Week of Books - War and Peace

 

War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy

'I don't say it's a plan I approve of,' he said, 'I'm just telling you how things are. Napoleon has his own plan and it's no worse than ours.'
(Page 103)

This mammoth of a tome is my long journey. I shall be dwelling in these 1,300+ pages for a long time, so you may catch glimpses every now and then. Ahh, this book. I liked it from the first page. These characters introduced are full of quirks and hopes, goals and failures. I love how Tolstoy sets them all up. You quickly get to know them, and then without any delay, the story jumps into action. Social parties allow the characters of this Russian upper class to be known, and then when a battle with Napoleon begins, you see it all play out in action, whether on the battlefield or off. 

I think the general turn-off of this book is the size. The sheer 1,300 pages is pretty daunting, I will say. I do delight in a book I can carry with me, and this one just doesn't fit into my bag nicely, because it's like carrying around a brick. Although I am only 400 pages in, I can confirm that this book it well worth the time. It's so well written and really fun to read. There's no dullness in my opinion, which might be another assumption people have of this book. 

It's a sort of parallel to our own history playing out in some similar fashions, from the 1805-1810s perspective. I really enjoy when I have time to dive into this world.

You dread crossing that line, and yet you still want to cross it. You know sooner or later you will have to go across and find out what is there beyond it, just as you must inevitably find out what lies beyond death. Yet here you are, fit and strong, carefree and excited, with men all around you just the same - strong, excited and full of life. This is what all men think when they get a sight of the enemy, or they feel it if they do not think it, and it is this feeling that gives a special lustre and a delicious edge to the awareness of everything that is now happening.
(Page 150)