The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Written by Milan Kundera

A tangled web of love and infidelity questions the weight of existence in a fleeting world.

4.1 Goodreads · 567,065 ratings

314 pages

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Bookroo's summary

In a world where choices are irrevocable and events occur only once, a young woman loves a man torn between her and his unending affairs. As their lives intertwine with another couple, they grapple with the paradox of existence's lightness and weight. Can love endure when life feels both fleeting and profound? This masterful tale explores the depths of human connection and the philosophical musings of being, challenging readers to reassess their own lives and choices. Discover the delicate balance between comedy and tragedy in a story that questions the very essence of existence.

From the publisher

A young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing; one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover-these are the two couples whose story is told in this masterful novel. Kundera’s first since “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting.” In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence, we feel “the unbearable lightness of being” not only as the consequence of our private actions, but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.

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