Book Review: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

“Man cannot possess anything as long as he fears death. But to him who does not fear it, everything belongs. If there was no suffering, man would not know his limits, would not know himself. ”

Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

Review:

This was my second attempt at reading War and Peace, and I’m glad of my decision to put it down when I wasn’t ready for it. I also kind of regret turning this attempt at reading it into a challenge, but I think that ultimately held me accountable, and now I will thoroughly enjoy a future reread. 

Set in Russia during the Napoleonic Wars, we follow the Rostov and Bolkonsky families through their relationships, trials, affairs, etc. We also follow Pierre Bezukhov, his philosophies, and his encounters with the war. 

I honestly have no idea how to tackle a review for a book this long and this dense, so I’ll keep it bare bones to avoid potential spoilers (I don’t know what counts as such in such a famous story) and share some of my key thoughts/takeaways. 

The setting? Fantastic. I feel like I learned so much about Imperial Russia and the aristocratic culture. Tolstoy does an incredible job of capturing both tone and voice, often slipping into French dialogue. I did have to jump between editions because of this, though, because my physical copy used French much more frequently and I didn’t want to have to read footnotes for every other paragraph. Nonetheless, the inclusion aided in the ambiance of the book. 

I never realized that such a key focus of Pierre’s story revolved around the Freemasons. I found the discourse captivating, as well as reading his ideological journey. Especially in the context of when it was written, I found it super interesting. Tolstoy’s writing style added to the intrigue of this topic. 

Throughout most of the book, I struggled to read the scenes with Natasha. I found her insufferable at times, but I warmed up to her by the end. I enjoyed watching her character growth. I found her dynamics with different characters interesting to read about as well. 

I didn’t expect the last two parts of the book to take on an essay style. It felt strange after such a long and drawn-out novel, but it actually turned out to be my favorite part of the book. Having read through it all once, it instantly made me want to go back and further annotate. When I reread, I will likely begin with at least the final part first and then start from the beginning. 

Overall, I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed this book and how much it’s stuck with me. Although trying to read it within a certain amount of time did force me not to procrastinate, I would likely approach a reread with a chapter-a-day and not track my time with it. I can’t say this is my new favorite classic, but in a historical context, I understand why this book is still so widely discussed hundreds of years later. 

Likes & Dislikes:

What I liked:

• The study of war.
• Getting to learn about a time and place I don’t know much about.
• The character growth.

What I didn’t like:

• Obviously, it’s wordy. I feel like some corners could have been cut, but of course, publishing was different back then.
• A lot of character to keep track of.

Afterthoughts:

The reading challenge I imposed upon myself has to be the most niche challenge I’ve ever done. Anyone familiar with the old sitcom Cheers may remember Sam tackling War and Peace in five days to impress Diane’s ex-fiancé. For years, I’ve wanted to try this myself. I didn’t follow it quite as faithfully as I would have preferred, which would have been to read only the paperback. However, I would have to lock myself in a hotel room for five days to achieve this, so I jumped between the paperback, audiobook, and ebook. To compensate, I cut it a day short. Was this all necessary? Absolutely not. Did I have fun? Heck yes. Although, reading this during every spare moments and for such long stretches messed with my head a little bit… never thought I’d dream about the Napoleonic War!

Where to buy the book: