Leonard's review
War & Peace (Konemann Classics)
by Leo Tolstoy
"But it's well, well worth it."
It sure is. I read it the summer before my junior year of college, and I remember being pleasantly surprised to discover that it wasn't just one of the longest major novels, but absolutely enthralling.
That's a great passage and very sobering.
I really need to get off my ass and read this, given all my granstanding about how giant novels don't scare me.
Do read it. You won't regret it.
War! What is it good for?
Leonard's review
War & Peace (Konemann Classics) by Leo Tolstoy
Leonard's review
rating:
bookshelves:
fiction
Folks, I'm not going to lie to you: this thing takes a million billion years to read, and I guarantee you that even if Russian is your native language, you will at some point lose track of which character is which. But it's well, well worth it and contains this, one of my favorite passages of all time:
"He had the unfortunate capacity many men, especially Russians, have of seeing and believing in the possibility of goodness and truth, but of seeing the evil and falsehood of life too clearly to be able to take a serious part in it. Every sphere of work was connected, in his eyes, with evil and deception. Whatever he tried to be, whatever he engaged in, the evil and falsehood of it repulsed him and blocked every path of activity. Yet he had to live and to find occupation. It was too dreadful to be under the burden of these insoluble problems, so he abandoned himself to any distraction in order to forget them. He frequented every kind of society, drank much, bought pictures, eng...more
"He had the unfortunate capacity many men, especially Russians, have of seeing and believing in the possibility of goodness and truth, but of seeing the evil and falsehood of life too clearly to be able to take a serious part in it. Every sphere of work was connected, in his eyes, with evil and deception. Whatever he tried to be, whatever he engaged in, the evil and falsehood of it repulsed him and blocked every path of activity. Yet he had to live and to find occupation. It was too dreadful to be under the burden of these insoluble problems, so he abandoned himself to any distraction in order to forget them. He frequented every kind of society, drank much, bought pictures, eng...more
"But it's well, well worth it."
It sure is. I read it the summer before my junior year of college, and I remember being pleasantly surprised to discover that it wasn't just one of the longest major novels, but absolutely enthralling.
That's a great passage and very sobering.
I really need to get off my ass and read this, given all my granstanding about how giant novels don't scare me.
Do read it. You won't regret it. War! What is it good for?