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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
Echt een monumentaal werk dat zijn tijd ver vooruit was, ondanks de onnodig lange oorlogspassages die weinig toevoegen in karakterontwikkelingen en de wat oubollige theorieën over maatschappelijke verhoudingen.
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
I began reading this book just to say I read it and came into it expecting a boring hard to get through book, when I was pleasantly surprised. The book, although complex with a plethora of characters to remember was a very enjoyable read. It's court intrigue and interesting storylines kept me interested and willing to read each day. I would not recommend this book to inexperienced readers, but if you are a good reader I cannot recommend this book enough.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
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
Long at times and definitely not as good as Anna Karenina, but still good. Didn't take as long to read as I had expected. Especially interesting were his ideas on the role of leadership -- which stood against my conclusions in my senior thesis (in which I argued that it was the charisma of a leader that brought his party to the fore in France). Also many interesting views on "history" and the work of historians.
As with Anna Karenina, I recommend the Maude translation -- they have a real gift for making the magic of Tolstoy's language come alive.
I found descriptions of the comfort of routine (p. 418) and idleness (p. 519) interesting -- particularly in the way that he argued that the army provided an excuse for them.
Other quotes that spoke to me:
p. 734
"Such is the inevitable fate of men of action, and the higher they stand in the social hierarchy, the less they are free."
p. 880 -- An example to support his idea that no history can possibly be accurate:
"The first method of history is to take an arbitrarily selected series of continuous events and examine it apart from others, though there is and can be no beginning to any event, for one event always flows uninterruptedly from another.
"The second method is to consider the actions of some one man - a king or a commander - as equivalent to the sum of many wills; whereas the sum of individual wills is never expressed by the activity of a single historic personage. ..." etc.
p. 1193
"They all three of them now experienced that feeling of awkwardness which usually follows after a serious and heartfelt talk. It is impossible to go back to the same conversation, to talk of trifles is awkward, and yet the desire to speak is there and silence seems like affectation."
p. 1196
"We imagine that when we are thrown out of our usual ruts all is lost, but it is only then that what is new and good begins. While there is life there is happiness. ..."
As with Anna Karenina, I recommend the Maude translation -- they have a real gift for making the magic of Tolstoy's language come alive.
I found descriptions of the comfort of routine (p. 418) and idleness (p. 519) interesting -- particularly in the way that he argued that the army provided an excuse for them.
Other quotes that spoke to me:
p. 734
"Such is the inevitable fate of men of action, and the higher they stand in the social hierarchy, the less they are free."
p. 880 -- An example to support his idea that no history can possibly be accurate:
"The first method of history is to take an arbitrarily selected series of continuous events and examine it apart from others, though there is and can be no beginning to any event, for one event always flows uninterruptedly from another.
"The second method is to consider the actions of some one man - a king or a commander - as equivalent to the sum of many wills; whereas the sum of individual wills is never expressed by the activity of a single historic personage. ..." etc.
p. 1193
"They all three of them now experienced that feeling of awkwardness which usually follows after a serious and heartfelt talk. It is impossible to go back to the same conversation, to talk of trifles is awkward, and yet the desire to speak is there and silence seems like affectation."
p. 1196
"We imagine that when we are thrown out of our usual ruts all is lost, but it is only then that what is new and good begins. While there is life there is happiness. ..."
Taught myself to speed read for this book. Skipped some of the philosophical chapters. Otherwise worth every week of reading it.
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This is one of my all time favorite books. I've read it several times, have watched both the Russian and the American versions on film (the Russian is better by far), and now am engaged in reading it again as a family read-aloud. It'll take us forever since we only get to this once or twice a week, but Tolstoy is a book I can live with forever. I'm in no hurry since I know this book so well already and sometimes, that is the best kind of read-aloud.
Update....we got bogged down, I'm sorry to say. Hopefully we'll start up again and really read this but it's not as easy to do as a "read-aloud" as I had thought it would be.
Update....we got bogged down, I'm sorry to say. Hopefully we'll start up again and really read this but it's not as easy to do as a "read-aloud" as I had thought it would be.