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danata's review against another edition
I got Tolstoy Together from the library believing it was a guide for people to read through 85 days of War and Peace.
In reality, it's more of a historical artifact -- the text from an online book club held in the early days of 2020 pandemic. The novelist Yiyun Li led the group, and the book is half her daily commentary, half comments from the people reading along.
This would be fine, but two things kind of spoiled it for me:
First, Li's commentary preemptively stifled potential criticisms of the book, both by beginning the group with an essay about all the things people might not like about War and Peace and shutting those lines of critique down, and by beginning at least one difficult section (the beginning of a boring war segment) by saying something like "you may want to skip the 'war' segments, but this is basically like hiding from life." As a result, the comments from the readers were rarely critical, even when the book potentially merited criticism.
Second, the time-stamp of early pandemic is LOUD in this text, to the point where it's more like a time capsule than something you want to naturally "read along" with. People are continually comparing the events of War and Peace to the events of early 2020. (There's even a hilarious pull-quote on the back saying "This book club is a great idea, join it and then 90 days later you'll have read War and Peace and the pandemic will be over!"). There's nothing wrong with any of the commenters, or with their fears and awe for the historical moment they were living in, but it's sort of emotionally challenging in 2023 to sit with 2020's feelings about itself.
Anyway, I do recommend it as a strange time capsule, like maybe if you're reading this in 2045? But if you need a traveling companion now, I suggest checking out the subreddit and related podcast r/yearofwarandpeace.
In reality, it's more of a historical artifact -- the text from an online book club held in the early days of 2020 pandemic. The novelist Yiyun Li led the group, and the book is half her daily commentary, half comments from the people reading along.
This would be fine, but two things kind of spoiled it for me:
First, Li's commentary preemptively stifled potential criticisms of the book, both by beginning the group with an essay about all the things people might not like about War and Peace and shutting those lines of critique down, and by beginning at least one difficult section (the beginning of a boring war segment) by saying something like "you may want to skip the 'war' segments, but this is basically like hiding from life." As a result, the comments from the readers were rarely critical, even when the book potentially merited criticism.
Second, the time-stamp of early pandemic is LOUD in this text, to the point where it's more like a time capsule than something you want to naturally "read along" with. People are continually comparing the events of War and Peace to the events of early 2020. (There's even a hilarious pull-quote on the back saying "This book club is a great idea, join it and then 90 days later you'll have read War and Peace and the pandemic will be over!"). There's nothing wrong with any of the commenters, or with their fears and awe for the historical moment they were living in, but it's sort of emotionally challenging in 2023 to sit with 2020's feelings about itself.
Anyway, I do recommend it as a strange time capsule, like maybe if you're reading this in 2045? But if you need a traveling companion now, I suggest checking out the subreddit and related podcast r/yearofwarandpeace.
kjboldon's review against another edition
5.0
This is a great reading companion and I recommend it to anyone seeking to tackle War and Peace. It will provide a structure and community of support even if you're reading solo!
ameliasbooks's review against another edition
The format wasn't what I expected and didn't really work for me.
carodonahue's review
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
In incredible project and a fantastic reading experience.
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