The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

I admit that I have been slightly too busy (and lazy) to write more book reviews. Book reviews require more thought and effort than food reviews. I mean there is only that many ways I could describe food. Food is either good or bad. There is no depth, and if I were to make a meek attempt to instill depth into my food reviews, that would be simply superficial. 

Book reviews, on the other hand, are completely different. They require thought and analysis. If I were to rush through a book review or give a fleeting statement about a book, I know I am not doing justice to the book and I am simply wasting my time. Seriously, I would be better off curling up in bed with another book or reflecting on the day.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being was recommended by my brother. I finished All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and was searching for another book to read. By the way, before I forget, do read All The Light We Cannot See. It is an incredible book. 

Anyway I doubt I can do a book review for The Unbearable Lightness of Being because there are just so many themes in the book and so many ideas that hit me while reading it. I'm just going to talk about the part that struck a chord in me. Franz was a lecturer at the peak of his scholarly career but he viewed his time in the lecture hall in front of his students as unreal. He enjoyed participating in demonstrations because he felt that these were real. He did not realize that being part of the demonstrations was just theater, drama, carnival, and not reality. His reality was actually the time spent in the lecture hall before his students.  

I could not help but think of all the people who have similar traits. People who crave for dramatic events in their lives, people who feel alive when they are part of something theatrical. They enjoy being in the center of attention, on a stage, with a hundred pairs of eyes on them, and this to them is reality. Some are able to separate the real and unreal, but like Franz, mistake the unreal as real. Others conflate the real and unreal and mix them up into a pot of misery. People in the latter group do not separate the real and unreal (i.e. they do not lecture students in one part of their lives and participate in demonstrations in the other). Instead, they perceive reality through warped lens to create their own reality (which they do not realize is unreal). For such people, a simple word of thanks could mean a million other things. A nod in their direction could be affirmation of something bigger. They build a world in their minds which is significantly different from reality. 

And when you point it out to them, call them bluff, they buckle under the pressure of reality.