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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
An excellent book. Tolstoy can sometimes digress too much for my taste especially in the last half of the epilogue.
It took me over two years to read this, mostly because I found some sections compelling and others mind-numbingly boring. Still, my goal was to understand why this is considered one of the best novels ever written. And now I know. I really can't say it any better than Kelly did in her review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/362528370?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I say with no shame it took me about 16 months to read the whole book (which was largely due to listening on audiobook via Overdrive, and can you believe it?? It was always on hold for someone else as the due date came up!).
Reading War and Peace is not for the faint of heart. But Tolstoy pulls you in to a whole world of fully-realized people, pounding history, and immaculate detail. It's a great story, and it is no surprise that its characters have withstood the test of time.
The book is largely divided into society, war, society, another longer and worse war, and more society. Between the great action and riveting relationships, Tolstoy liberally sprinkles war theory, historical theory, and a lot of philosophy. I skimmed those parts, finding them slow, dense, and preachy. Okay, I also skimmed some of the battle parts.
It was easy to love and care about the primary characters he followed throughout the story. They were bright, distinct, and very real. I'm certain that Natasha, Pierre, Bolkonsky, and Princess Maria will continue to be characters I think about for many years. He also made great use of many secondary and tertiary characters (aside from all the extra men in various battle and army scenes--there were so many who made brief cameos). Even his portrayals of Napoleon and the Tsar seemed full, although certainly colored by Tolstoy's national loyalty.
SPOILER ALERT:
I was not terribly pleased with the ending. Both because it involved a ton of dense theory and preachy philosophy about the Crimean War and man's spiritual state, but also because I found the vibrant Natasha's adult life dissatisfying. Did Tolstoy not know that adult women can have interests and passions beyond that of husband and children? It was tremendously disappointing to see the energy of such a firecracker so narrowly confined, obsessed completely with her family, to the detriment of everything else. But I suppose Tolstoy had spent an epic novel drawing her as an incredibly passionate character who threw her whole soul into tasks she undertook, so perhaps it made sense after all? Hmm ... Perplexing.
Also, that Nicolai Rostov is a rather changeable sort, isn't he?
I wish the book would have skipped the epilogue all together.
This book is a masterpiece. But probably not one that changed my life or how I viewed the world, and it left me dissatisfied in some ways. So that's why I am pretentiously giving it four out of five stars. In comparing it to his other works, I preferred Anna Karennina.
Reading War and Peace is not for the faint of heart. But Tolstoy pulls you in to a whole world of fully-realized people, pounding history, and immaculate detail. It's a great story, and it is no surprise that its characters have withstood the test of time.
The book is largely divided into society, war, society, another longer and worse war, and more society. Between the great action and riveting relationships, Tolstoy liberally sprinkles war theory, historical theory, and a lot of philosophy. I skimmed those parts, finding them slow, dense, and preachy. Okay, I also skimmed some of the battle parts.
It was easy to love and care about the primary characters he followed throughout the story. They were bright, distinct, and very real. I'm certain that Natasha, Pierre, Bolkonsky, and Princess Maria will continue to be characters I think about for many years. He also made great use of many secondary and tertiary characters (aside from all the extra men in various battle and army scenes--there were so many who made brief cameos). Even his portrayals of Napoleon and the Tsar seemed full, although certainly colored by Tolstoy's national loyalty.
SPOILER ALERT:
I was not terribly pleased with the ending. Both because it involved a ton of dense theory and preachy philosophy about the Crimean War and man's spiritual state, but also because I found the vibrant Natasha's adult life dissatisfying. Did Tolstoy not know that adult women can have interests and passions beyond that of husband and children? It was tremendously disappointing to see the energy of such a firecracker so narrowly confined, obsessed completely with her family, to the detriment of everything else. But I suppose Tolstoy had spent an epic novel drawing her as an incredibly passionate character who threw her whole soul into tasks she undertook, so perhaps it made sense after all? Hmm ... Perplexing.
Also, that Nicolai Rostov is a rather changeable sort, isn't he?
I wish the book would have skipped the epilogue all together.
This book is a masterpiece. But probably not one that changed my life or how I viewed the world, and it left me dissatisfied in some ways. So that's why I am pretentiously giving it four out of five stars. In comparing it to his other works, I preferred Anna Karennina.
As with all books of this length and caliber, I feel both happy (yay, I finished it!) and sad (I miss the characters already!) that I have come to the end of this epic chronicle. War & Peace is not only a depiction of 19th century Russia and the Napoleonic wars it is also a portrayal of all of life’s passions (both constructive and destructive). I enjoyed Tolstoy’s writing style, particularly his habit of sharing what a character really meant when they said something – it felt true to life and gave the characters depth. A heavy read at points, but well worth it.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
I’m glad to have read this. I’m even more glad to be finished with it. This had moments of brilliance followed by long slogs of Tolstoy’s philosophy on history.