It was almost unbearably heavy.  I should remind myself not to read two disturbing novels consecutively – especially those that have Nietzsche’s shadow etched on the soul of the words.

Still, hats off to Kundera – rather, bowler hats off to Kundera.  Instinctively, I considered this a simple tale of four intertwined lives… but no, the four people were mere nozzles for Kundera’s philosophy.  I cannot pretend that I completely grasped everything about this book, but I can confidently claim that Kundera used Tereza, Tomas, Sabina, and Franz as channels for a sort of subconscious schizophrenic view of the body and soul.

In the end, I could almost imagine Kundera, Beethoven, and Nietzsche like a mortal trinity removing their bowler hats off, bowing, while chorusing; Es muss sein.

The strains of the piano and violin rose up from below, and while my body was muted by the heaviness, my soul still kept asking, “Muss es sein?”

To stamp my being to an even deeper silence Tereza, Tomas, Sabina, and
Franz seemed to join Kundera, Beethoven, and Nietzsche to form a septet
and chanted, “Es muss sein.” It was indeed der schwer gefasste Entschluss.

Huge thanks to Marie Vic for encouraging Polybibliogamy and generously giving me this rarity.