War and Peace

War and Peace/Leo Tolstoy 1291 pages

Part history, part political study, part semi-autobiography, part psychology manual, part romance novel...I guess a book this big can be all things to all people. And really, the page count does not take into account the sheer denseness of the words on the page. This took me longer to read than any other 1291 pages in the last many years of keeping track of reading. It certainly *is* a great book. I did not tire of reading it, just of holding it up. Tolstoy seems like a sentimental guy who likes most of his characters...not that there aren't any evil people in this book but most of the main characters are good people doing the best that they can and it shows through in the narrative how much Tolstoy likes the characters he has created. There are many historical figures sprinkled throughout as well who seem to get pretty fair treatment. In the end, what can I say about this experience? Tolstoy is obviously no fan of war as I am not either. The look into Russia history and the day-to-day lives of the rich aristocratic class was interesting and informative and something new to me. I am glad to have read this with so many others who are participating in Our Summer of War and Peace at UCPL and look forward to our final discussion on Wed.