This is the type of a book that I see myself reading while in college and getting a tremendous influence on my life. I have read it ten years too late though, and it didn’t have the shattering effect that I’m sure I would have had then. Doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the book. On the contrary, it was everything that I needed on a cold autumn day - a sensual romance, a down-to earth life story, a series of witty philosophical observations on life, love, relationships, culture, and politics.
A psychotherapist in me was in thrills - I had a feeling that Kundera wrote his book with a psychology manual by his side, the characters were built and explained that thoroughly.
The story deals a lot with the Soviet rule in Czech, and as a Ukrainian I was interested in Kundera’s portrayal of the times, although I was born in the last years of the Soviet Union’s existence. I saw many movies set during those times, but I haven’t read many books, unfortunately. He managed to show that period in history with, well, heaviness and lightness, to describe the time’s state of soul and body with bitter tenderness.