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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
When I purchased this audiobook, I did so with the mindset that it would be my commuting companion for at least a few months. The excellent writing easily carried me through, and I was almost sad it ended -- 62 hours after it had begun. This is a superb, broad, sweeping epic that covers an important period in Russian history from two points of view: that of the upper class, and that of the military. The co-mingling of the two is excellent. If you're listening to it instead of reading, it might help to follow along with Cliffs Notes (available free online) in order to keep the characters and flow of the story more manageable. To sum it up, I'm much the better for investing 62 hours in this classic!
I finished this chunk of a book, yeeees!!! And I consequently have some thoughts about it.
I am aware of the fact that there is a huge number of people who deeply admire War and Peace and I hope not to offend anyone. I am going to be honest: I didn't love it. But I didn't hate it either.
Let's first talk about the things I enjoyed:
1) The characters! Each of them was described elaborately and you got to live with them through years of intense character development. My favourite was definitely Pierre. He is such a versatile character who underwent a multitude of changes.
2) The nature descriptions! I was very intrigued by Tolstoy's description of the snow, the woods, the weather, certain trees and most importantly: the lofty sky ;)
3) The philosophical aspects I enjoyed partly. There were some trains of thought that were fascinating to follow and that I would even have liked him to have elaborated on, HOWEVER there were also some philosophical points that were clearly elaborated on for far too long.
This is a good point to switch to the aspects I didn't particularly enjoy.
1) The repetitiveness! Some ideas – e.g. that one man cannot be responsible for the whole of history – were repeated so often that it started to be incredibly annoying. By the 5th time he mentioned it, I had most certainly understood and would not have needed 10 more repetitions.
2) The rambling! Sometimes I just wished for him to come to the point and state his thoughts clearly instead of rambling on about one thing (that most likely had already been mentioned previously, see point 1) for 10 pages straight.
3) The neverending battle scenes with unnecessarily long tactical descriptions over which I could have fallen asleep.
4) The ending!!!! The families!!!! The relationship of the couples!!!! I mean: What happened to Nikolai Rostov? Why did he suddenly become like this? What's the use of him treating Mary like that? And why does it say that Natasha is letting herself go when she is clearly occupied with taking care of her children?
Also, there appear to be so many characters that didn't really get any ending at all or that we at least don't get informed about which really disappointed me. What happened to Boris? What happened to Berg and Vera? What does Dolokhov do in the end?
I am aware of the fact that there is a huge number of people who deeply admire War and Peace and I hope not to offend anyone. I am going to be honest: I didn't love it. But I didn't hate it either.
Let's first talk about the things I enjoyed:
1) The characters! Each of them was described elaborately and you got to live with them through years of intense character development. My favourite was definitely Pierre. He is such a versatile character who underwent a multitude of changes.
2) The nature descriptions! I was very intrigued by Tolstoy's description of the snow, the woods, the weather, certain trees and most importantly: the lofty sky ;)
3) The philosophical aspects I enjoyed partly. There were some trains of thought that were fascinating to follow and that I would even have liked him to have elaborated on, HOWEVER there were also some philosophical points that were clearly elaborated on for far too long.
This is a good point to switch to the aspects I didn't particularly enjoy.
1) The repetitiveness! Some ideas – e.g. that one man cannot be responsible for the whole of history – were repeated so often that it started to be incredibly annoying. By the 5th time he mentioned it, I had most certainly understood and would not have needed 10 more repetitions.
2) The rambling! Sometimes I just wished for him to come to the point and state his thoughts clearly instead of rambling on about one thing (that most likely had already been mentioned previously, see point 1) for 10 pages straight.
3) The neverending battle scenes with unnecessarily long tactical descriptions over which I could have fallen asleep.
4) The ending!!!! The families!!!! The relationship of the couples!!!! I mean: What happened to Nikolai Rostov? Why did he suddenly become like this? What's the use of him treating Mary like that? And why does it say that Natasha is letting herself go when she is clearly occupied with taking care of her children?
Also, there appear to be so many characters that didn't really get any ending at all or that we at least don't get informed about which really disappointed me. What happened to Boris? What happened to Berg and Vera? What does Dolokhov do in the end?
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a massive but rewarding undertaking. Even when Tolstoy writes about war strategy or spends the last several chapters philosophizing, his thoughts are fascinating to read. He details the human condition so beautifully.
Fabulous character development and a gripping story, replete with moments of narrative brilliance, inexplicably interrupted by some very dry theoretical musings on the philosophy of history. Tolstoy's great gift is for showing us humanity as it is. He doesn't need to tell us anything but his story, so why he decided to insert the theoretical stuff is a mystery to me. Without it I think I'd rate it as one of the best novels (which Tolstoy says it isn't) I've ever read.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I started this on a whim because I wanted to read more Russian literature and enjoyed it significantly more than I expected. The drama and politics surrounding each of the main characters was so intriguing that I kept wanting to read on and see what happened. Even though this book is already pretty long, I felt like I could've continued reading more because I was so invested in the character's lives.
Loved this book! Really enjoyed Anthony Briggs translation. I thought it would be really slow but I could hardly put it down. The beginning is a little confusing trying to remember all the characters names, but once you know who the main characters are, it is wonderful.
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
reflective
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