I agree. Definitely worth it, both for the rich language and the insights. For example, one passage that stood out to me was a description of the psychological experience of a new officer riding his horse into battle for the first time. Tolstoy really had a gift.
It’s a great book, took me about 10 days to read it though. Because it’s so long you almost see the full life span of the characters and events in their life are continually altering there personalities so your opinion on characters is ever changing
Well worth the read if you like historical fiction and epics about aristocratic families. Tolstoy also deep-dives on the strategic and sociological aspects of war. This may try the patience of some readers.
Tolstoy had a marvelous instinct for metaphor. This magnificent passage from War and Peace is a favorite: “Just as in the mechanism of a clock, so in the mechanism of the military machine, an impetus once given leads to the final result; and the parts of the mechanism which have not yet started into action remain as indifferently stationary. Wheels creak on their axles as the cogs engage, the revolving pulleys whirr in rapid motion, while the next wheel stands as apathetic and still as though it would remain so for a hundred years; but the momentum reaches it — the lever catches and the wheel, obeying the impulse, creaks and joins the common movement, the result and aim of which are beyond its ken.
Just as in the clock the result of the complex action of innumerable wheels and pulleys is merely the slow and regular movement of the hand marking the time, so the result of all the complex human activities of these 160,000 Russian and French – of all their passions, hopes, regrets, humiliations, sufferings, outbursts of pride, fear and enthusiasm – was only the loss of the battle of Austerlitz, the battle of the three Emperors, as it was called; that is to say, a slow movement of the hand on the dial of human history.”
If you have no patience for thick books, you will lose that battle. 😀 But – it’s an amazing book, well worth reading. Right now 4 copies are roaming around in our house, at strategic points, if someone feels like to reread it again.
It was long and took m3 4 months to finish ?
Worth it?
It is. Opinions may differ but I believe it is ?
I agree. Definitely worth it, both for the rich language and the insights. For example, one passage that stood out to me was a description of the psychological experience of a new officer riding his horse into battle for the first time. Tolstoy really had a gift.
It’s a great book, took me about 10 days to read it though. Because it’s so long you almost see the full life span of the characters and events in their life are continually altering there personalities so your opinion on characters is ever changing
10 days??? Are u kidding me…
@Wajeeha It’s the longest any book has taken me yet but planning a few more biggies this year and next
Subhash Ruman last year when I posted I read it some had done it in 3 or 4. 10 days averages out at 180 pages a night so not to bad at all
I’ve been trying to read it for years and can’t get past chapter 3
It’s long, and heavy.
I am Pro- peace, anti- war.
At first there was war. A bazillion pages later there was peace.
Well worth the read if you like historical fiction and epics about aristocratic families. Tolstoy also deep-dives on the strategic and sociological aspects of war. This may try the patience of some readers.
Tolstoy had a marvelous instinct for metaphor. This magnificent passage from War and Peace is a favorite: “Just as in the mechanism of a clock, so in the mechanism of the military machine, an impetus once given leads to the final result; and the parts of the mechanism which have not yet started into action remain as indifferently stationary. Wheels creak on their axles as the cogs engage, the revolving pulleys whirr in rapid motion, while the next wheel stands as apathetic and still as though it would remain so for a hundred years; but the momentum reaches it — the lever catches and the wheel, obeying the impulse, creaks and joins the common movement, the result and aim of which are beyond its ken.
Just as in the clock the result of the complex action of innumerable wheels and pulleys is merely the slow and regular movement of the hand marking the time, so the result of all the complex human activities of these 160,000 Russian and French – of all their passions, hopes, regrets, humiliations, sufferings, outbursts of pride, fear and enthusiasm – was only the loss of the battle of Austerlitz, the battle of the three Emperors, as it was called; that is to say, a slow movement of the hand on the dial of human history.”
If you have no patience for thick books, you will lose that battle. 😀 But – it’s an amazing book, well worth reading. Right now 4 copies are roaming around in our house, at strategic points, if someone feels like to reread it again.
I love a good thick book or a good thin book but war and peace just beats me
It’s an amazing book. If you can get the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation, it’s worth it.
I only read 900 pages