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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Officially the longest book I've read so far (and it still didn't take me as long as Wuthering Heights did Imao).
The first thing I'd like to say, and stress, and reiterate, is that our boy Leo is the OG Certified Yapper. The introduction/afterword mentions he was partly inspired by Charles Dickens, which puts the yapping in perspective. My mother has read abridged and unabridged versions of Anna Karenina, and mentioned how Tolstoy likes to yap about philosophy, to which I said that he doesn't do that in War and Peace, and then I got to the second part of the epilogue. This man spends the last 12 chapters of this book reiterating the same point — no one can actually explain history, because how does it happen, and what exactly is "power" (valid questions actually).
Given that this is a book primarily about Napoleon's war with Russia, I shouldn't be complaining about how much of the book is about war. Regardless, there is entirely too much War and not enough Peace for a book called War AND Peace. But I do appreciate how Tolstoy shows the absurdity of war, especially the fact that the commanders and the people trying to maneuver the army around end up doing nothing and having the least impact on things. Or how the most self-important people trying to steer history are the ones who change things the least. I think war is silly and I love to see him talk about that, go leo. But, if you were still alive Leo, I'd tell you to be less descriptive about the war in your next book because I don't want to know exactly what direction each unit of the army was supposed to go in but actually went in.
Also whatever peacetime or even wartime civilian happenings there were, I was EATING IT UP. The drama and the TEA! This had so many plot twists and unexpected changes that everytime we went back to war chapters I so desperately wanted to get back to the other plot. And by the epilogue I was so traumatized that I was convinced the characters couldn't be so happy, someone is going to die again for sure.
I was also initially a bit annoyed by the French, and having to read translations every few lines, or for chunks of text, in some chapters. It didn't make sense to me especially since the whole book was translated from Russian. But once you get the context of the perception of the French/Napoleon in the Russian noble circles, it makes sense and I'm glad it was left in.
Solid read overall, 4.5/5 let's say?
The first thing I'd like to say, and stress, and reiterate, is that our boy Leo is the OG Certified Yapper. The introduction/afterword mentions he was partly inspired by Charles Dickens, which puts the yapping in perspective. My mother has read abridged and unabridged versions of Anna Karenina, and mentioned how Tolstoy likes to yap about philosophy, to which I said that he doesn't do that in War and Peace, and then I got to the second part of the epilogue. This man spends the last 12 chapters of this book reiterating the same point — no one can actually explain history, because how does it happen, and what exactly is "power" (valid questions actually).
Given that this is a book primarily about Napoleon's war with Russia, I shouldn't be complaining about how much of the book is about war. Regardless, there is entirely too much War and not enough Peace for a book called War AND Peace. But I do appreciate how Tolstoy shows the absurdity of war, especially the fact that the commanders and the people trying to maneuver the army around end up doing nothing and having the least impact on things. Or how the most self-important people trying to steer history are the ones who change things the least. I think war is silly and I love to see him talk about that, go leo. But, if you were still alive Leo, I'd tell you to be less descriptive about the war in your next book because I don't want to know exactly what direction each unit of the army was supposed to go in but actually went in.
Also whatever peacetime or even wartime civilian happenings there were, I was EATING IT UP. The drama and the TEA! This had so many plot twists and unexpected changes that everytime we went back to war chapters I so desperately wanted to get back to the other plot. And by the epilogue I was so traumatized that I was convinced the characters couldn't be so happy, someone is going to die again for sure.
I was also initially a bit annoyed by the French, and having to read translations every few lines, or for chunks of text, in some chapters. It didn't make sense to me especially since the whole book was translated from Russian. But once you get the context of the perception of the French/Napoleon in the Russian noble circles, it makes sense and I'm glad it was left in.
Solid read overall, 4.5/5 let's say?
adventurous
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I’ll start by saying: I’m glad I read this. Overall, I enjoyed this book.
War and Peace is definitely a product of its time - It is excessively long, like many other classic novels originally published in serial format. Many of the female characters are vapid and the story mostly revolves around the male characters. It has an omniscient narrator who waxes on about religion, morals, and perspectives on history that felt very 1867.
I found this book to be both exhausting and extremely engaging. I cared about several characters and wanted to know what would happen to everyone. The relationships and human connections were well written and I was hooked by the various storylines. I found the descriptions of battle interesting and the depictions of Russian culture fascinating. Also, I just wanted it to be over already because it is so long and so verbose and at times so preachy.
And a yet, I am happy to have this classic under my belt. I think pieces of it will stick with me forever.
War and Peace is definitely a product of its time - It is excessively long, like many other classic novels originally published in serial format. Many of the female characters are vapid and the story mostly revolves around the male characters. It has an omniscient narrator who waxes on about religion, morals, and perspectives on history that felt very 1867.
I found this book to be both exhausting and extremely engaging. I cared about several characters and wanted to know what would happen to everyone. The relationships and human connections were well written and I was hooked by the various storylines. I found the descriptions of battle interesting and the depictions of Russian culture fascinating. Also, I just wanted it to be over already because it is so long and so verbose and at times so preachy.
And a yet, I am happy to have this classic under my belt. I think pieces of it will stick with me forever.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Incredible mixing of historical narrative and fictional story centered on Napoleon's sacking of Moscow in 1812. The story and historical analysis support the authors point of view and disdain for the contemporary points of view of that war as driven by leaders like Napoleon. Tolstoy seems to take the point of view that the wars all happened due to aggregate trends and feelings of the peoples, essentially for no reason.
The audio book on audible narrated by Thandiwe Newton is phenomenal. I strongly recommend it.
The audio book on audible narrated by Thandiwe Newton is phenomenal. I strongly recommend it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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.