War and Peace in Reading the Chunksters

Jun 12, 2021 Jaclyn~she lives! catching up on reviews~ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, genre-historical, 1800, country-russia, authors-tolstoy

Our actions belong to us until they are past, and then they belong to history, shaping the present.

Whom the gods would destroy, they first drive insane.

From the introduction by Amy Mandelker -- "What was the book about? Was it a historical novel about the Napoleonic invasion of Russia? Was it a family chronicle about the Rostovs and Bolkonskys? Was it a social satire? A standard critical line emerged that divided War and Peace into three separate components – a philosophical essay, a family chr ...more

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Mar 14, 2019 Jess Penhallow rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: russia, 19th-century, boxall-s

I don't think it's ever taken me 5 months to read a book before but this book was worth it. I've never read anything like it and probably never will again. There were so many layers to this book. Reading it felt like flying over a vast landscape and then suddenly zooming in to a personal moment happening below. I was amazed at how Tolstoy could convey both the epic and the intimate with equal skill.

The characters just come alive and I was so invested in them, even shedding a few tears at the fa ...more

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Sep 13, 2018 Nich rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This made me look at history books with a new perspective, and now I always imagine Tolstoy scowling at the writers, or anyone who references Napoleon as a “Great Man.” But it also impacted how I look at the present, because I imagine there’s a lot for him to scowl about the different “Great Men” of today. Reading this in between 2017 and 2018, I couldn’t help but draw from Tolstoy’s criticisms of Napoleon to analyze or own leaders, and because of his insight or maybe just the talent of his beau This made me look at history books with a new perspective, and now I always imagine Tolstoy scowling at the writers, or anyone who references Napoleon as a “Great Man.” But it also impacted how I look at the present, because I imagine there’s a lot for him to scowl about the different “Great Men” of today. Reading this in between 2017 and 2018, I couldn’t help but draw from Tolstoy’s criticisms of Napoleon to analyze or own leaders, and because of his insight or maybe just the talent of his beautiful writing, it fit perfectly.
A friend asked me what my fascination is with Russian Literatire, and I had a hard time putting it into words until another friend said that “Russian literature is like a religion. It’s writing about life. It’s showing the human experience in a way that touches your soul because you see in it what you’ve felt inside of you but never been able to put into words before, never been able to explain to another person. And reading it pulls you in, makes you believe that you can be understood, and at once shows you the connection that all humans share through the life experiences of pain and joy that can be translated even through pages that are over a 100 years old, written by people who lived and spoke in a different era, a different world from your own.”
And that’s what War and Peace is. Yes, it’s not always easy, those sections in the middle, and that epilogue, were not fun nor particularly enlightening all the way through, but it had a magnetic attraction for me, so that even after I got to the end of the marathon of reading it, I’m continually drawn back to Pierre and Natasha, to Andre looking up at that blue sky, finding hope somewhere he never expected when his life isn’t going the way he planned it, to the peasant who made me cry but didn’t stop the prisoners or even the feeling Pierre from turning back to stop for a moment, to Natasha’s cry in the dark for forgiveness, and her emotional, young, head strong rushing into life and not knowing what’s going to meet her there, and to that raw uncovering of the fakeness of a man who has nothing and is nothing more than an overgrown bully, but who keeps on trumping himself up on some ridiculous idea of his own greatness.
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Jan 11, 2021 Nina rated it it was ok

Shelves: chunksters, bbc-book-challenge

Some books achieve such a special status in the Canon of Classic Literature that it feels almost presumptuous to review them; who am I, a mere mortal, to write down my thoughts about this great piece of literature? Have I even grasped all the themes and general profundities that Tolstoy put on display in this brick? Doesn't it require more than one reading to fully grasp and appreciate this astounding work of staggering genius?

The answers, of course, are: "my thoughts are just as valid as any ot Some books achieve such a special status in the Canon of Classic Literature that it feels almost presumptuous to review them; who am I, a mere mortal, to write down my thoughts about this great piece of literature? Have I even grasped all the themes and general profundities that Tolstoy put on display in this brick? Doesn't it require more than one reading to fully grasp and appreciate this astounding work of staggering genius?

The answers, of course, are: "my thoughts are just as valid as any other reader's", "no, I probably haven't" and "you can say that about most books, but I don't think it is more true for War and Peace than it is for Pride and Prejudice."

So, my thoughts:

a) It's long. It's also too long and the finishing chapters are boring.

b) Tolstoy's view of women doesn't impress me. I am not surprised by his misogyny and old-fashioned viewpoints, but he really doesn't come out well here. He says of Marya Bolkonskaya that it doesn't matter that she changes dresses or does her hair in a new way in order to look well - she is ugly and like a painting doesn't become prettier by changing the frame, a woman doesn't improve by changing her dress. She is ugly and that's that. Also, the role of women is to marry and have children. They are also jealous and unsteady, and the kind, self-sacrificing Sonya "isn't made to be loved." Again, I'm not surprised, but he hasn't aged well.

c) The characters aren't all that engaging. I love big books with lots of characters and storylines, but you need to be invested in them to make the book a joy to read. I don't get that with Tolstoy. His characters are two-dimensional and I don't care overmuch whether they live or die.

d) He is unashamedly biased. Of course he is on the Russians' side in the war against Napoleon, but his hatred of Napoleon and the French in general is showing. His bias is understandable and even forgivable, but he could have toned it down a bit. His dislike of Napoleon/the French borders on cruelty and a savage joy in their misfortune. He lacks subtlety when expressing his opinion, is what I am saying.

e) He is preachy and most of the book can be boiled down to: "If you find God, you'll find peace and joy and contentment in this life". I don't need that preachiness in my life, and if I do, I'll choose Victor Hugo to do the preaching, thank you very much. He does it better and his characters and plots are loads more interesting than Tolstoy's.

f) The BBC adaptation from 2016 is much better than the book.

g) For all the above, I never found myself so bored that I considered not finishing the book. I wasn't ever gripped by it, but I didn't hate it either. All the way through it was just very... mellow.

h) I did like the scenes set in burning Moscow, Pierre as a POW and the budding romance between Nikolai Rostov and Marya Bolkonskaya. Natasha was also fine. Andrei was boring but in my head he looked like James Norton so that made his scenes more interesting that they otherwise would have been.

I'm glad I've read it, but I am left with the same "meh" feeling I had after reading "Anna Karenina". No, that's a lie: "Anna Karenina" made me angry, I disliked the heroine and Levin so much. This one is better, but not good. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I know. But I've read it and that's a sort of achievement in itself, right? And now I am never going to pick up any of Tolstoy's books again. Ever. ...more

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