Kundera’s famous novel opens with a discussion of philosophy - Nietzsche’s thought experiment of the Eternal Return in which he questions how you’d react if every moment of your life, every decision you made, would be repeated ad infinitum. He goes on to explore the idea of lightness and weight. Does the fact that we know our lives don’t repeat, that we will never be able to make the same decision again, or know what would have happened if we had done the opposite, mean that our lives are meaningless? This might seem a heavy subject for a book, and certainly the setting of it, the Prague Spring of 1968 in which the Soviet Union invaded then Czechoslovakia, adds additional heaviness, but it is not as dense as this might suggest. We meet a host of characters trying to navigate life in difficult circumstances, yet continuing along in situations relatable across the years - relationships, infidelity, sense of self, and identity.
Tomas is a serial womaniser and when he unexpectedly falls in love with Tereza finds himself unable to give up sex with others. He believes that love and lust are two separate things and so it is perfectly possible to love Tereza completely while continuing in his sexual liaisons with others. However, Tereza struggles with his infidelities, and he does feel some guilt, reaching a point where he has to drink in order to sleep with others, but the smell of alcohol gives away his actions. His longest-running extra-marital relationship is with Sabina, an artist who also has other partners. She is happily uncommitted, and when another lover leaves his wife for her she leaves without a trace.
Tereza has a difficult upbringing with a mother who did not conform to social norms, and whose ideas about privacy and the body were damaging to her daughter. She refused to let Tereza lock the bathroom door, and was more concerned about her desire for privacy than the fact her own partner would frequently go into the bathroom while Tereza was naked. Tereza came to feel that all bodies were equal and in Tomas she wanted to feel special, unique. His infidelities led her to despair that he saw no distinction between her and other women’s bodies. We see frequently in her disturbing dreams how she sees herself through Tomas’s eyes, that she understands the power he has over her and her desire to please him, but also that she does not believe he wants the best for her. Her dreams appear throughout without warning or indication that we are reading a dream, which can be disorienting due to the darkness of the contents of them. Her trajectory feels sad, from a painful childhood and family life, to hope that Tomas will be a gateway into a different better life, to resignation. She is a talented photographer and takes courageous photographs of the reality of occupation, but she feels cowed by Tomas, realising when they leave Prague that he does not provide everything she needs, that their relationship only works when she has the other familiar routines of daily life.
There is also a sense of paranoia and claustrophobia as anyone with any kind of public position is at risk of being condemned for their opinions or actions. Tomas tries to avoid committing to either side to avoid any kind of consequences but he is unsuccessful, his licence to practice surgery is removed and he instead spends his days as a window cleaner, which offers him ample opportunity for yet more sexual relations, and very little actual window cleaning. He has a general air of lack of consequence. He had formerly been married and has a son but never sees him nor does he have any desire to be in his life. He does not consider the effect his actions have on those connected to him, determinedly living a life of lightness, with not a thought to the heaviness he imposes on those around him as a consequence.
The narrative flits between characters, between the dreamworld and the real, and at times the narrator speaks to us directly as the reader. It is not a conventional narrative style but it is interesting, and as we approach the end we see the same events from different perspectives. An interesting read which explores gender relations and identity, personal responsibility, and uses the historical context, which was still very relevant at the time of publication, to add a sense of finality to decisions. A book which you can enjoy as a standalone piece, but which is likely to inspire a deeper dive into some of the ideas, events, and issues explored.
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