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nosey667's review
4.5
"Here I am alive, and it's not my fault, so I have to try and get by as best I can without hurting anybody until death takes over."
i was intimidated by this book before starting it, as everyone is i think. i read the penguin classics edition translated by Anthony Briggs and the translation is really accessible and i actually had a much better and straightforward reading experience than i thought i would.
onto the actual book: this 100% deserves its reputation ad Tolstoy's writing is just amazing. its a perfect mix of romance, war, character flaws, relationships, philosophy, i'd say theres something for everyone in this book, something everyone can take away from reading it.
one upside to reading a book of such a length obviously is you get to stick around with the characters ad watc them grow, and i think this book shows one of the best examples of character development and character development that i've ever read, as well as with the relationships that develop between the characters. when reading a classic novel you dont expect (or i dont at least) to build such a care for the characters but in this you really do. Prince Andrei, Pierre and Natasha's stories all intertwine and will make you want to stick to the end.
"The whole world is split in two for me now: one half is her, and its all happiness, hope and light; and the other is not her, and its all misery and darkness..."
i do think that Tolstoy went a little overboard with the philosophy and war scenes. dont et me wrong, the philosophical discussions were interesting, but i found part II of the eprologue largely unnecessary. i found he repeated a lot of the same ideas; that there is no single cause for events and that free will doesnt really exist, as a couple of examples. the metaphors use were really good for emphasising the points he made though.
this books also one that as soon as you finish it you feel you need to read it again just to see the parts that you missed, because inevitabely there will be passages or hidden morals that you would have missed on the first time round in such a massive, complex book such as this. it's wort watching/reading/listening to other readers interretations of the book i think to make the eperience even better and view it in a different light.
overall, i preferred the more character oriented parts of the novel over the war and philosophical chapters. i think parts were unneecessarily stretched out and could have been shortened, but nevertheless it is worth the read and is really, really worth it in the end. i won't forget the experiece.
"But how can you think of living for yourself? What about your son, your sister, your father?"
"Yes, but they're the same as me. They're not other people."
i was intimidated by this book before starting it, as everyone is i think. i read the penguin classics edition translated by Anthony Briggs and the translation is really accessible and i actually had a much better and straightforward reading experience than i thought i would.
onto the actual book: this 100% deserves its reputation ad Tolstoy's writing is just amazing. its a perfect mix of romance, war, character flaws, relationships, philosophy, i'd say theres something for everyone in this book, something everyone can take away from reading it.
one upside to reading a book of such a length obviously is you get to stick around with the characters ad watc them grow, and i think this book shows one of the best examples of character development and character development that i've ever read, as well as with the relationships that develop between the characters. when reading a classic novel you dont expect (or i dont at least) to build such a care for the characters but in this you really do. Prince Andrei, Pierre and Natasha's stories all intertwine and will make you want to stick to the end.
"The whole world is split in two for me now: one half is her, and its all happiness, hope and light; and the other is not her, and its all misery and darkness..."
i do think that Tolstoy went a little overboard with the philosophy and war scenes. dont et me wrong, the philosophical discussions were interesting, but i found part II of the eprologue largely unnecessary. i found he repeated a lot of the same ideas; that there is no single cause for events and that free will doesnt really exist, as a couple of examples. the metaphors use were really good for emphasising the points he made though.
this books also one that as soon as you finish it you feel you need to read it again just to see the parts that you missed, because inevitabely there will be passages or hidden morals that you would have missed on the first time round in such a massive, complex book such as this. it's wort watching/reading/listening to other readers interretations of the book i think to make the eperience even better and view it in a different light.
overall, i preferred the more character oriented parts of the novel over the war and philosophical chapters. i think parts were unneecessarily stretched out and could have been shortened, but nevertheless it is worth the read and is really, really worth it in the end. i won't forget the experiece.
"But how can you think of living for yourself? What about your son, your sister, your father?"
"Yes, but they're the same as me. They're not other people."
lameeya_'s review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I have wanted to read War and Peace for years now and I always thought it would be a struggle to get through it but what suprised me the most was just how much fun it is. What a fun and exciting book. I loved the parts about the Moscow and Petersburg society, it read like Gossip Girl set in the 1800s in Russia and surprisingly the war parts were extremely exciting and easy to follow as well. All in all, what a book, definitely lives up to all the hype and super easy to read.
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