War and Peace ~ Leo Tolstoy I picked it up thinking I wouldn't understand anything, but I simply felt it was now or never. I read in the introduction somewhere it had over 500 characters, and that scared me more, because I was already scared of how huge the book was, and how heavy!
At first, I didn't get much and I was mixing up characters and I wasn't constant with my reading. When I got a little less than 200 pages, I decided that I had to give it its due, and if it didn't work out then at least I could say I tried. Suddenly, it got more interesting. I was interacting with the book and it felt good.
Bit by bit as I got more into the book I started loving it, truly loving it. The characters held me captive, though I disliked them at times. I had to read more. At night I wouldn't want to sleep because there was more to be read, and more yet to unfold.
A novel, though Tolstoy doesn't consider it as a novel, as big as War and Peace where everything is relevant yet when you look back at certain events that took place a few pages back they look so insignificant compared to how everything worked out and how things were being shaped at that certain moment. Tolstoy keeps you hoping for a certain thing to happen, so you wait and you wait some more. He’s so good at his writing that just before that certain event happens, you no longer care if will take place or not, you’re only left wanting to know what happens next. Most of the time I felt I was being told a story of people that actually happened. They truly feel so real, that you’re simply left observing the course of their lives without judgment over how it turns out, you’re only studying these characters and you’re thinking them over.
Tolstoy was very concerned with history, and if you look at the title; War and Peace, it’ll tell you everything you should be expecting. It’s Tolstoy’s attempt at making us see things that actually happened in his reasoning. He wants us to know what actually happened, who was to blame and how people lived at that time. He truly wants you to understand history, and would take the trouble to dedicate chapters to relate this history and what historians said about the events he’s describing. I actually thought that was the fun part for him, while for me to be honest it was tedious work. I have never read history, and I don’t want to. I didn’t understand much of the ‘pure’ history parts, and I didn’t bother most of the time to concentrate on it. I simply read it to get to the good parts with the actual characters of the novel.
Coming to the characters, they were superb. Each one of them has something special and Tolstoy took the time to give each character life. All of the leading characters left an impression on me, though I have to speak of one certain character and that is Pierre. He is absolutely one of my favorite characters if not my all time favorite. He is amazing. His soul has such depth, that it’s impossible not to relate to him in everything he does or thinks of. I simply love him, and although he isn’t as charming as other characters in the novel, he possessed something that made me dwell much on him and on everything he did and thought. I can’t explain it by words but this character became very close to my heart after the time I spend with it, which was quite lengthy.
Personal opinion: I will conclude by saying, it is a great novel and you must have the patience to understand what the author is trying to tell you to get the full enjoyment of it. I am grateful for having picked up the book at that certain moment defying my fears of it. Now I can proudly say I’ve read War and Peace, and I’ve enjoyed it.
My Rating: 10/10
I recommend it to all classic lovers out there who love to get lost in that beautiful era and enjoy a bit of history.
This really interesting, I think I should give it a try even though I'm not the biggest fan of anything historical.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great read, but it's long and tedious work. Read it in the Summer and prepare it to take a month. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt's just really amazing.