Although it has been three months since my last post, I have read many books during this time of seclusion. After enjoying Middlemarch, I decided to take on the challenge of reading Tolstoy's 1200+ page novel War and Peace. There is so much to say about this book, that I don't know where to begin. It felt like one of the best reading experiences of my life, that I could spend the rest of my days studying.
Let me recap: The novel was written in 1869 and (mostly) covers the period from 1804 to basically 1812. The book is a "war sandwich" with action taking place during the Napoleonic wars, between the Battle of Austerlitz and the Battle of Borodino.
What is it like to read War and Peace? First, it is a complete world with hundreds of characters. Social customs are fully portrayed and like George Eliot's social constructions, a lot of it is about wealth and poverty.
The reader is flung from one intense romance to another, with the young, innocent Natasha first in love with Nikolai Bolkonsky, then nearly seduced by Anatole Kuragin, in a nailbiting section worthy of Game of Thrones, finally settling down with our hero Pierre Bezukhov.
This is only one of many successful or ill-fated romantic conjunctions.
Tolstoy writes hundreds and hundreds of pages of war details, presenting it as tragic and incompetent, filled with drama, heroism and craziness, and during the course of the battles, dismantles the naive Nikolai Bolkonsky's illusions of glory. Tolstoy knows every detail of the Napoleonic wars, that he passes on to the reader.
One aspect of Tolstoy that we don't find in modern novels, is his lengthy philosophical commentary on historical events. Several hundred pages are spent on digressions about what he thinks about how war should be conducted, and just when you want to say, "Enough already," he moves on to another dramatic romance, or excruciating torment of his character Pierre.
The novel is full of beautiful ideas and lovely scenery, with characters often staring at the sky in rapture. I would have wished it to be 200 pages shorter, but I guess it took the place of Netflix and the fans wanted more. I think every serious reader should take in this book at least once, and now is the time.
