The Unbearable Lightness Of Being, Milan Kundera - Review

A perfect novel. You have to read this one.
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0:00 - A perfect novel
0:47 - brief synopsis
4:20 - !! Spoiler !!
6:10 - synopsis continues
7:05 - Milan Kundera
8:09 - Sexy?
9:59 - the film & a warning

[marciabuser]

What a perfect review of an amazing novel. I too read the book not long after its publication and loved it. In my case I was inspired to read it after seeing the movie. There were several lines from the novel that resonated and I never forgot. A couple days ago I finished listening to the audiobook version and appreciate the novel even more with the perspective of age (now 71). The narrator of the audiobook, Richmond Hoxie, did an excellent job, BTW. I agree with the observation that Americans tend to be more into money. I lived off and on in Europe while growing up and had an Italian mother. As a teenager I was very aware that Europeans always had a much more open and appreciative view of ourselves as sexual beings in a way that was not salacious, and very sexist, as it often is in the US. One could expound endlessly on the cultural differences in that regard. Nice job on this review and now I am intrigued to watch your other reviews.

[heidimeigs]

I haven’t read the book or seen the movie. I must see the movie just to watch three of my favorite actors…..Daniel, the stunning Lena and fantastically talented Juliette.

[nikkivenable]

This book has been on my shelf for years and I haven't yet read it...but I watched the movie and fell in love with it(Daniel Day Lewis is my favorite actor and has been seemingly my whole life...I just adore his work). I don't know why I have not yet read it and I must remedy that soon. Thanks for this phenomenal review, Grant! Edit: The part where you talked about the difference between North America vs European inclinations was super interesting. I've never been to Europe so I can't say and I wish I could. I think it's incredible that you traveled and took advantage of that when you were younger. What a gift that was to yourself!

[GunpowderFictionPlot]

A great little review of one of my favourite novels, makes me want to reread it at some point soon. :)

[whyDMYA]

That gravitational pull towards money, the money drive vs the sex drive. This is the first time I've heard words that have been to describe that feeling I get when I am in America that makes me feel a particular oddity that I can never wholly explain.

[TheHarpander]

Now that I have watched this video, I have managed to catch up and watch everything you've uploaded so far. I'm really enjoying the content; with almost every video you manage to surprise me with yet another interesting book I've never heard of. Thanks for the content and keep it up!

[OscllateWldly]

you are so right in saying that the novel gets better with every read

[Janinne]

No ! In North America there is no love, it is true ! Much more people are about money!!! Absolutely so ! You are correct !

[icenijohn]

As an expat Brit who's lived in California for over three decades I can easily understand (and well agree with) your comparison of Americans and their rapaciously never-ending quest for material wealth, as compared to 'Europeans' who have a much better-grounded approach to life and less obsession with ephemeral superficiality. (I do however think that Hungarians with whom you are familiar, vis-a-vis cooler less-ebullient Nordic peoples, or Southern Europeans with a warmer attitude to gregarity, are all as different as chalk and cheese. There's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all way to encompass the vast diversity of national cultures and idiosyncrasies in that relatively small landmass.) I am still disgusted by the overarching obsession with money here, and I often yearn for a society with more humanity and self-reflection. One of the first ways I encountered this difference was when I worked with Americans in England: they were constantly talking about 'making' money, as opposed to Brits who 'earn' money, a very telling dichotomy of those two cultures' approaches to life.

I recently watched the magnificent and poignant film of TULOB again, one of my absolute all-time favourites, but I've not yet read the novel. I can't wait to scour my local used-books store for it now! You'll love the film; anything with Daniel Day-Lewis, Lena Olin and a very young-looking Juliette Binoche, with heart-rending music by that only-could-be-Czech composer Leos Janacek, is irresistible to me!

[CristinaInNeverland]

right in the point!!! As you said in (5:52) “very simple, it´s very direct and it is explosive with meaning…it´s not subtle…it´s right there, word by word, i feel so much nuances when i read that…” yes! 👌

your review arouse interest without being a spoiler, perfect! And, as I had mentioned in another of your videos, it reminded me that I had not yet read his best known work, where the focal point is, for me, his wonderfull writing.

the characters' choices, often surrounded by an oppressive political environment, allow us to project and reflect on the paths taken and not taken by ourselves and the consequences, ah, the consequences....

I sympathized with Sabina (the lightness)🙂Tomas and even Franz, a little of each, but i could not even empathize with Tereza (the weight), and i stop here with this personage, well described, by the way, in the last pages of the book.

a novel that almost depressed me, but worth reading. As for lightness, for me, it remains fundamental, even if it´s sometimes not sustainable. It has to be intercalated😉(once again, thanks for reminding me about this book!)

[the_vishalparihar]

100 pages down to this book and I must admit, belonging to a culture very restrained in the sexual matters, the content of the book seems absurd or sometimes overly sexualised as if done by some of B-grade authors to gain more eye balls.
Plus, storyline seems to go in whirls and not in straight line, which also is making reading this work bit off.
However, I'll keep going and comeback here once I complete reading it.

[shelleysheaves]

Wait, I thought Tereza was from Prague, not the countryside.

[kresivarivkah]

This is interesting. I live in North America. I read this book when I was in my early twenties. I am not in my early 50s. I am married to a Hungarian and rereading this book. European people ARE very sexy.

[anisrayeg]

I iove it also, wonderful preview! Thank you.

[ildikobruce]

Oh wow! Thanks for commenting on Hungarian women being beautiful, ha ha!

[SpringboardThought]

This was not a book for me. Another generational gap thing, possibly, like catch 22 tends to be. Stuff that was absorbed into the general intellect such that the point of them are perfunctory.