| Value for Money | 2/10  |
|---|---|
| Overall rating | 2/10 |
Full review by
WSD
on 17th Nov 2005
User Rating : 2
Respect :
0
I do not get all the hype about The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Yes, it's well-written, although I read it in English translation so that could have been a result of a good translator. Yes, there's some interesting history in the book. But that's not why you read fiction. It's the biggest disappointing load of rubbish, quite frankly, since I saw the English Patient expecting a great love story and instead got a long, boring exposition about how two entirely untragic and pathetically annoying characters fell in love and then died because of their own selfishness. And yes, that's pretty much my feeling about the two main characters in this love story.
It is about two people falling in love, both hopelessly flawed. He cheats. She's a doormat and lets him cheat. They both make pathetic excuses. They are both miserable. He hates himself for cheating and making her unhappy but can't handle not cheating and she is miserable about him cheating but doesn't have any backbone and won't permanently leave him. Then they both die in a car crash at the end. Blah blah so what.
I find it hard to like a book, no matter how well-written, if I can't empathise with the characters. I've read books where the author was capable of making you understand the motivations of someone completely horrible and evil. I don't think these two people were meant to be objects of derision yet that's how I saw them both. They annoyed me so much, in fact that just over halfway in I skipped to the last 5 pages, cheered that they died and never bothered to go back and finish the damned thing.
WSD's review and ratings | 281 words
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