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War and Peace

Leo Tolstoy

Start date: April 1, 2018

Finish date: June 30, 2018

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What Members Thought

Aug 19, 2013 Antonomasia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bbc-big-read, 2014, central-eastern-europe, 19th-century, 1001-books, ebooks-kindle, divine-comedy-booklovers, 2013, russia, historical-fiction

Pevear & Volokhonsky translation; also read first few chapters of Edmonds.
[4.5. Especially if we ignore the Epilogue.] 02/12/14

Like a huge and complex orrery. The elegant movement, construction and synthesis was awe-inspiring. (Though, like other possible analogies - a classical symphony, or a dance in a Regency ball scene - there are other things I love more, whilst still being very impressed with what's there.) I was always interested in what was happening to the cast of characters, but didn't ...more

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Jan 01, 2021 Shirley (stampartiste) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-classics, challenge-bingo-2021

This is one of my Big Reads in 2021 that I plan to read slowly and purposefully. I am setting myself a 6-month Reading Plan for this book.

UPDATE: After all these years of saying I’m going to read War and Peace one day, I can finally strike that HUGE goal off my list. I read it in small bites and am so glad I didn’t rush through it. It is definitely a book to be savored and mulled over. I loved reading the personal stories and the intrigue in Tsarist Russia (Peace) as well as Napoleon’s invasion ...more

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Mar 31, 2020 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: digital

Well, I finished it. And, it was long. Very very long. For the moment, I'm just going to say it was an epic soap opera and leave it at that.

Some further reflection has been done, its the great 2020 quarantine, and what the heck else do I have to do? War and Peace comes at the top, or near the top, of most of the "greatest books" lists. Well, it doesn't make it to the top of my favorites list, which does not mean its not a great book for any number of reasons. This book is roughly 150 years old, Well, I finished it. And, it was long. Very very long. For the moment, I'm just going to say it was an epic soap opera and leave it at that.

Some further reflection has been done, its the great 2020 quarantine, and what the heck else do I have to do? War and Peace comes at the top, or near the top, of most of the "greatest books" lists. Well, it doesn't make it to the top of my favorites list, which does not mean its not a great book for any number of reasons. This book is roughly 150 years old, and perhaps some of the philosophizing was refreshingly new at the time; in fact, it Tolstoy's ideas about determinism and individuals lack of control over "history" probably were new concepts, or not much considered concepts, to many of his readers. By the end of the book, the philosophizing became deadly dull to me, it felt repetitive, and old newsy to me. The fact that those ostensibly in charge of directing a war, politically especially, but also high level military, have no contact with the front lines, and no concept of what war is really like is not a new idea to me. In our present day, I think we all know that is true. Tolstoy's shifting of the responsibility for the actions and outcomes from one individual (rare ot never) to mere chance or group movers is more the philosophy of history that I was educated upon. So perhaps, that part bored me more than it should have. Also, his emphasis on the pointless needless deaths in war - while true - is also something that has become old hat at this point. I do suppose we need constant reminder, however. Petya Rostov, dead at 16 because he believes that war is about glory and heroism, was evocative. But, I also totally knew that was going to happen from the moment the young man started begging his parents to join the military.

As a soap opera, I did enjoy it. The bad characters got their come-uppance. I literally have written in my notes "when does she die?" regarding Helene and her bad behaviour -- and then, satisfactorily, she dies a not only a physically painful death, but also a humiliating death. the 'good' characters that survived, had happy lives. That, at least, was satisfying.

***DO NOT READ THE BARNES & NOBLE EDITION. It is about 500 pages shorter than any other standard translation. No translators' information is provided, so no idea who is responsible for the Barnes & Noble version - I assume the translators were too ashamed to have their names attached to it. It was so heavily edited that I had a hard time keeping characters straight -- in the first chapter! Stuck in isolation, I picked this up and almost immediately realized something was wrong. I went and got a free version at Gutenberg that was so much better. ...more

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