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The Unbearable Lightness of Being

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being

By: Milan Kundera, Michael Henry Heim
Narrated by: Richmond Hoxie
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About this listen

One of the century's most famous novels, available for the first time on audio - read by Richmond Hoxie. Milan Kundera's iconic novel of love and politics in communist Czechoslovakia is 'a dark and brilliant achievement' (Ian McEwan).

'A cult figure.' Guardian

'Shamelessly clever ... Exhilaratingly subversive and funny.' Independent

'A modern classic ... As relevant now as when it was first published. ' John Banville

A young woman is in love with a successful surgeon - a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanising. His mistress, a free-spirited artist, lives her life as a series of betrayals - while her other lover 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 and weight - and we feel 'the unbearable lightness of being'.

A masterpiece by one of the world's truly great writers, Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being encompasses passion and philosophy, infidelity and ideas, the Prague Spring and modern America, political acts and private desires, comedy and tragedy - and illuminates all aspects of human existence.

©2012 Milan Kundera (P)2012 Faber & Faber Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Feel-Good

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All stars
Most relevant  
Loved the narrator, story less so. Herman Hesse-lite. Some of the character development was wonderful though.

Great performance but a drawn out metaphysical wreck of a story

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I've read this book many times, hearing it was like reading it again for the first time, it is a great piece of writing

I love this book

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This book wasn’t gripping but more a reflective and insightful book of philosophy through creation of characters and reflections on life and our ways of making what we can from it and finding meaning

Interesting and reflective

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This is a simple yet very complicated book which provokes all sorts of thoughts and raises interesting questions. It’s beautifully written in its simplicity and very touching and sad in many parts.

Thought provoking book

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Kundera is a master of truly touching writing. Few other contemporary writers come so close. If you haven't experienced this novel, go ahead right now. You'll be swept away by its beauty.

Blissful and brilliant

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Beautiful book, it enroped me into the story and my heart ached with Tereza's. I liked how Kundera weaved these people into his ideologies and created such a vivid picture- but at parts his delivery fell flat and my interest waived.

Pulling at the heart strings

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So much depth on the human condition, now I understand why it's frequently on the top must read/digest lists.

wow

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There are parts of this book that I thoroughly enjoyed. There are moments of great beauty through skilful prose and a thoughtful story. However, I think you can only enjoy an opinionated book if you agree with the opinions expressed. Unfortunately, in enough of the cases to spoil it, I did not.
My other complaint is quoting the ancients to prove your point rather than illustrate it. Euclid was a truly great mind - it took us a couple of thousand years to show his work as incomplete, but eventually we moved past him.
I would go as far as to say I could possibly be a fan of the author, but not the philosopher.
I know others have found this book very deep and enjoyable - it is well written, so I am wary of putting another reader off it just because I didn't enjoy parts of it.

Strives to be deep

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The reading was very well done. He brought me close in against the feeling of the book and prevented it from ever getting dull, as a more prosaic, dispassionate reader could have.

I don't think there's anything i can say about the book which hasn't been said better by others. It's a book of philosophy / psychology but unusually dense with substance. Expresses every idea with a very high ratio of beauty to wordcount.

The book will affect how I see things for a long time. Particularly the idea that there are at least two correct and valid ways of seeing the same situation e.g. a strange coincidence.
The prosaic and factual one which says 'By law of probability coincidences are bound to happen constantly.'
And the poetic view which intelligently seeks out and appreciates the beauty and conceptual nuances in such events.

To limit yourself only to the former view is to rob yourself of beauty in your life.

That's something I'm going to change.

Breaking News: Famous classic is really good

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I remember almost nothing of this semibiographical(felt like) novel read in my teens; charting lives in Czechoslovakia under Communist oppression and melding philosophical ideas of destiny, love, sex, relationships and the imperative to survive. Initially the narrative was very inward looking but expanded and flowed with touching sensitivity at the finale. I was struck by the meanness and relentless cruelty of communism that forced individual to betray one another but fortified by the courage that emerged.

Destiny under oppression

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