The Unbearable Lightness of Being

A young woman is in love with a successful surgeon; a man torn between his love for her and his womanising. His mistress, a free-spirited artist, lives her life as a series of betrayals; while her other lover stands to lose everything because of his noble qualities. In a world where lives are shaped by choices and events, and everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance and weight – and we feel ‘the unbearable lightness of being’.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being encompasses passion and philosophy, infidelity and ideas, the Prague Spring and modern America, political acts and private desires, comedy and tragedy – in fact, all of human existence.

— from Faber

A profound exploration of love, fate, and what drives us to action, this novel follows a wide cast of characters as they navigate the tensions between desire and responsibility in communist-era Czechoslovakia. This book captured me with its deep exploration of existentialism and I’d recommend it if you like an introspective read set against a grim historical backdrop. It also made me rethink every major life decision I’ve ever made, especially those that had to do with leaving the country I grew up in to chase the person I loved (just kidding).

— Syaiful, CPD