![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Wow. This book was really amazing. It starts off very philosophical, so I didn't think I would like it, but I did. The lives of these four people (and one dog) demonstrate so much. It's a beautifully written book, and a very smart book, without being obnoxious about it or intimidating or difficult to read. I'm really impressed by this book, and a lot of it I found very meaningful.
An added level of meaning, for me, was that F recommended this as one of his very favorite books. So as I read, I was looking for him there too, imagining certain scenes as he had described or imagined them. It's such an introspective and self-aware book that this didn't feel unnatural.
My favorite part was the section in the middle about Sabina and Franz. I loved the dictionary of misunderstood terms, and how Kundera describes the terminology and symbolism of a life. I loved how each of these characters had drastically different views on things (for example, their disparate opinions on cemeteries, or light, and what those things mean), and that these views were so intrinsic to who they were. They could never share these opinions because they were the sort of things you could never share, that it wouldn't even occur to you to share because it's so deep within you that you might not even fully understand the relevance of this thing. And yet, the fact that they had such different views made their relationship impossible, and there was no way to fix that.
For example. I listen to Songs: Ohia and think, wow, this is sexy music. A friend of mine, on the other hand, discovered Songs: Ohia at a difficult time in her life, and now when she hears that music she feels incredibly sad. Same music, entirely different emotional responses, each completely valid but completely different. This is how Sabina and Franz were about everything in their lives, every deeply held view, every passion, and so they could never really understand each other. To me this felt very beautiful and sad, but also very real and true.
Another section I loved: the last section of the book, chronicling the dog Karenin's death. Tereza and Tomas both love that dog, but it is told almost entirely from Tereza's perspective. Tereza realizes at one point that kindness only means something when the other party is powerless--she is nice to the people in her town because you have to be nice to your neighbors, and on some level she is kind to her husband because she needs him, but the dog--the dog is truly powerless, and so the love and kindness she feels for him is entirely pure. That really spoke to me. The whole section about the end of Karenin's life was really moving. I also loved the very end, how the two of them had found some peace and happiness together, finally. You know for hundreds of pages that they're going to die in a car crash, but suddenly somehow it's okay, knowing that they were happy. The ending is what really made the book for me.
An added level of meaning, for me, was that F recommended this as one of his very favorite books. So as I read, I was looking for him there too, imagining certain scenes as he had described or imagined them. It's such an introspective and self-aware book that this didn't feel unnatural.
My favorite part was the section in the middle about Sabina and Franz. I loved the dictionary of misunderstood terms, and how Kundera describes the terminology and symbolism of a life. I loved how each of these characters had drastically different views on things (for example, their disparate opinions on cemeteries, or light, and what those things mean), and that these views were so intrinsic to who they were. They could never share these opinions because they were the sort of things you could never share, that it wouldn't even occur to you to share because it's so deep within you that you might not even fully understand the relevance of this thing. And yet, the fact that they had such different views made their relationship impossible, and there was no way to fix that.
For example. I listen to Songs: Ohia and think, wow, this is sexy music. A friend of mine, on the other hand, discovered Songs: Ohia at a difficult time in her life, and now when she hears that music she feels incredibly sad. Same music, entirely different emotional responses, each completely valid but completely different. This is how Sabina and Franz were about everything in their lives, every deeply held view, every passion, and so they could never really understand each other. To me this felt very beautiful and sad, but also very real and true.
Another section I loved: the last section of the book, chronicling the dog Karenin's death. Tereza and Tomas both love that dog, but it is told almost entirely from Tereza's perspective. Tereza realizes at one point that kindness only means something when the other party is powerless--she is nice to the people in her town because you have to be nice to your neighbors, and on some level she is kind to her husband because she needs him, but the dog--the dog is truly powerless, and so the love and kindness she feels for him is entirely pure. That really spoke to me. The whole section about the end of Karenin's life was really moving. I also loved the very end, how the two of them had found some peace and happiness together, finally. You know for hundreds of pages that they're going to die in a car crash, but suddenly somehow it's okay, knowing that they were happy. The ending is what really made the book for me.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-07-10 03:00 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-07-10 03:21 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-07-10 03:21 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-07-10 03:58 pm (UTC)From:I think I need to start posting about all my books since I'm reading so much again.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-13 02:01 pm (UTC)From:The Unbearable lightness of being [videorecording (DVD)] / an Orion Pictures release ; the Saul Zaentz Company presents a Philip Kaufman film ; screenplay by Jean-Claude Carriere & Philip Kaufman ; produced by Saul Zaentz ; directed by Philip Kaufman.
Santa Monica, CA : MGM Home Entertainment, 2002 1 videodisc (173 min.) : sd. (stereo.), col. ; 4 3/4 in.
Subjects Feature films.
Format: [videorecording (DVD)] /
ISBN: 0792853415 ($19.98)
Description: 1 videodisc (173 min.) : sd. (stereo.), col. ; 4 3/4 in.
Edition: Widescreen ed. ; (ratio aspect 1.85:1)
Summary: Set in Czechoslovakia in the 1960's, the story revolves around a young doctor who has a way with women and an aversion to politics. He suddenly finds himself caught up in his country's political turmoil and in a crisis of commitment with the women in his life.
Notes: Based on the novel by Milan Kundera.
For specific features see interactive menu.
Originally produced as a motion picture in 1988.
Rated R.
DVD.
In English with English, French & Spanish subtitles.
Performer: Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Derek de Lint.