War and Peace

This wonderful book is actually 17 books, thus its reputation for being long. My advice is to persevere through book one where trying to figure out who is who is quite challenging (I searched for a chart of the main characters and how they relate to each other, which was helpful). Once past that, the richness of story telling, the insight into human behavior, and bringing to life this place and time are nothing short of exceptional.

Read title.

A totally immersive experience filled with historical fact and fiction, love and hate, peace war and peace,the battles are deep and personal, the victories surprisingly small. Lobbyer10

All should read this famous book. Much of it is stunning and riveting because Tolstoy crafts characters and events that are stunning and riveting. It is a wild roller coaster ride of a novel which turned out to be surprisingly easy reading. Well worth it!!

I grew up reading condensed classic literature (Great Illustrated Classics) and I developed an interest in all sorts of authors. As I got older I read many of the original versions of those classics, but I never got to Tolstoy. I don’t think his two greats (War and Peace and Anna Karenina) were even made I to those condensed children’s books either.

Regardless, I read Anna Karenina when I was 24, and it’s still one of my top five books ever. Now, I’m 35 and I have just finished War and Peace for the first time. Similarities between them, briefly:

Tolstoy masterly captures the essence of the human experience and relates that to a reader. He brings one into the sensual experience of a scene with sounds, smells, visual aspects and feelings in a combination unrivaled by others. On top of that, his characters all possess qualities decidedly human, that is to say, qualities that exist today in people. Never do I feel as though I cannot understand these people who existed so many decades or centuries before because he so completely brings them to life by their mannerisms, expressions, desires and actions, all felt by people today in similar fashion.

I’m writing this review on my phone, and it’s already so long it’s hard to tell if I’m rambling now or finishing a train of thought.

To wrap up, I wanted to say that as a young-ish man of 35 who grew up with Nintendo and carries around a smart phone and wears a smart watch and is constantly connected, it was so refreshing to take the time during this pandemic to read this novel. If you take the time it’s so worth it!!!

Enjoyed every page until the 2nd Epilogue. Waste of words

This was The BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ!

It's very very long but still good

This book awesome 😄😁😂😋

A true masterpiece with layers of historical, philosophical and spiritual depth intertwined into an awe inspiring, timeless dramatic novel.