while, you will be lost if you wait too long. I believe both men and women would love this book.

Amazing

I will be using this book in my sessions with clients to promote conversation for a long time. Loved the narrator.

Vicerality

Visceral. Unapologetic. Nonjudgmental. This explorative piece took me on a walk through an older world, only to see modern struggles and realities. I love these characters and their dogged dependence on serendipitous (?) events.

Good book!

Not a love story in the conventional form, but a story within a story, intertwined with a littlw bit of history.

Just Listen to Alanis Morissette

What a let down of an ending. TLDR for this book is basically 'life is p ironic lol'

Introspective and Entertaining

Kundera blends thoughtful musings on life, art, love, happiness, destiny etc. with great character development and storytelling. The narrative follows the lives, decisions, and inner monologues of several main characters. It is well-written and entertaining. I enjoyed the narration by Richmond Hoxie as well.

Why can't the chapters coincide with the book?

How difficult can it be to edit the audio book chapters to coincide with the chapters in the book? This is a very basic operation and should be easily accomplished. Unfortunately, in this case and many others, that simple requirement has not been fulfilled.

Beautiful!

It is hard to put to words the beauty of this book. I listened because it was recommended for the purpose of learning how to ask questions. It did much more than that!