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Robin's Reviews > The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
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did not like it
bookshelves: bad-books

I felt this book was contrived and to me it seemed as if the author tried desperately to sound intellectual. Instead he came off egotistical. First off all the meandering about Nietzche and quite frankly he set me off to start off by making statements I couldn't agree but he goes right on as if it is a trueism that everyone must believe in.

To be quite frank the characters were boring. The prose was uninteresting. There was no emotion, no real depth, and how many times to I have to hear about him pluking the woman from the reed basket - please!

Another reviewer mentioned slogging thorugh life and this book - I couldn't agree more - it was a chore and that's not what we read for. I finally "gave up the ghost" so maybe I shouldn't review it since I've not read it all the way through but bad is bad, and I can't see how this was going to turn itself around.

This author has created a facade - he talks a good story, with lots of smoke and mirrors with words that sound intellectual but there is no real depth there.

(Overrated) Rhetorical games, combined with recurrent references to Nietzsche and Beethoven, create an intellectual facade that seems much weightier than it really is. Built on many false presumptions and bolstered by an epic, scholarly tone, the novel has potential to be interesting in its musings, but just can't be taken seriously as a work of philosophical or psychological depth.

I would recommend that people avoid this book - There are so much better uses of their time.

Robin
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Medieval fantasy series: The Crown Conspiracy (Oct 2008), Avempartha (April 2009)
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Reading Progress

October 14, 2008 – Shelved
October 16, 2008 –
page 88
28.03%
October 16, 2008 –
page 88
28.03% "I'm really not liking this book. I think I'm going to throw in the towel."
October 16, 2008 – Shelved as: bad-books
Started Reading
October 17, 2008 –
page 88
28.03%
October 17, 2008 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-9 of 9 (9 new)

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Jocelyn I suspect my opinion will be similar to yours. I'm already rollign my eyes at what usually irks me - overthinking, pseudointellectual drivel and nonsense - somethign that just turns me right off in people.


Radiant_brunette26yahoo.com What do you recommend? I'm 25, single, female, looking for excitement/ motivation/ intellect from a book.


Catarina I came here to see if it wasn't only me to think that way since everyone around me thinks he is a great writer. To me it seemed like ego masked with seemingly deep words but overall it was just pseudo-intellectualism. Only read it till the end because someone told me the end was great, and it wasn't.


message 4: by Liz (new) - rated it 1 star

Liz Wonderful review! I wholeheartedly agree with everything you've said. The pseudo-intellectual aspect was uberannoying.


Aleksandra Singer Thank you to everyone in this comment thread for validating my feelings about this book too! Agreed on the analysis of this book as self-absorbed pseudo-intellectual drivel.


Annette I'm afraid this review tells more of your prejudices and limitations than it explains the book.


message 7: by Diane (new)

Diane Wallace Honest!


Alaska Agreed 10000000000% ick


Mayelin Garcia Agreed 100000000000%


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