read the unbearable lightness of being

I saw the movie years ago, but it took me a while to get to the book. I’m so glad I read it.

“According to Kundera, “being” is full of “unbearable lightness” because each of us has only one life to live: “Einmal ist keinmal” (“once is nonce”, i.e., “what happened once might as well have never happened at all”). Therefore, each life is ultimately insignificant; every decision ultimately does not matter. Since decisions do not matter, they are “light”: they do not tie us down. But at the same time, the insignificance of our decisions—our lives, or being—is unbearable. Hence, “the unbearable lightness of being”.”

Kundera nailed it. Life is so short and each life so insignificant. Just think of all the billion, trillon people who preceded us and the insignificance of it all comes crashing in upon us. Who were they? What did they do? They matter not at all. It’s so damn depressing and sad if you really sit and contemplate it. Therefore, most of us choose to ignore it, and focus on trivial crap that means nothing at all, me included, since we can’t bear to think about the insignificance of our short, meaningless lives.

Naah.

Dammit I hate giving up on stuff. I’ll give it one more try.

This book was such a drag. I was irritated with all the obsessing over relationships (mostly because I do that myself a lot.)`I sent it back to the library.

Ok I’ve checked it out of the library… that’s a start!

I loved this book SO much. I found a mass market edition in a bookstore in Florence (in the US they only sell the larger trade paperback edition) and it fits quite nicely in my new purse, also from Florence. Quite convenient for going to one of the parks around the city on a nice day to sit and read. Anyways, yes, loved this book immensly. If you’re looking for something to read that’s an enjoyable read with a good storyline, good characters, and some actual substance in the writing, I highly recommend this book. Or any of Kundera’s stuff, really, but this is my favorite thus far.

i saw an article in the paper about heavy and light people, and that pointed towards this book. on mentioning it to my more literate friends i got a definite ‘you should read it’. so i’m reading it :)