This is a clever book and the political backdrop interested me. Later, in Geneva, Sabina becomes the mistress of an academic, Franz, who leaves his wife for her, although a permanent domestic life with him was not really what she was seeking so they part and he settles down with one of his students. Sabina is his way of convincing himself that he is still free to pursue his erotic interests. She represents cheer, lightness and ease when Tomáš is concerned that Tereza is going to tie him down. Sabina and Franz are more marginal characters and I struggled to fully understand their relevance Sabina, an artist, is Tomáš’s lover when he begins his relationship with Tereza. Tereza is perpetually sad, quite a depressing character. Tereza is a talented photographer, but she never manages to exploit her abilities, working instead in a series of dead-end jobs.

I did not warm to Tereza either she is a damaged person, body-dysmorphic, which seems to have been caused by her challenging relationship with her mother. Tereza is aware of his infidelities, but tolerates them, for reasons that are not quite apparent – yes, she loves him, but it seems mainly to be fear and vulnerability that keep her with him. After he is relieved of his post as a surgeon, after getting into difficulties with the government about a critical letter he wrote that was published in a newspaper, he is employed as a window-cleaner, and seems to spend his work days having sex with his clients. Despite his genuine love for Tereza, he is serially unfaithful. Tomáš is a womaniser, I’d even go so far as to say a sex addict, whom I did not warm to.

Other characters are Sabina, an artist, and Tomáš’s lover (one of them!), and Sabina’s lover Franz. The main protagonists are Tomáš, a surgeon, his wife Tereza, and their dog Karenin. This was for political reasons as the novel is set against the background of the so-called ‘Prague Spring’ of 1968, when the Soviet Army occupied the country. The Unbearable Lightness of Being is considered a classic in that particular category it was first published in 1984, in French translation, and not in the original Czech until 1985, but outside the then Soviet controlled Czechoslovakia. This was my choice for September in my Facebook Reading Challenge, the theme of which was a novel by an Eastern European writer.

The unbearable lightness of being novel