War And Peace - Classics

I know that I should have read this years ago! Now I haven’t an excuse for not getting it done.

Such a classic. Don't give up in the first 10% of the book. Initially you wonder where this is leading but realize that it is setting up characters that play a major role throughout. Also know that this is a history of Russia/France relations during 1805-1813 which includes Napoleon's march to Moscow making it a centerpiece of the novel. It is worth giving yourself a short review of the history of these years and Napoleon's term as Premier of France. Tolstoy brilliantly merges his fictitious characters with these events. However, he also includes actual French and Russian generals and other heads of state that directed the war. I looked them up on Wikipedia to get more insight as to who they were and what role they played in history. Tolstoy's fictitious characters are very interesting and you will find that they change and mature (or not) throughout and so will your opinion of them. At the end there are a couple of epilogues where Tolstoy relates his opinion to history in general and how history is created. Fascinating thoughts from a genius but not easy to comprehend. I held off reading this for years but was so glad to have plunged in. It is a masterpiece.

Took me several months to get through the story, but it was a great read for the daily train ride. Lots of characters to keep track of -- Tolstoy's characters are portrayed in terms of how their lives and viewpoints change over time and through their experiences, so you get to know and understand them quite well. A more intellectual theme that runs through the book is the notion that history is not really defined by the actions of specific hero figures (i.e, Napoleon or Kutuzov), but rather the collective actions of many people in a almost fatalistic sense. The end of the book is a somewhat repetitive essay on "what is history?" I can only assume that there was an academic argument going on over this question back in the nineteenth century. The story is more interesting than the philosophy discourse.

I can see why it is a classic. It is simply beautiful. Candy for the eyes. One’s education is incomplete without it.

Well, mine did not come as a hardbound book :⁠'⁠(

Is there really anything new under the sun? A 150 year old novel of a history of 210 years ago would tell me "no". This is more than war/peace. It is that. But it is also love/hate, youth/age, pride/humility, searching/finding, destiny/free will, sincerity/pretense, upstairs/downstairs. A bucket list item to read; thank you Covid19 for presenting the prime opportunity. Thank you Leo Tolstoy for characters that nicely become very 3 dimensional in a paragraph or page and yet you keep the story moving along. Best quote: "There is nothing certain, nothing at all except the unimportance of everything I understand, and the greatness of something incomprehensible but all-important" 3:19 by Prince Andrew

At the outset, I found myself continually asking... Why is this a classic? He (Tolstoy) is just a story teller. A bit wordy, but not really earth shattering. I wondered if something was perhaps lost in the translation. But I slogged on, and on and on... Maybe I should have started with the final prologue (who has more than one prologue?) but, I confess, without the story line, the machinations of men and women, small and great--the conclusions would have lost much of their impact. From and to this current age where it seems that there are no absolutes, his ability to cut through much of the fluff to the underlying truth was actually refreshing. I would recommend this to anyone with time on their hands, a love of reading and a mind open to a different age and and philosophy. In our 30 minute society of instant gratification, few will be so inclined. Ah, such a pity. One final comment... Thank you Kindle! This translation is rife French passages, of which I would have been at a loss without the translation feature. This made for a much richer experience. The vocabulary was at times archaic, words that I was unfamiliar with, and again, Kindle to the rescue. If you plan to read this version, you will appreciate the technology! And now, I can finally claim success, I have read "War and Peace"! 😀

War and Peace is worth reading even though it is overly long and has an overwhelming amount of detail. It tends to drag, but the story line is worth the slog through the detail. I liked it because of the insight into the mind set of the Russians at that time and the details of the battles between Napoleon and the Russian army. However, Tolstoy has a tendency to philosophy too much about the causes and reactions of the various people towards the war. It took me a couple of years to read it.

Such a wonderful novel, such a page turner, quite long and philosophical but could not put it down. The character are so engaging, the romances within the aristocratic families, the changes and realisation each character goes through as the years pass and the country goes through the Napolionic wars. The historical events are so accurate and told within the fictional setting and characters. Such a great book.

It is Leo Tolstoy, it is War and Peace. I am not going to review the book, I will tell you about this particular Maple Classics edition which is a thick lump of a book with fat spine. Pages are of off-white color and printing is clean with good font size; not big, not small. Mine came with a slightly bent corner. Thing to notice. You may find paragraphs here and there breaking mid-sentence which can break your reading tempo. There can also be some typo. Otherwise, book is neat, good price and nice to look at. Content is unabridged, authentic and what it should be.

Tolstoy's War and Peace is an intriguing exploration of human behavior, conflict, and philosophical thought.

Chiaramente parliamo di un capolavoro, essendo un grande classico della letteratura sono rimasto colpito dalla fluidità della scrittura che ne rende la lettura veramente facile e scorrevole nonostante la considerevole mole di questa splendida opera. Personaggi delineati in modo straordinario, memorabili quelli principali per la profondità emotiva e di pensiero che esprimono.

Perfect