The Unbearable Lightness of Being

by Milan Kundera.

Quickie Recap: Tomas, knowledgeable surgeon and lover of women takes a wife, Teresa, because he finds in himself that he must. But he can't stop himself from visiting his various lovers, like usual, and this tears Teresa up. Thinking about the series of events that have made up his life, Tomas, and other characters reach the same conclusion: that life is unbearably light.

Quickie Review: This novel is post-modern, in that the author takes time away from the plot to speak directly to the reader: Here is my idea, he says, and I have made up this little story to illustrate it, but it's not real, I just made the characters up. The central idea is: we each have but one life to live, and the events in our lives quite easily may never have happened. Therefore, every decision that we think is so important is actually insignificant. If you spend too much time thinking about this, your head will hurt, and indeed, the characters who think this way are in pain. It startles each one of them, and life never looks the same after this conclusion is reached.

Quickie Recommendation: I'm not a big fan of post-modernism. I like the idea, like the challenge of reading something with so concretely a central theme, but I can't say that I overly enjoyed this on in particular.