Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American ReadOften called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is at once an epic of the Napoleonic Wars, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the Russian spirit. Tolstoy’s genius is seen clearly in the multitude of characters in this massive chronicle—all of them fully realized and equally memorable. Out of … and equally memorable. Out of this complex narrative emerges a profound examination of the individual’s place in the historical process, one that makes it clear why Thomas Mann praised Tolstoy for his Homeric powers and placed War and Peace in the same category as the Iliad: “To read him . . . is to find one’ s way home . . . to everything within us that is fundamental and sane.”
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What can anyone say about this massive novel that has not already been said?
Like most Russian aristocrats of that time, Tolstoy spoke fluently French and so do all of his aristocrat characters. Not astonishingly 2% of the text is written in French followed by a translation.
Some translators omit the French texts and publish only the translations but by doing so you don’t realize that the more the Russians got involved …
It was slow going, but I was determined to finish it as the first book I read after retiring. Some sections got long and I skimmed, but others were very interesting. Very historically informative.
My third time through I am still humbled by Tolstoy’s achievement. His masterful epic remains relevant after all these years.
The sheer size of this novel intimidated me for years, but when I heard they were making a mini-series–starring Paul Dano and Lily James among other favorites—that I most definitely was going to watch, I knew I had to read the book first. The story line and the characters won me over immediately. All I ever knew of this story was that it is about …
every decade I read the book. everithing the ficcion ought to have is there.
There are good reasons War and Peace by Tolstoy is one of the most revered book in literature. Honestly, I skipped the academic discourses on history, and read purely for story, and that is the approach I’d recommend. Fresh characters. A palpable social and physical setting. A very human, and humane, book.