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bdg 's review for:
War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
Apparently Tolstoy once wrote to Afanasy Fet that he was glad not to have to write such wordy nonsense like War and Peace anymore. For my part I am glad I do not have to read such wordy nonsense anymore.
I was really excited about this book when I started it. I started it as part of the reddit group /r/ayearofwarandpeace, albeit a month late in February. No worries, though: I was enjoying it and reading the chapter discussions and the accompanying Medium posts diligently. I was even ahead of schedule for a while.
But I just couldn’t keep it up. The book started to lose my interest about halfway through, probably about the time the “war” bits pick up and the novel shifts to discussing battles and military strategy much more. I ended up putting it down for six months, and when I picked it up again I was never as diligent about outside readings and really just wanted to finish it. To paraphrase another review, I read classics out of a sense of obligation and finishing them is like climbing a mountain (it’s not always enjoyable but I gain a sense of accomplishment from doing it), and I think that is what pushed me through to the end. I really wanted to enjoy this experience, but it became a chore by the end of it and I am happy to be done with it.
Anyway, this book hasn’t put me off Tolstoy altogether, as I still have Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilyich on my TBR list. Tolstoy himself seemed to like the latter better than War and Peace, so I’m hoping I will as well.
I was really excited about this book when I started it. I started it as part of the reddit group /r/ayearofwarandpeace, albeit a month late in February. No worries, though: I was enjoying it and reading the chapter discussions and the accompanying Medium posts diligently. I was even ahead of schedule for a while.
But I just couldn’t keep it up. The book started to lose my interest about halfway through, probably about the time the “war” bits pick up and the novel shifts to discussing battles and military strategy much more. I ended up putting it down for six months, and when I picked it up again I was never as diligent about outside readings and really just wanted to finish it. To paraphrase another review, I read classics out of a sense of obligation and finishing them is like climbing a mountain (it’s not always enjoyable but I gain a sense of accomplishment from doing it), and I think that is what pushed me through to the end. I really wanted to enjoy this experience, but it became a chore by the end of it and I am happy to be done with it.
Anyway, this book hasn’t put me off Tolstoy altogether, as I still have Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilyich on my TBR list. Tolstoy himself seemed to like the latter better than War and Peace, so I’m hoping I will as well.