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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the napoleonic wars awaken the middle-aged dad in me BUT i found the human drama off the battlefield much more interesting. LOVED! pierre and marya are my favs <3
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book took me the better part of 2 months to finish, and I am so proud of myself for completing it. I am really glad that I was reading this as part of a group, as it did keep me going even when I was not in the mood to read it. The book is separated into 4 volumes and and an epilogue, and then each volume has a number of sections inside it, so this is a very easy book to separate into readable chunks. The book itself is not difficult to read, primarily because most translations are pretty modern so it is very accessible. But the book is long, and does contain a lot of war/strategy based sections which I did find a bit of a slog to get through at times.
With regards to my reading experience, it massively helped me that I had watched the BBC miniseries when it was initially released in 2016, so with regards to the multiple names issue, I really didn't struggle because I could picture each of the characters in my head as I was reading. But thankfully as the series was released a number of years ago, some of the details had slipped from my mind so it still felt new and fresh. My reading of this book was very sporadic - I would read parts over a couple of days, and then put it aside for a week or so before picking it up again, and I did read lots of other books alongside it.
Regarding the writing - this is my 3rd Tolstoy and needless to say that the man can write beautifully. Some parts of this book were so stunning that you could just reread passages over and over again. It is pivotal to point out that this book would have been considered 'historical fiction' in its day, and in the book Tolstoy acts as historian of the Napoleonic wars. There were massive war sections where Tolstoy almost moves the story out of the fictional world, and into a historical treatise on the war, by dissecting both the actions by the Russians during the time, and Napoleon himself. Although these sections were not to my taste as much, I think that I shall always remember the battle of Borodino, as Tolstoy spent a paragraph discussing whether the French lost because Napoleon had a cold! But the entire battle read like one shambolic act after another; you had the French officers giving out pointless orders which acted more like Chinese whispers, and you even had one of the main protagonists Pierre randomly wandering around in the middle of the battle.
I did also really enjoy the plot of the peace sections, about the exploration of Russian society, and the different characters, of which there are many. Tolstoy has an amazing gift of changing my opinions of characters from one chapter to another. There were not really any characters that I loved, they were all written full of flaws and complexities, and you would often find yourself incredibly frustrated at some of their actions, even if you did understand why they were doing it.
I think that I could go on and on about this book, but if anything it has also made me realise that I need to reread it again at some point in the future, as I believe that I may get even more out of the book. There is no denying that it is a work of art, and my review is very much tainted by the long and arduous war sections. At the moment the book is about a 3.5 star, however there are sections that were 5 star, so my rating is pretty subjective. But I am so glad that I have read it, and I look forward to continuing my journey with Tolstoy.
With regards to my reading experience, it massively helped me that I had watched the BBC miniseries when it was initially released in 2016, so with regards to the multiple names issue, I really didn't struggle because I could picture each of the characters in my head as I was reading. But thankfully as the series was released a number of years ago, some of the details had slipped from my mind so it still felt new and fresh. My reading of this book was very sporadic - I would read parts over a couple of days, and then put it aside for a week or so before picking it up again, and I did read lots of other books alongside it.
Regarding the writing - this is my 3rd Tolstoy and needless to say that the man can write beautifully. Some parts of this book were so stunning that you could just reread passages over and over again. It is pivotal to point out that this book would have been considered 'historical fiction' in its day, and in the book Tolstoy acts as historian of the Napoleonic wars. There were massive war sections where Tolstoy almost moves the story out of the fictional world, and into a historical treatise on the war, by dissecting both the actions by the Russians during the time, and Napoleon himself. Although these sections were not to my taste as much, I think that I shall always remember the battle of Borodino, as Tolstoy spent a paragraph discussing whether the French lost because Napoleon had a cold! But the entire battle read like one shambolic act after another; you had the French officers giving out pointless orders which acted more like Chinese whispers, and you even had one of the main protagonists Pierre randomly wandering around in the middle of the battle.
I did also really enjoy the plot of the peace sections, about the exploration of Russian society, and the different characters, of which there are many. Tolstoy has an amazing gift of changing my opinions of characters from one chapter to another. There were not really any characters that I loved, they were all written full of flaws and complexities, and you would often find yourself incredibly frustrated at some of their actions, even if you did understand why they were doing it.
I think that I could go on and on about this book, but if anything it has also made me realise that I need to reread it again at some point in the future, as I believe that I may get even more out of the book. There is no denying that it is a work of art, and my review is very much tainted by the long and arduous war sections. At the moment the book is about a 3.5 star, however there are sections that were 5 star, so my rating is pretty subjective. But I am so glad that I have read it, and I look forward to continuing my journey with Tolstoy.
Realized I couldn't tell you anything that happened past meeting the family and the dolls house. Wasn't remembering any of the relationships or names so a bit of a lost cause
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Reading this feels more like work than fun.
adventurous
challenging
informative
lighthearted
tense
slow-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes