The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a multi-layered novel mixing philosophy and a good story. At the core is the story of a man and a woman as they fall in love, get married, and go through life's troubles. Kundera moves easily from the specific to the general, expanding the characters' situations to the human condition.

The central story is about Tomas, a doctor in Prague, and Tereza, the young woman who captures his heart. Tomas is divorced and enjoys the company of many women. He does not intend his fling with her to become serious, but falls in love with her when she becomes sick and must stay in his bed for days. Even though Tomas marries Tereza, he keeps seeing his mistresses, especially a local artist named Sabina. This causes Tereza distress, yet he cannot stop seeing them.

They face real trouble when the Soviets invade Czechoslovakia. Tomas and Tereza flee to Zurich, but Tereza soon realizes she is too unhappy so she move back to Prague and takes their dog Karenin with her. Tomas discovers that he too is unhappy without her, so he sacrifices his nice job and his freedom to return to Prague to be with her. This is the central decision in the novel. Tomas chooses Tereza over his career, his freedom, his whole life. In Zurich he would have had freedom and a great job in medicine. In Prague he is subject to the whims of the Communist regime, and he is not free to be a doctor unless he keeps quiet about the government.

But he writes a scathing commentary against the Czech citizens who collaborate with the occupiers. He compares them to Oedipus, who put out his eyes after he realized the terrible crimes he had committed. He believes that those who collaborate with the Communist regime will someday see that they have made terrible crimes and should put out their eyes. This article comes to haunt him when he refuses to renounce it and his supervisor is forced to fire him, and he must become a window washer. Yet even as his station falls, his fortunes with women rise. His new occupation allows him to meet women for sex.

Tomas has stood up for his beliefs and suffered, but is soon faced with another decision. His estranged son visits him to request his signature on a petition to free political prisoners. Tomas is inclined to sign it, but he realizes that it is a pointless move that will only harm him. Here the author crystallizes the dilemma of living in a repressive country. Everyone understands that protesting against the state is pointless, even though it is the only option they have to fight back. The petition that Tomas refuses to sign is doubly pointless, since it is protesting the imprisonment of other protesters. If the government were legitimate and just, there would be no need to protest in the first place.

Tereza also experiments with having an affair, but becomes distressed and paranoid that her lover was only an agent of the secret police. Eventually Tomas and Tereza and Karenin move to the country and live a simple life. They realize that their love for each other is so strong that they are happy despite their loss of freedom and comfort.

Kundera creates a strong philosophical novel out of the story of the two lovers. He draws on psychology as he shows Tereza's past with her mother, Tomas's need to be with other women, and Sabina's desire to replicate her love for Tomas with another man. Politics are a force throughout the novel as the characters find themselves at the mercy of powerful forces. Kundera relates the characters' situation to the needs and desires in all of us. The experiences are deeper, more personal and yet more universal. A

Freedom

Jonathan Franzen's Freedom was on a lot of 2010 best books lists. It is a complex novel about a simple story. The story at the core is a love triangle. The center of the triangle is Patty, a woman who is strongly attracted to the musician and womanizer Richard Katz. Richard doesn't feel much for Patty but he has strong admiration and affection for his roommate Walter Berglund. Walter has noble ideals and sees in Patty something that she doesn't recognize in herself. In many ways, Walter is in love with an ideal of Patty, or perhaps he sees who she could be. His desire for her is strong enough to pull her to him, but only after Richard rejects her (knowing of Walter's feelings).

Walter convinces Patty to marry him, and the three of them ease into a relationship. Richard spends most of his time in New York or New Jersey while the Berglunds create a family in Minnesota. Walter is hurt by Richard's long absences, but Patty understands. Walter builds a successful career and manages to improve his life over that of his parents.

One of the themes in the book is the mistakes that parents make and how we try to avoid those mistakes while making completely new ones. Patty felt ostracized by her family, to the point where she hardly had anything to do with them after marrying Walter. So she smothers her children with love and attention, especially their son Joey. But Patty feels betrayed when Joey gets involved with their teenage neighbor, because she resents the girl's parents. Joey rebels against his parents and becomes a Republican.

Walter was the victim of his abusive alcoholic father and his mother would would not stand up for herself or for him. This is crystallized in the lake house that his mother inherits and his father wants to sell in order to pay off debts. When Walter can't convince his parents to fix it up, he decides to move there himself for the summer and fix it up. However, he is betrayed when his useless older brother shows up with the news that their parents are letting him "rent" the house. Walter has to give him the house and the peace that he enjoyed there.

The house remains central to Walter's life as he fixes it up when the brother leaves. The pivotal section is when Richard spends a summer there fixing it up and writing songs. When Walter heads home and leaves Patty there with Richard, they are faced with their old emotions again.

The parents' relationship is mirrored by Joey, who treats his girlfriend Connie like crap even though she is completely devoted to him. Like Walter, Connie is completely devoted to the love of her life; like Patty, she is depressed. Joey is worse to Connie that Patty is to her husband; he sleeps with several women at college while stringing her along.

The novel dramatizes the characters in depth, even going back to Patty and Walter's grandparents to illustrate the personalities that affected them through the generations. The plot thickens with Walter's and Joey's jobs, with both of them facing moral crises at the same time. The tension builds when Richard visits to discuss working with Walter, Walter's assistant making her feelings clear, and Joey calling his father for ethical advice. Somehow it all comes together for Walter, and in a few days his life has changed dramatically. The reader can really sense Walter's love and pain. But at the same time we can feel Patty's longing for her true love, something more than the admiration she feels for Walter. Somehow all together, the three of them combine with the elements of a complete relationship. A-