I feel comfort in that others were so profoundly impacted by this book. I've carried that feeling for a long time, because I haven't read the book in a very lon

I feel comfort in that others were so profoundly impacted by this book. I've carried that feeling for a long time, because I haven't read the book in a very long time. I hold two things at once when I think of the book: awe of the experience of reading the book and extreme doubt that my feelings were valid. It's great to read these comments from others who loved it too and reexamine that profound experience with this book. Of course I had to read the book again, here: https://archive.org/details/isbn_0060912529 https://archive.org/details/isbn_0060912529 This is such a complicated book. On the first page, there is a statement about the unimportance of a war between African nations that "altered nothing in the destiny of the world, even if a hundred thousand blacks perished in excruciating torment." The word "blacks" was triggering to me, it felt insensitive to speak of the death of a mass of people as insignificant, and then refer to those people as "blacks" (I'm adding that it feels like that stops at recognizing much more about them than the color of their skin). Though of course Kundera never used the term "blacks" himself, that was the translator: "Nemusíme je brát na vědomí stejně jako válku mezi dvěma africkými státy ve čtrnáctém století, která nezměnila nic na tváři světa, přestože v ni zahynulo v nevýslovných mukách tři sta tisíc černochů" (https://adoc.pub/kundera-milan-nesnesitelna-lehkost-byti.html https://adoc.pub/kundera-milan-nesnesitelna-lehkost-byti.htm...) Google translates this entire passage with the word "blacks" as well, but the individual word černochů as "black people." He also talks about Hitler, being touched by his portraits, and recalling that his family members perished in Hitler's gas chambers. That's a subtle discussion that would be dangerous today! But, the entire passage is his wrestling with what is significant and what's important, and how death and permanence changes our relationships to all that. Profound.