It’s been some time since my last English reading, picking up this book at Eslite was entirely an accident. I did not know this author before (shame of myself), and the review from Victoria Glendinning at Sunday Times caught my heart,
‘There are novels that are tragic, or entertaining, and this one if both. There are very few that give a fresh perspective on existence, and force the reader to reassess his own life and attitudes.’
Yes, if you are already constantly thinking about the purpose of life and what we are all doing on this planet earth, this is definitely the book you would love. Indeed, I was not able to figure out what is the story about at the beginning, wondering if it was just another story about irreconcilable love and affairs, may be built on some philosophical elements. It is certainly a book much more than that. Here’s a short summary:
Divorced Czech surgeon Tomas met the love of his life Tereza in a “meant-to-be” circumstances, yet Tereza was constantly jealous because of his infidelities. The jealousy and her self-doubt could be sought back to her childhood memory. Meanwhile, Tomas tried his best to avoid casual relationships, he could not forget Sabrina, who later became Tereza’s colleague. Toma’s “lightness” was the freedom — to have sex with whoever he likes, yet it became so “unbearable” after he fell for Tereza, even though it was also “unbearable” to stay faithful to her.
Beyond relationships and love, the story took another level when the Russian troops occupied Prague. The Soviet Union took measures to control thoughts and speech. It happened that Tomas, as an ordinary citizen, once wrote a letter to a newspaper talking about his hatred towards communism, making him a target of the regime. The book did not talk about him being tortured (It won’t go too heavy, I promise.) Nonetheless, he was constantly being watched, under the eyes of the government, being inseparable from politics. On the other hand, the author also takes us back to different characters’ childhood and showed how family and early life affect their personality.
Politics, social unrest, and personal crises all played their part in this book. The story was structured well and you can find some parts of you in the characters. I am particularly touched by Kundera’s description on how vulnerable we are, how much we are connected with the world, our history, our old days and people around us, no matter how hard some people tried to deny it.
I love this book so much and probably will read it all over again (soon) so that I can rewrite this little “report”
