Unbearable Lightness of Being
by Milan Kundera · first published 2014
45% recommend45% neutral9% critical
Why HN recommends it
Novel that blends story with philosophical tangents on love, relationships, and the weight of choices; admired for its style, psychology, and humor, and rewarding on rereads at different life stages.
Common criticism: Some find the plot shallow and dull
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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A non-tech, non-business recommendation: "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera. A beautiful story, told with equal parts philosophy, psychology, and humor, and honestly heartbreakingly beautiful.
on “Ask HN: Books you wish you had read earlier?” ↗…Steppenwolf, Siddharta and the Glass Bead Game are other must-reads. Gabriel Garcia Marques, One hundred years of solitude. Practically all of Jorge Luis Borges' short stories. Mind-bending. Milan Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being. Michael Ende's Never Ending Story. Enjoy!
on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗…interesting insights on philosophy, the arts, theology, the history of mysticism and the quest for the meaning of life. I know it sounds trite, but I simply wasn't ready for it the first time. * The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera. [1] I read this 10 years ago. It touched my heart back then and it did it again this time. It's one of the few works of fiction that changed, a little or a lot, the way I think about…
on “Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?” ↗Nietzsche's writing on "eternal return" helped me with similar thoughts. It gives life heaviness, as Kundera says in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_return Also, learning to "imagine Sisyphus happy." Easier said than done, of course. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus
on “Life Is Short (2016)” ↗…you already read Pale Blue Dot which I appear to be late to the party on try "Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective" by Thomas Sowell) And if you're after fiction instead: - "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera - "The Cunning Man" by Robertson Davies - "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck That's a nice round 10 recommendations so let me have a bonus one for year 2015: - "The Dictator's Handbook:…
on “Lessons learned after 300 books in 4 years” ↗The unbearable lightness of being - Milan Kundera Candide - Voltaire
on “Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.” ↗For anyone thinking, "The words in the title sound sort of familiar, but I'm not sure why", it's a reference to "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", a great book by Milan Kundera which translated into Daniel Day-Lewis' worst film.
on “The Unbearable Asymmetry of Bullshit” ↗The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera taught me that every person is really a construct of many other people. We are all one and I am everyone.
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗…has been the most impactful, but due to the length of the book it's hard for others to compete on the impact-per-page metric. I wrote about it in detail here https://speak.sh/posts/infinite-jest The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera showed me another perspective of love I had never considered. Gave me insight into vulnerability. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes showed me how by looking through the world via…
on “Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life?” ↗The unbearable lightness of being - Milan Kundera. Found it in an airbnb I rented during a lockdown and made me buy a kindle and restart reading books.
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life?” ↗…though I don't know if "comfortable" is the right word. I think a fulfilled live involves a balance between freedom and responsibility. This post and discussions like this always remind me of Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being, which I'd highly recommend to anyone, but especially those contemplating such questions. The major insight, though not immediately helpful, is that life is both heavy and light, and we must learn to…
on “Ask HN: How do you overcome feeling completely lost in life?” ↗Milan Kundera's _The Unbearable Lightness of Being_. Kundera uniquely combines fiction and philosophy, often switching back and forth from a world of suspended disbelief in the lives of his characters, and a world where his characters only serve as overt…
on “Ask HN: Best books read in 2022” ↗I loved both Kundera's (The Unbearable Lightness of Being; and Havel's Summer Meditations). While reading it it felt like the author of this article had an axe to grind. His bitterness towards Havel felt palpable And some quick googling shows that he's definitely…
on “Why Kundera Never Went Home” ↗Oh, sure! 1. The Book of Disquiet by Bernardo Soares/Fernando Pessoa ("Livro do Desassossego" in the original Portuguese) 2. 1984 by George Orwell 3. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera 4. The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman 5. (As mentioned) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde It doesn't make much sense, but between 1. and 2. I'd put all of the currently…
on “As 'Dorian Gray' ages, its relevance only grows” ↗I really liked "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera because of the style of writing and not because of the story. The author goes on a lot of thought-provoking philosophical tangents. Here's an example from the very beginning of the book:…
on “To become a better writer, read as much as you can” ↗