Let’s start with the unsparing truth: I have no idea why I decided to read this book. Occasionally, I get rumbling guilt pangs about just reading whatever the hell I feel like and I make myself sit down and read “one of the classics.” I have not read much in the way of Russian literature beyond the odd Chekov short story, I thought I might as well jump in with both feet. So: War and Peace
There are three strands that I want to unpack when it comes to this book— first is the history:
The book spans the period between 1805 and 1820 and more or less starts around the battle of Austerlitz and culminates in the French Invasion and then the disastrous retreat from Russia and the aftermath of that. Give Tolstoy real credit here: he had legitimate military experience (albeit in the Crimean War) and that experience shines through. The description of the battles feels real. The military strategy and the decisions made by the Generals throughout the conflict feel like they’ve been meticulously researched.
He also does a decent job of capturing the time and mood of Russia as well. The high society parties in Moscow, the way that people are talking and debating Napolean- you can sense the gathering gloom about the threat he poses.
Also interesting— and this I learned from the novel’s extensive wiki-page, is the use of French. If you really want to, you can slow down and translate it all but the vague amounts of French still in my brain stood me well enough that I could get the general idea of what they were talking about, but honestly, I kind of skimmed over that dialogue and kept on reading.
Why so much French? Well, as it turns out you can blame Catherine the Great for that. At the time, her influence was still quite strong in the Russian court and high society and her preference for French stuck around for a long time. It’s subtle (again, learned this from the wiki-page), but as the conflict with France accelerates, the use of French decreases and by the end of the book, many characters are starting to learn Russian for themselves.
The second strand is the philosophy: I’ll be bluntly honest with you- his long meandering epilogue expounding his theory of history was straight trash. I hated it. If you’re going to have an epilogue, show me some characters. Show me some stories. I don’t need a philosophy lecture after toiling through a book for a damn lecture.
Over the arc of the novel, Tolstoy’s meandering digressions into history and philosophy creep up now and again and they’re not bad. I dealt with them fairly well, because eventually, he’d get back to the characters and that’s what I really found interesting. But the epilogue? Ugh. It was the hardest part of the book to get through and felt completely unnecessary.
The final strand is probably what kept me going throughout the book: the characters themselves.
It’s crazy. This is the longest book in history and feels like it sometimes, but the characters work really, really well. And they feel so real. Initially, the web of families and names is hard to keep track of- but eventually, you begin to sort them all out.
Pierre Bezukhov doesn’t really start out as one of the most important characters of the book- I’d say that’s probably Prince Andrew (there are a lot of Princes in this book). But the two of them gradually intersect over the course of the book- even as Andrew pursues Countess Natasha Rostov to the point of engagement- even though she causes great consternation and scandal by attempting to elope with Prince Anatole Kuragin.
That doesn’t work and Prince Andrew breaks off the engagement. Pierre wallows in the troubles of his unhappy marriage and eventually turns to Freemasonry, which proves to be something of a spiritual awakening for him and brings him back into the orbit of Prince Andrew. The two wrestle over the meaning of life and society and become good friends before war sweeps them apart and sends them separate ways.
Characters fade in and out of the story as you go- Prince Boris Drubetskoy sort of fades away. So does Dolokhov— whose actions prove to be crucial to the character arc of Nikolai Bolkonsky and how he ends up overcoming his family’s financial ruins and rebuilding after the war.
In the end, the circle draws tighter and it all comes down to two families: the Rostovs and the Bolkonoskys, and really and truly tightens still down to two people that emerge at the heart of the novel: Natasha and Pierre.
Their relationship by the end of the novel feels earned. None of the characters get the ending they expect, but I think in the end, after years of war, they earn the endings that they’re given and I like that.
Overall: I feel accomplished for finishing this book. I understand why it’s considered a masterpiece. It was refreshingly readable— Tolstoy’s detours and digressions aside and if you ignore his meandering epilogue, you’ll have a decent enough time. Tolstoy is good with people. He’s good at capturing a moment in time. You feel swept up right along with the characters in events beyond their control and for a masterpiece- which can be inaccessible sometimes to the point of being completely opaque- that was really, really nice.
However: this was a long read. And I mean a long (looooooooooooooooooong) read. And would I read it again? Honestly: probably not. My Grade: *** out of ****