tULoB part 1 - lightness and weight

introduction to the novel, very philosophical in places. Focuses on Tomas, during the Prague Spring and its aftermath. The books story starts with Tomas meeting Tereza in a restaurant, and then inviting her back to his flat. He only intended for her to stay and hour or two it seems, but Tereza gets ill, and ends up staying a week. Tereza ends up getting under Tomas' skin, and he can't seem to stop thinking about her. Eventually she calls him from the Prague train station, and ends up moving in with him, complete with a big suitcase that contains her life. However, Tomas is still seeing other women, and this hurts Tereza so much its giving her nightmares. However, one of Tomas' other mistresses, Sabina, gets jealous of the time Tomas is devoting to Tereza, and how much he cares about her, and so trys to get back at her, by hiding on of Tomas' socks, so that he has to go back to Tereza wearing on of Sabinas stockings. I doubt Tereza was too pleased about that. They both end up getting married, yet Tomas doesnt make too big a deal of this, only giving half a sentance to their marriage. He also buys her a dog, perhaps to try and give her something other than him to care for and worry about. They call the dog Karenin, which is a guys name, although the dog is female. This is slightly odd i thought, as she is refered to as he all the way though the novel. Tomas gets a new job offer in Switzerland, and so they both move there. However, Tereza find she cannot cope with it there, as she is now completly dependant on Tomas, and this seems to scare her, so she and Karenin go back to Prague. After a while, Tomas decides to follow her back, as he really is attacted to her. However, once there, it seems that its more a cant live with her, cant live without her situation, as he finds things awkward as soon as he gets back.

Themes

• Love and lust
  
• Light and weight
• philosophy
• Pragues state of affairs
• indecision
• Consequences and coincidences
• freedom
• religion
• dreams
• es muss sein

Characters

• Tomas is one of the main characters of the novel, and represents lightness. Hes a surgeon and lives in Prague during its occupation by Russia. He doesnt connect sex with love, and so has many one night stands. However, he doesnt like the idea of become attached, or weighted down, by others, shown by the way he doesnt like sleeping next to people. However, he unwillingly falls in love with Tereza, who weights him down, but he finds he cant be without her.
• Tereza starts off as just another of Tomas' screws, but she ends up falling in love with him, and him with her. However, Tomas' constant affairs depress her, and she becomes incredibly jealous and selfhating, having recurring nightmares that all relate to Tomas' other women. Tereza is a heavy type of person, and ties Tomas down as well
• Sabina is one of Tomas' mistresses, rather than just a one night stand. It seems she has feelings for Tomas though, as she is jealous of the amount of attention he pays Tereza. She is Terezas main rival for Tomas' love

Other thoughts

This seems a very deep book so far, more about the philosophy of the story than the story itself. Terezas reappearance with the suitcase seemed a little pushy, i mean, theyd only met once before....