Marie's review
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Perennial Classics)
by Milan Kundera
I like the way the word "literally" has now floated free of its moorings in modern English. He was so mad he was literally having a fit - comments like that. I also like the way young people describe anything they find slightly offputting as "really random". Nothing to to with Milan Kundera, just a random comment. Literally.
When I was in high school (back in the Pleistocene), other kids would say things like "gnarly" and "awesome". I would say back to them "you mean, like a tree?" and "like the face of God?". Yes, I was both a nerd and a brat.
Now my daughter (who is 15) and her friends say things like "tight" and "sick"... which both apparently mean something good. I say to them, "that's really random dude." I think I have devolved. Either that or clued in.
While I normally adore and cheerfully participate in the slangy manhandling and violation of words, I completely disagree with Paul that there is anything endearing about these misuses of "literally." This just drives me bananas, though I guess in theory it shouldn't be worse than calling something you like "sick" or "wicked." I think it's annoying because "literally" is usually misused by people who are trying to sound smart, but aren't thinking about what they're saying. As mentioned elsewhere on this site, I was permanently elated/traumatized by a memo I once came across reminding my high school teachers that the grading period was "literally around the corner...." This was the institution responsible for EDUCATING me!!!
In any case, when people misuse this particular word in such a way, it literally makes me want to sock them in the face.
Yeah, literally.
The one that bothers me most is the misuse of the word "ironic". I blame Alanis Morrisette. Now there is an entire generation of youngsters who have completely wrongheaded ideas of what comprises irony. When your car breaks down it isn't ironic, it's just inconvenient. Oy.
Marie's review
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Perennial Classics) by Milan Kundera
Marie's review
rating:
2). 3.999999999 stars. I felt like abandoning it at one point. How much more can I hear about the doctor's "imperative enslaving" to womanizing?!
and I was feeling a little irked by the fact that Tomas was made known to us in not just his sexuality but also in long passages regarding his politics, his work and family relations whereas the woman where mostly summed up by elaborating on their sexuality. I'm not ready to burn bras over it or anything but it did seem to trivialize the feminine "soul" just a tad bit.
And yet - some passages, the march in cambodia could stand alone as a short story, were enough to make me argue myself back into loving it.
1). one minute i love it and one minute i'm seeing it as a Saturday Night Live skit. I love how detached the narrator is, just recalling calmly, cooly the realities of these peoples lives and i'm like "Oh! Yes"! when Kundera says something with brevity and power and then i'm like "Oh! No!&...more
and I was feeling a little irked by the fact that Tomas was made known to us in not just his sexuality but also in long passages regarding his politics, his work and family relations whereas the woman where mostly summed up by elaborating on their sexuality. I'm not ready to burn bras over it or anything but it did seem to trivialize the feminine "soul" just a tad bit.
And yet - some passages, the march in cambodia could stand alone as a short story, were enough to make me argue myself back into loving it.
1). one minute i love it and one minute i'm seeing it as a Saturday Night Live skit. I love how detached the narrator is, just recalling calmly, cooly the realities of these peoples lives and i'm like "Oh! Yes"! when Kundera says something with brevity and power and then i'm like "Oh! No!&...more
I like the way the word "literally" has now floated free of its moorings in modern English. He was so mad he was literally having a fit - comments like that. I also like the way young people describe anything they find slightly offputting as "really random". Nothing to to with Milan Kundera, just a random comment. Literally.
When I was in high school (back in the Pleistocene), other kids would say things like "gnarly" and "awesome". I would say back to them "you mean, like a tree?" and "like the face of God?". Yes, I was both a nerd and a brat.Now my daughter (who is 15) and her friends say things like "tight" and "sick"... which both apparently mean something good. I say to them, "that's really random dude." I think I have devolved. Either that or clued in.
While I normally adore and cheerfully participate in the slangy manhandling and violation of words, I completely disagree with Paul that there is anything endearing about these misuses of "literally." This just drives me bananas, though I guess in theory it shouldn't be worse than calling something you like "sick" or "wicked." I think it's annoying because "literally" is usually misused by people who are trying to sound smart, but aren't thinking about what they're saying. As mentioned elsewhere on this site, I was permanently elated/traumatized by a memo I once came across reminding my high school teachers that the grading period was "literally around the corner...." This was the institution responsible for EDUCATING me!!!In any case, when people misuse this particular word in such a way, it literally makes me want to sock them in the face.
Yeah, literally.
The one that bothers me most is the misuse of the word "ironic". I blame Alanis Morrisette. Now there is an entire generation of youngsters who have completely wrongheaded ideas of what comprises irony. When your car breaks down it isn't ironic, it's just inconvenient. Oy.