J. Sebastian’s Reviews > War and Peace > Status Update

I never read it. Had seen the film once. Is it worth reading?

The first time I read the book was about 35 or 40 years ago, and I remember thinking it was so good that I could have read it again every year. I loved those passages that were a reflection on or a philosophy of history. These were interspersed every so often in the narrative in which the plot of the story was unfolding.

Well, life and other pursuits never left me with enough time for the re-reading, until now. I used to think that Tolstoy was superior to Dostoevsky; now, I'm not so sure anymore. I have been a bit bored in the first 120 pages, except for some moments. Most of the story in the beginning involves the drawing rooms of the nobility, and all of its affected postures that it is wonderful to escape by going on a military campaign. Tolstoy equally well captures the attitudes and charicatures of military life.

It is a very slow unfolding of things, and requires a patient reader. Yet there is great art hidden in all of this, by which the reader is placed into the shoes of soldiers who have marched over a thousand miles, without knowing what lies ahead. The slowness with which news travels, and the uncertainty of what the enemy may be doing, allows great tension to build before battle.

I do not have much time to think about what I am reading and must hurry to read quickly, in order to finish the book before the end of summer. I read aloud, but hurriedly, and this causes the book to sound to me as if it has been dubbed. 😅

Keeping track of characters is also tough when reading so quickly, especially when they are referred to by several different names. For example, Nikolay, or merely, Rostov; Andrej, or merely Bolkonsky, and sometimes, the Prince, but one can't be sure it's not Prince Vassily that is meant, unless you are reading very carefully and slowly, which I can't be.

Is it worth reading? Absolutely! It is a great work of literature, one of the great stories of the world, and enriching, but it is also a great commitment.