At 24 I started planning my first backpacking trip overseas. To where? Paris of course because I knew without any external influence or swaying that I WOULD love it. And at 23 I had just bought my first Ian McEwan novel, Atonement and at in interview for a job that did in fact change my life, when asked who my favourite author was I undoubtedly stated, without having read a word he has written, Ian McEwan of course. I knew from the first cover and from the first synopsis and excerpt that his writing and this specific novel of his resonated deeply with me. There are places, things and human experiences that come burdened with hype that its only possibility and nature will be to let you down. And then there are those instinctive intuitions and forces to which we are drawn that even long before the journey commences we are already reassured of one outcome; satisfaction. Enter The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being had always been at the back of my mind when browsing through the usually densely filled shelves of second hand bookshops but alas it was an elusive rarity. So when on a rainy and miserably cold day in November 2009 a wooden cart with parasol and all was selling books for R20 each in front of our dreary hotel in Shanghai, I couldn't believe my luck when it lay there between the Dan Brown and Eat Pray Love copies. And at last time and space has conspired and aligned and it has been picked from my dusty shelf of MUST reads. Instinctively it took me on an incredible journey the last month. Sadly I finished it moments ago and as with most books I read it will be lingering around my house, my thoughts and my everyday sense of being for the next few days rendering me unable to start with a new exploration. I remember on a particular day while reading it I was so fixated and drawn in that it felt that the whole day I was drifting in and out of conscientiousness and deeper into the realm of Thomas and Tereza. I love it when books do that to you.
The theme and pathos has left many a reader fumbled and as I read review after review of it each one tries to pinpoint the exactness of the novel which definitely constitutes a second revision of it in the future. Artist and illustrators have tried over years to interpret its essence which has lead to some amazing and greatest covers. Except for the vintage classics I wonder which of modern classics have been re-designed the most, this must be in for the running. The symbolic and significant bowler hat is prominent in most of the designs and understandably so, but I am drawn by the cover with the almost Picasso like drawing of Karinin. I am just thankful that movie tie in jackets was not as popular in the 80's, when the film came out, as they are now. Which one is your favourite and captures the essence of the book best?
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