Reviews

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

greta595's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

catreynolds28's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

julienh's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

In the epilogue of War and Peace, Tolstoy argued that « History examines the manifestations of man’s freewill in connection with the external world in time and in dependence on cause. » War and Peace is Tolstoy’s ode to the human lives that shape the sweeping movement of history. Tolstoy’s characters weave through a web of historiography and intimate reflections on humanity. With over 600 characters, Tolstoy’s epic at the surface could be read as an artistic interpretation of a people’s history of Russians’ experience during the Napoleonic Wars. I’m sure that people have spent hours analyzing the themes of faith, power, love, humanity, purpose, and patriotism that permeate this work. Yet, I believe that  Tolstoy’s definition of history indicates that he would not have wanted us to think of War and Peace as a rolling epic or an intentional work exploring these themes. Rather, he would have preferred that we understand this book as just one drop within the ever-fluctuating fabric of « freedom » and « reason »  that constitute the human experience and our interpretation of that experience. What a wild ride.

davidsansun's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

rcsreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

smithh65's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

gillybourne's review against another edition

3.0

Enjoyable but so difficult to read

alexpursley's review against another edition

1.0

DNF. Forced it through page 250 (only 950 or so more to go…..) waiting for it to get better, but I literally have zero interest in a single character in this story, and there’s like a hundred of them so I feel like that’s saying something. Considering all the reviews call this the greatest book of all time, I had high hopes but it sure feels an awful lot like a soap opera mixed with a war documentary. Maybe I’ll try it again another day, but not today.

ambipure's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

amallard's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

Made a fool of myself by reading this, despising it, and then trying to big it up to everyone I came across so I wouldn't be the idiot who didn't "get" Tolstoy.

Am I insane? This was really boring. Unfunny. Ineffective at whatever it was that it was trying to do. Maybe my translation of it was skeeved, but I felt like I was watching the story's events through a thick and grimy pane of glass.