Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
It's a life changer.
This book makes you look at the same things you've been taking for granted for so long in a different way. It doesn't answer any questions, it raises questions. Some very, very important questions.
I like it because it offers perspectives that are too difficult to develop, because they come at a cost of misery. He paid that cost, and shares his perspectives with us.
This book makes you look at the same things you've been taking for granted for so long in a different way. It doesn't answer any questions, it raises questions. Some very, very important questions.
I like it because it offers perspectives that are too difficult to develop, because they come at a cost of misery. He paid that cost, and shares his perspectives with us.
reflective
medium-paced
As a person of faith, Tolstoy is basically always worth reading. His confessions are, as you might expect, basically an autobiography. As such, they are incomplete. Did you not bring you up to the time when he published this book, but rather to the beginning of his Christian journey which is written out in so many of his nonfiction books at the end of his life. It takes you to his discomfort with the Orthodox Church, the first musings of his commitment to simple living, and his unique fusion of Christianity with what he calls "life". You can see that he is still very much under the influence of Arthur Schopenhauer. His later commitments to pacifism and radical simplicity have not yet become fully formed.
That said, it is a fascinating read for anybody who has undergone a similar journey of the mind and heart. It parallels more than a few parts of my own faith journey, and so this spoke to me personally quite a lot. It certainly would be of interest to anybody who likes the novels and later works of Leo Tolstoy.
That said, it is a fascinating read for anybody who has undergone a similar journey of the mind and heart. It parallels more than a few parts of my own faith journey, and so this spoke to me personally quite a lot. It certainly would be of interest to anybody who likes the novels and later works of Leo Tolstoy.
reflective
slow-paced
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
I could see a lot of what Tolstoy discusses here in Levin from Anna Karenina, and I'm glad that I read Anna Karenina first.
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
This is one man's personal journey on dealing with the Age of Enlightenment and the loss of faith in western, intellectual thought bubbles (Nietzsche's "God is Dead" comes to mind). I'd highly recommend anyone prone to existential thoughts or is engaged in doubts about their spirituality to give this a try.
Tolstoy eloquently explores and describes the depths of his existential thoughts in a way that I found incredibly relatable.
Although I wasn't totally sold with his ideas over the last portion of the book where he reintroduces himself to finding faith in the Church (and to be fair neither was he), the ending passage gave me clarity and reaffirmed my own thoughts on how to keep out of the nihilistic abyss.
Overall, solid book with lots of scope for personal reflection.
Tolstoy eloquently explores and describes the depths of his existential thoughts in a way that I found incredibly relatable.
Although I wasn't totally sold with his ideas over the last portion of the book where he reintroduces himself to finding faith in the Church (and to be fair neither was he), the ending passage gave me clarity and reaffirmed my own thoughts on how to keep out of the nihilistic abyss.
Overall, solid book with lots of scope for personal reflection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide
When I read Anna Karenina, I complained that it was not existential enough for my tastes. Well, Tolstoy sure manages to check the "existential" box with this one. It is literally an autobiographical recount of Tolstoy's mid-life existential crisis. It's Tolstoy talking about his struggle to answer the BIG questions. As he puts it:
"My question that which at the age of fifty brought me to the verge of suicide was the simplest of questions, lying in the soul of every man from the foolish child to the wisest elder: it was a question without an answer to which one cannot live, as I had found by experience. It was: "What will come of what I am doing today or shall do tomorrow? What will come of my whole life?" Differently expressed, the question is: "Why should I live, why wish for anything, or do anything?" It can also be expressed thus: "Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?"
And let me tell you, Tolstoy DEMANDS answers to these questions— "it is what it is" is just not gonna do it for him.
There's something satisfying about listening to Tolstoy talk about all the success he had in his life and then unequivocally renounce all of it as nothing but meaningless drivel. It's one thing to reject the excesses of fame and fortune without ever having actually experienced them, but it's another to actually live them and still reject them as meaningless. And it's not as if Tolstoy was putting out shitty prime-time sitcoms... he was pumping out some seriously good literature, yet he still concluded that all of it was pointless! I mean, come on, you gotta respect that. If anything this should at least show you that self-doubt isn't easy to conquer.
In the end, Tolstoy turns to religion as the only answer to the questions he has about life. Typically, this would be disappointing to me. Most of the time going the religious route seems like a bit of a cop-out. But there's something about the honesty and lucidity with which Tolstoy talks about his religious awakening that makes it all understandable to me. Now, he didn't convert me or anything, but I think he has an extremely valuable perspective to offer. You can't accuse him of not thinking deeply, so it's interesting that he ended up knocking at religion's door. When a guy like Tolstoy thinks he found the answer to the big questions, he's worth listening to.
"My question that which at the age of fifty brought me to the verge of suicide was the simplest of questions, lying in the soul of every man from the foolish child to the wisest elder: it was a question without an answer to which one cannot live, as I had found by experience. It was: "What will come of what I am doing today or shall do tomorrow? What will come of my whole life?" Differently expressed, the question is: "Why should I live, why wish for anything, or do anything?" It can also be expressed thus: "Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?"
And let me tell you, Tolstoy DEMANDS answers to these questions— "it is what it is" is just not gonna do it for him.
There's something satisfying about listening to Tolstoy talk about all the success he had in his life and then unequivocally renounce all of it as nothing but meaningless drivel. It's one thing to reject the excesses of fame and fortune without ever having actually experienced them, but it's another to actually live them and still reject them as meaningless. And it's not as if Tolstoy was putting out shitty prime-time sitcoms... he was pumping out some seriously good literature, yet he still concluded that all of it was pointless! I mean, come on, you gotta respect that. If anything this should at least show you that self-doubt isn't easy to conquer.
In the end, Tolstoy turns to religion as the only answer to the questions he has about life. Typically, this would be disappointing to me. Most of the time going the religious route seems like a bit of a cop-out. But there's something about the honesty and lucidity with which Tolstoy talks about his religious awakening that makes it all understandable to me. Now, he didn't convert me or anything, but I think he has an extremely valuable perspective to offer. You can't accuse him of not thinking deeply, so it's interesting that he ended up knocking at religion's door. When a guy like Tolstoy thinks he found the answer to the big questions, he's worth listening to.
Tolstoy's Confession is his story of living an empty life and moving into a life of faith. A wonderfully written, moving and thought provoking memoir.