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torintorin 's review for:
War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
The rumors are true. I read it all
Now it's a week later and I've had a bit more time to think. This book was obviously ginormous but after a while I did not mind at all. It occupied my every thought and I had many dreams loosely based on the trials and tribulations of the characters. My favorite character by far was Prince Andrei because we share many of the same revelations (except for his last most tragic and eerie one which was a huge bummer and not very Tolstoy at all to me) and seem to have them at similar moments, for example when looking at a cloud or perhaps looking at a tree. I have never been attacked by cannonballs or thrown off a horse but I look at clouds and trees and feel strongly about being the age that I am all the same. I also had a fondness for Pierre because we see him in so many stupid little iterations. It was interesting to be so close to someone who was so into his own journey. Boy what a quest for self-fulfillment! I loved the parts where someone would come into a lot of money and then feel as if everyone had finally realized how interesting and funny they are. I bet this happens a lot to this very day. Age gaps remain perturbing to me. So many times people describe Natasha as the heroine, the central character, but we barely got anything interesting from her perspective. She just served as this point that her well-defined, nuanced, and complex suitors rotated around while she did classic boring things such as sing and fall ill.
Four stars because I could do without the hundreds of pages of intermixed essays on how Napoleon wasn't the reason for the war, history is made up of hundreds of choices, history happens while everyone is living their lives... shocking how many times he can make these points with different metaphors about bees and plants. (I did like when he threw out the word cotelydon. Shoutout botany!)
Also loved the Berg slander. I love when he writes losers and idiots!
Now it's a week later and I've had a bit more time to think. This book was obviously ginormous but after a while I did not mind at all. It occupied my every thought and I had many dreams loosely based on the trials and tribulations of the characters. My favorite character by far was Prince Andrei because we share many of the same revelations (except for his last most tragic and eerie one which was a huge bummer and not very Tolstoy at all to me) and seem to have them at similar moments, for example when looking at a cloud or perhaps looking at a tree. I have never been attacked by cannonballs or thrown off a horse but I look at clouds and trees and feel strongly about being the age that I am all the same. I also had a fondness for Pierre because we see him in so many stupid little iterations. It was interesting to be so close to someone who was so into his own journey. Boy what a quest for self-fulfillment! I loved the parts where someone would come into a lot of money and then feel as if everyone had finally realized how interesting and funny they are. I bet this happens a lot to this very day. Age gaps remain perturbing to me.
Spoiler
The loss of Anatol was a shame as I liked having a handsome rascal in the mix. Even worse was the death of Natasha's character. The light left her eyes? She became nothing if not for Pierre?Spoiler
She was ill for so long! Longer than Andrei and he was supposed to be dead twice! And Marya was no better either. I was glad to see Rostov got his happy Levin/Tolstoy serf-cosplay ending I guess, except for the part where he attacks people when he's angry and will apparently never change.Four stars because I could do without the hundreds of pages of intermixed essays on how Napoleon wasn't the reason for the war, history is made up of hundreds of choices, history happens while everyone is living their lives... shocking how many times he can make these points with different metaphors about bees and plants. (I did like when he threw out the word cotelydon. Shoutout botany!)
Also loved the Berg slander. I love when he writes losers and idiots!