The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Set in Prague around the 1968 Soviet invasion, The Unbearable Lightness of Being follows the entangled lives of four people: Tomas, a womanizing surgeon torn between his love for his wife and his refusal to give up his affairs; Tereza, his devoted, jealous wife; Sabina, Tomas's free-spirited mistress and an artist who flees every commitment; and Franz, the idealistic academic who loves Sabina.

Around their romantic and political lives, Milan Kundera weaves a meditation on one of philosophy's oldest questions: whether a life lived only once, with no chance to compare or repeat it, is unbearably light — free of weight and consequence — or whether that very singularity is what gives our choices their crushing significance.

Blending fiction, philosophy, and essayistic digression, this modern classic is a profound and playful examination of love, freedom, fidelity, and the accidents of history. (This is the Czech-language edition, Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí.)