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ibborobb 's review for:
War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
slow-paced
2.0/5
I feel as though I owe this book a written review after reading it for 8 months. I will keep it brief for Tolstoy.
There are not many classics that I have rated this poorly. For 1350 pages, you’d expect some substance of worth. You will not find much in War and Peace. All of the meaningful aspects of War and Peace can be found in better and more interesting works.
Tolstoy’s writing is strangely empty of interest, feeling, and development. But perhaps it was just me. There isn’t much distinction in the actions of each character and I found myself wondering at the decisions a character made in connection to their person. The interesting characters of the book actually felt stifled by Tolstoy himself, pushing his own views onto them and tarnishing their stories. Natasha Rostov comes to mind.
Tolstoy also spends a significant portion of this book complaining about the methods of historians and their views on Napoleon’s actions. It is not only redundant but often times comes across as Tolstoy being biased himself. He also loves to use lazy excuses to describe something repeatedly like “a feeling only a pregnant woman can understand” and precedes not to explain anything. These sentences continue to become more niche and nonsensical.
Tolstoy also loves to rush development of a character in one page but provides 20 for a rant on historians.
There isn’t much I can say about this book that is positive. It just isn’t worth the time, in my opinion. There are some nice quotes and moments for characters.
There are also better books.
I feel as though I owe this book a written review after reading it for 8 months. I will keep it brief for Tolstoy.
There are not many classics that I have rated this poorly. For 1350 pages, you’d expect some substance of worth. You will not find much in War and Peace. All of the meaningful aspects of War and Peace can be found in better and more interesting works.
Tolstoy’s writing is strangely empty of interest, feeling, and development. But perhaps it was just me. There isn’t much distinction in the actions of each character and I found myself wondering at the decisions a character made in connection to their person. The interesting characters of the book actually felt stifled by Tolstoy himself, pushing his own views onto them and tarnishing their stories. Natasha Rostov comes to mind.
Tolstoy also spends a significant portion of this book complaining about the methods of historians and their views on Napoleon’s actions. It is not only redundant but often times comes across as Tolstoy being biased himself. He also loves to use lazy excuses to describe something repeatedly like “a feeling only a pregnant woman can understand” and precedes not to explain anything. These sentences continue to become more niche and nonsensical.
Tolstoy also loves to rush development of a character in one page but provides 20 for a rant on historians.
There isn’t much I can say about this book that is positive. It just isn’t worth the time, in my opinion. There are some nice quotes and moments for characters.
There are also better books.