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A review by erinrouleaux
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
4.0
Wow, I can't believe I finished it and also I can't believe it took me so long. But I feel a great sense of accomplishment because this book was hard. Mostly because of it's massive scale, it was hard to keep up with all of the players and events. A quarter way through I didn't have as hard of a time with that, but then I found it very difficult to get through all the war parts. Mostly because war in it's details aren't very interesting to me and so I kept having to re-read all those passages after my mind had wandered.
This book was probably the most "gray" book I've ever read. Since I tend to lean towards black and white thinking it hurt my brain at times. Granted, Tolstoy was amazingly straightforward in his arguments. Tolstoy's precise arguments were mindblowing to me. Mostly because it is hard to comprehend that someone is that intelligent. I was and am in awe over his ability to dissect war, Napoleon, Russia and life in general. He was so knowledgeable in all subjects it seemed. There were even math ratios and scientific theories involved. I also thought it amazing that he had read all these biased accounts of history about Napoleon and was still able to create his own opinion based on the actions; completely dissregarding bias and all the words (letters, and drafted military plans) involved.
The epilogue really hurt my head the most. It was all argument. He just kept building his argument page after page and his conclusion was straightforward, but something that I had never thought to conclude. I had considered it, but never thought of it as the boiling point, or what life came down to. The epilogue also seemed to take on a different tone, and sort of a depressing one at that. I'm curious as to why he ended with the one character and I will see if I can find anything out on sparknotes. It also sort of bugged me that he ends the story and then goes on for another 30 or 40 pages. I didn't even realize that was the last we'd hear from the characters until I finished and then I had to go back and re-read what that last part of the story was. According to the translator's note this sort of ending is exactly what Tolstoy intended, so good for him to staying true to his creation.
Also, this is one classic that didn't really pull at my heartstrings. I think there was a moment where one of the characters dies and I got a little sad, but nothing more than a moment.
And another thing, there was a lot of repeating. A lot. Reading other reviews, readers seemed annoyed with this, but I actually appreciated it because I felt that if he didn't repeat himself or get his point across one more time and then one more time after that, I honestly probably wouldn't have caught it, or retained it. Granted, it also would have been nice to have probably 1/3 of it cut out.
So it's a book I will want to revisit. Definitely. But I don't think I could ever read the whole thing through again.
This book was probably the most "gray" book I've ever read. Since I tend to lean towards black and white thinking it hurt my brain at times. Granted, Tolstoy was amazingly straightforward in his arguments. Tolstoy's precise arguments were mindblowing to me. Mostly because it is hard to comprehend that someone is that intelligent. I was and am in awe over his ability to dissect war, Napoleon, Russia and life in general. He was so knowledgeable in all subjects it seemed. There were even math ratios and scientific theories involved. I also thought it amazing that he had read all these biased accounts of history about Napoleon and was still able to create his own opinion based on the actions; completely dissregarding bias and all the words (letters, and drafted military plans) involved.
The epilogue really hurt my head the most. It was all argument. He just kept building his argument page after page and his conclusion was straightforward, but something that I had never thought to conclude. I had considered it, but never thought of it as the boiling point, or what life came down to. The epilogue also seemed to take on a different tone, and sort of a depressing one at that. I'm curious as to why he ended with the one character and I will see if I can find anything out on sparknotes. It also sort of bugged me that he ends the story and then goes on for another 30 or 40 pages. I didn't even realize that was the last we'd hear from the characters until I finished and then I had to go back and re-read what that last part of the story was. According to the translator's note this sort of ending is exactly what Tolstoy intended, so good for him to staying true to his creation.
Also, this is one classic that didn't really pull at my heartstrings. I think there was a moment where one of the characters dies and I got a little sad, but nothing more than a moment.
And another thing, there was a lot of repeating. A lot. Reading other reviews, readers seemed annoyed with this, but I actually appreciated it because I felt that if he didn't repeat himself or get his point across one more time and then one more time after that, I honestly probably wouldn't have caught it, or retained it. Granted, it also would have been nice to have probably 1/3 of it cut out.
So it's a book I will want to revisit. Definitely. But I don't think I could ever read the whole thing through again.