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Comment by diego_moita | Hacker News Reader

"Unbearable Lightness" is one of those books that changed me as a person.

It isn't really too much of a novel because it has a very thin plot with very little drama or tension. It is more like a deep reflection. But it is very good.

The book's perspective on human condition is very cynical. My understanding, when I read it, is that by "unbearable lightness" what the author means is that we are absolutely irrelevant and the whole idea of "meaning of life" is just pathetic.

Yeah, I know: I sound like an atheistic teenager. But, please, don't get fooled. Kundera wrote a billion times better than me. He deserves to be read, even if I sound childish.

If you like Albert Camus you'll love Kundera (and vice-versa).

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Oof. You’re really underselling it. It’s more complex than you’re giving it credit for, I think - it’s not just a cynical “nothing means anything” kind of nihilism. Some of the characters hold a philosophy like that, but not all of them, and their ultimate fates don’t exactly suggest that Kundera is endorsing it. The book asks, even in the face of that kind of cynical and over-intellectualized view of the world, why and how do we try to find meaning in our lives regardless? I don’t see how by the end of it - which I’m bringing myself to tears just thinking about - you could believe that Kundera thinks that project is “pathetic”.

It’s also, of course, a very political novel in its depiction of life in the Soviet Bloc and of popular movements. It’s a very pointed critique of collectivism.

> The book asks, even in the face of that kind of cynical and over-intellectualized view of the world, why and how do we try to find meaning in our lives regardless?

This. I don't get the sense that Kundera himself is advocating for either lightness or weight. The novel asks a question that's as much philosophical as it is psychological, and the beauty lies in the question itself rather than any answers.

To quote Kundera: "On the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth."

> The book's perspective on human condition is very cynical. My understanding, when I read it, is that by "unbearable lightness" what the author means is that we are absolutely irrelevant and the whole idea of "meaning of life" is just pathetic.

The novel contains various asides where the author says what the book is about and it's not this.

Heaviness and lightness are two different attitudes towards life. Lightness is not committing to anything, chasing experience, infidelity, pleasure, and so on. If anything, the novel comes down on the side of heaviness: tenderness, commitment, marriage, having a dog even though it will die, etc.

I found the experience of the characters to be pretty moving and not irrelevant. Especially the woman who was cheated on repeatedly. Anyway, very fun book in that sooo much is repeated and the symbolicism is very heavy, makes it fun to find the patterns.

If you read a lot of his books they all turn out to be pretty similar imho, but it fit my vibes when I was like 18.

Another book that's great for re-reading is "The master and Margarita", pretty layered in terms of the different experiences you can have reading it.

"The master and Margarita" really bites hard in its satirical view of Moscow under the Soviets. One of my favorite funny books.

Yawning Heights by Zinoviev fits right in next to Bulgakov on the shelf.

I read it thirty years ago when I was overseas in the Army and going through a separation that would end in divorce. I always imagined the unbearable lightness of being was the joy of being separate and free from everyone in the world, with the curse that you were totally alone.

I read it in a high school long time ago. It’s a very different novel, although a bit boring one for a modern consumer. But it points out exactly what you say: the insignificance, and may cause the reader to change their perspective a bit.

I read it later, in my twenties, it was very entertaining, but I don't really remember anything now.

The title is absolutely great.

The book is competing with Nick Hornby's High Fidelity for the book I've re-read the most times. I absolutely love it.

And, I agree: the plot is barely worth mentioning. In fact, I once started watching the movie and stopped halfway through because it was just so banal and uninteresting. The great stuff is in all the little observations and considerations that aren't really part of the "story".

I read it every ten years or so, starting when I was young. I see myself change because of how I think about the characters or who I sympathize with; seems a different novel every time.

I agree, I cannot recommend it highly enough. I first read it in my early 20s, then late 20s, and again in my 30s. And every single time I find something new in it. I am long overdue my first 40s re-read, which will now of course carry some sadness in doing so.

One of the classics, no question.

RIP.

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