Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unbearable Lightness of Being
23dollars avatar reviewed on + 432 more book reviews


I read The Unbearable Lightness of Being with a buddy in my online book club, The Reading Cove.

I wish I could say I enjoyed it more, but I found it to be very pretentious and overindulgent. The narrative felt like it had Tourette's syndrome, the characters were flat and disengaging. The author seems to be exploring the ideas of desire, infidelity, passion, love, lust and neediness, but these themes are draped around characters I could not have cared less about.

After the first half, I found none of the relationships even remotely interesting and the book became a chore to read. Not even the 1960s European setting and political backdrop could save it. I only finished because it was a buddy read. I'm still yawning.