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A review by founddrama
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
3.0
The impression I got from other people about this book was that it was amazing. Or life-changing. A classic. Or something like that. And I suppose it wasn't bad, but I wonder if I would have liked it more had I not been given such pre-conceptions about it. Which is not to say that this is a bad or even mediocre book--I just can't understand why it's supposed to be particularly deep. [1] That being said, there were two things about this book that stuck out to me that brought it up to three stars (over two):
First: Cold War Nostalgia. I wonder if this book's relevance will wane significantly as we get further away from the era of Communism and the Cold War. The truly interesting passages in here were those that meditated on Communism and totalitarianism and Russian rule and all of the little human things that go on around that. Example: the discussion about whether the Czech Communist "true believers" were culpable for the deaths of political prisoners, or if their ignorance relieves them of guilt. (This is where Kundera's Oedipus motif shines most strongly.)
Second: I'll admit it: it gets downright prurient sometimes. And I like that.
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[1] I hate it when people refer to books as "deep". Even Harlequin romances are not written with the express purpose of being shallow.
First: Cold War Nostalgia. I wonder if this book's relevance will wane significantly as we get further away from the era of Communism and the Cold War. The truly interesting passages in here were those that meditated on Communism and totalitarianism and Russian rule and all of the little human things that go on around that. Example: the discussion about whether the Czech Communist "true believers" were culpable for the deaths of political prisoners, or if their ignorance relieves them of guilt. (This is where Kundera's Oedipus motif shines most strongly.)
Second: I'll admit it: it gets downright prurient sometimes. And I like that.
----
[1] I hate it when people refer to books as "deep". Even Harlequin romances are not written with the express purpose of being shallow.