The unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera

The unbearable lightness of being

ISBN: 05711353390

Number of pages: 304

Bestsellers: The unbearable lightness of being, the book of laughter and forgetting

First Published: 1984

Nightflier speaks:

There is hardly anyone, (except if you are Sheldon Cooper type), who does not ponder upon the idea of love growing up, growing old. Like everyone I have done it and still do it. Precisely 4 years ago, my notion of this seemingly bolly/holly-woodish concept was simple. Through some personal and then some vicarious (acquired from friends in their suffering and happiness) experiences, I stopped being influenced by 'the movies'. Not because I have become thoroughly cynical, but may be because love is personal and universal. It becomes personal because of the souls involved and is universal because of the physicality of it. Of course, I am digressing hugely from the topic at hand. But I will get there. Like the book.

Milan Kundera gives us 4 principle characters (and few side-kicks to complete the circle) and puts forward his philosophical discussion about love, life, being, lightness, weight, soul, body, misunderstandings. More than what happens to the characters we get drawn in this unending chaos of whys and hows. A lot that happens is fortuitous, circumstantial perhaps.

There is Tomas. He is the emblem of lightness. He moves from woman to woman without any attachment, until he finds Tereza, who needs someone to protect her. And although its against his lightness, he comforts her. Tereza is drowned by weight. Of unhappiness. Tomas's mistress, Sabina, the one who really understands him, the one he understands is torn. She cant live without betrayals. Sabina's lover Franz, is a good person, loyal and highly educated. He leaves everything for Sabina, only to find himself left stranded and liberated. Through the spirit of Sabina. Why do these people do what they do? What must drive them? In turn is that what drives us too? Do we believe in fortuities because we are utterly incapable of reality? Weighed down by some burden? Why. Why. Why. 

Kundera is gifted with words (needless to say). The original book in french must be a delight (but with my poor reading skills I stuck to english). It isnt his ability to delve deeper, but rather his ability to draw us into this philosophical journey, which I found remarkable. Without being a drag i.e. 

Also, his take on the soviet regime and communism in Czechoslovakia is asinine. The way he takes digs at both, the way he portrays emigre's life, give you a deep insight on his love (?) for a country which was once his home.

May be my comparisons are hasty and somewhat not fully realized, but I could not help myself from thinking about the movie Closer. I thought about Anna, Alice, Dan and Garry while reading the book. A lot.

Rating: 5/5

Price: 263 Rs. (flipkart)

Bodily Harm by Margaret Atwood

Bodily Harm


ISBN: 0099740818

Number of Pages : 301
Genre: fiction, contemporary classic
Published: 1996
Bestsellers: the blind assassin, up in the tree


Synopsis: [From flipkart]
Rennie Wilford, a young jounalist running from her life, takes an assignment to a Caribbean island and tumbles into a world where no one is what they seem. When the burnt-out Yankee Paul (does he smuggle dope or hustle for the CIA?) offers her a no-hooks, no strings affair, she is caught up in a lethal web of corruption.


Nightflier speaks:
I have been wanting to read an Atwood novel for months, and finally through some chance unavailability of other books in my reading list, 'bodily harm' came my way.


It had been ages since I read a sensitive thriller, with the flavors of the carribean. The plot is pretty straightforward, Rennie, a lifestyle journalist who is going through a life crisis unlike anyone (cancer) decides to get away from her defined world and takes a vacation of sorts on an island near Barbados. She gets entangled in a massive local event and her life changes forever.


Throughout the book, there is a surrealism, as if walking through Rennie's dreams. Rennie after having struggled for her body from the cancer, goes a metamorphosis which liberates her. Opens her to a reality from an altogether different plane. I got so engrossed in Rennie that I could literally feel the pangs she felt, of not knowing herself anymore, of her condition, of her relationships, of her growing up. 
This is my first Atwood, but I can say that she deals with emotions like a charm. She digs so deep that you feel what the character must be feeling. Also there is a haunting sense to all the characters. We see them through Rennie's eyes (who is undergoing a massive identity crisis because of the disease). Hence the characters remain a fling of sorts, we often meet at foreign places and later forget about.


There is also a touch of feminism in the book. All the females are starkly independent, can fend for themselves despite being vulnerable. She portrays this so beautifully and sensitively, that the book doesnt feel like badgering you with women issues. That I feel is a welcome kind of writing.
Also another sensitive issue of politics and government is handled in the book. It is not detailed, but considering it is through the eyes of a traveler, the treatment is justified. 


All in all, a different and welcome read. Took me time to pick up pace, but it did grow on me later.


Rating : 4/5
Price : 350 (flipkart)