azita 's review for:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

5.0

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I read this masterpiece for the first time in Persian when I was in my late teens and fell in love with it right away. I would re-read my favorite passages over and over again. Then for many years I didn't have access to my copy and then it was selected for our book club reading. This time I listened to the English audiobook, experiencing the novel not only in a different language and medium, but also from the altered perspective of a middle-aged adult. I still love the plot. My favorite scenes remain more or less the same. I still find Tolstoy's philosophizing about the role of providence rather uninteresting, though I feel less forgiving about it. Surprisingly, however, one of the main characters has lost all his charm for me: Pierre. I think if I had revised War and Peace 30 years ago, I'd have given it five stars. It still gets four, maybe four and a half from my more exacting critical mind.