Unbearable is rich with thought provoking passages and allusions. It has references to Beethoven, Neitsche, Kafka, and Stalin, and even offers a dog philosophy passage that trys to explain man's unhappiness:

Human time does not turn in a circle; it runs ahead in a straight line. That is why man cannot be happy: happiness is the longing for repitition.

Later in the book, Kunera inspects human love through the bond between master (Tereza) and dog (Karenin):

It is a completely selfless love: Tereza did not want anything of Karenin; she did not ever ask him to love her back. Nor had she ever asked herself the questions that plague human couples: Does he love me? Does he love anyone more than me? Does he love me more than I love him? Perhaps all the questions we ask of love, to measure, test, probe, and save it, have the additional effect of cutting it short. Perhaps the reason we are unable to love is that we yearn to be loved, that is, we demand something (love) from our partner instead of delivering ourselves up to him demand-free and asking for nothing but his company.

The book's other premises (in particular, the one that holds that something must happen continually to be worthwhile; one-time-only events are meaningless) are not as easily accepted. Nevertheless, the book remains an enjoyable introduction to Kunera's world philosophy.