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fatima82 's review for:
War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
What can I say about War and Peace that hasn't already been said? I am certainly not the first, nor will I be the last, to claim bragging rights to finishing this epic novel. I may be the first to claim it as my first foray into Russian lit, however.
Tolstoy's views on humanity, religion, history and historians, philosophy, and of war are woven into and around the lives of four or five families. At first I couldn't keep up with the amount of characters and had difficulty figuring out which ones he wanted me, the reader, to care about. After the first few society gatherings- and about two hundred pages in- I was finally in the groove and thoroughly sucked in to their lives. It's not what I would call compelling story-telling; in fact I often found myself asking why he chose just then to leave off and jump to a completely different subplot. That said, I very much found myself sympathizing with the struggles of some of the characters, whom I shall not name except under LJ cut so as not to spoil my friends who have yet to read this novel.
I think that Tolstoy could have had just as epic a masterpiece in just over half the size of this Mount Everest of books and did find myself distracted easily because of his longwindedness often. I think it went on long after it should have ended, and had to remind myself not to expect the traditional fairytale romances I know and love from other classic authors to push past what I thought was a good ending point. I'm glad that I did. Even if I had to re-read the entire last "part" several times because of it's thickness. Tolstoy certainly repeated himself, especially in that last part, but I think that spoke to his passion.
I found myself teary at the most surprising moment involving several deaths and their vastly different effects on two characters. Friends will know this when they get there. I can't wait til they do.
I don't know what else I can say without delving into specifics, so let me just say that if you can't brag about reading War and Peace, you need to remedy that. It's at the top of my re-read list when I finally finish my bookshelf. Thank you Tolstoy.
Tolstoy's views on humanity, religion, history and historians, philosophy, and of war are woven into and around the lives of four or five families. At first I couldn't keep up with the amount of characters and had difficulty figuring out which ones he wanted me, the reader, to care about. After the first few society gatherings- and about two hundred pages in- I was finally in the groove and thoroughly sucked in to their lives. It's not what I would call compelling story-telling; in fact I often found myself asking why he chose just then to leave off and jump to a completely different subplot. That said, I very much found myself sympathizing with the struggles of some of the characters, whom I shall not name except under LJ cut so as not to spoil my friends who have yet to read this novel.
I think that Tolstoy could have had just as epic a masterpiece in just over half the size of this Mount Everest of books and did find myself distracted easily because of his longwindedness often. I think it went on long after it should have ended, and had to remind myself not to expect the traditional fairytale romances I know and love from other classic authors to push past what I thought was a good ending point. I'm glad that I did. Even if I had to re-read the entire last "part" several times because of it's thickness. Tolstoy certainly repeated himself, especially in that last part, but I think that spoke to his passion.
I found myself teary at the most surprising moment involving several deaths and their vastly different effects on two characters. Friends will know this when they get there. I can't wait til they do.
I don't know what else I can say without delving into specifics, so let me just say that if you can't brag about reading War and Peace, you need to remedy that. It's at the top of my re-read list when I finally finish my bookshelf. Thank you Tolstoy.