100 books to read in life: Book 6: "The Unbearable Lightness of Life".
Although I always wanted to read 100 books, I didn't succeed. This time, I challenge the 100 books that must be read in life, and today I am reading the sixth book - "The Unbearable Lightness of Life".
A 1984 novel by Czech writer Milan Kundera, it explores themes of life, love, meaning and freedom based on philosophy and storyline. The novel revolves around four main characters – Thomas, Teresa, Simone and François. They lived during the communist period in Czechoslovakia, and everyone had their own ideas about life, but these ideas were often in conflict with each other.
The first protagonist is Thomas, a successful neurosurgeon who champions individual freedom and casual pleasure.
The second protagonist is Teresa, a woman who pursues pure love, for whom love is important and dedicated to a relationship. She and Thomas have different views, and they once had a relationship.
The third protagonist is Simone, who is Thomas's lover and a nihilist who believes that life is meaningless and can only be forgotten through pleasure.
The fourth protagonist is François, the husband of Teresa of the second protagonist, who represents traditional, conservative values and has another understanding of marriage and fidelity. Through the lives and conflicts of these characters, the novel explores the importance of life, the existence or absence of meaning, the relationship between individual freedom and responsibility, and the complexity of love and sexuality. These questions do not have clear answers, but are displayed through the collision of ideas and behaviors of the characters, leading the reader to think deeply.
The Unbearable Lightness of Life is hailed as one of the most important literary works of the twentieth century.
