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Erika (17789 KP) rated War and Peace in Books

Feb 16, 2019

War and Peace

Leo Tolstoy | 1869 | Fiction & Poetry

8.6

(7 Ratings)

Book Rating

Leo Tolstoy's expositions about history theory. (0 more)

While reading this book, I went from loving it, to hating it, to loving it. This book is widely talked about because of its length, but how many people have actually read the unabridged novel?
The main character I was annoyed with, that made me hate it, was Natasha. Some of her decisions were so stupid, but then I had to remind myself that I was once a dumb 16 year old that made stupid decisions.
At the beginning, it was hard to pick out which characters were actually considered to be the main characters. For sure, Natasha and Pierre, but the others I questioned.
This novel is a very interesting meditation (that's what I'm going to call it), on the differences between war, peace, and the cause and effect that follows.
Something I found very interesting was that Tolstoy would have sections of historical analysis and theory. I really enjoyed these parts, since I have a degree in history. The way it was juxtaposed with the novel kept it interesting for me. Though, I might be in the minority there.
I'm glad I finally read this novel, and can now say, proudly, that I made it through the whole thing.

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Sarah (7800 KP) Feb 17, 2019

I've had this on my To Read list since forever, but always put it off as it's such an huge book. Sounds like it's worth the read though!

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Erika (17789 KP) Feb 17, 2019

@Sarah I was surprised at how much I liked the novel. I think it was clever of Tolstoy, because almost as soon as you got bored with one part, the novel would switch gears.
If you listen to audiobooks (I get them from the digital catalog through my library), it's around 66 hours.

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