War and Peace

I have finally won the war. Despite having to renew the book twice, and then letting the overdue fines stack up as a weird way of "forcing" myself into finishing it, I have read War and Peace.

Dave found me asleep too many times to count with the book next to me on the bed or couch. He bought the mini-series in response to a request from his cousin Aaron's wife Katy, and it has been sitting on the mantle taunting me. But after many weeks, the saga is over. I now know that this is a Classic book. It masterfully weaves together so many characters that it would have been helpful to have a bookmark with short synopses of each character. Especially since everyone seems to have the title of Prince and be known by at least 4 names, mostly unrelated to each other. The version I read was 1135 pages, you read that correctly, I didn't type any additional numbers. Dave bought me my own copy about 300 pages in, but it was a different translation and when we compared them, the library version (translated by Constance Garnett) was far superior.

I like complex stories, I like historically based fiction and non-fiction. I learned a great deal about the wars between Russia and France from around 1806 through 1813. I realized early on that I didn't know Russian history or culture at all, so this was a great read for me. (I read Crime and Punishment in college, but that is about the extent of my Russian reading). What I didn't like was the last grueling 100 pages where Tolstoy goes on and on and on and on and on and on about his feelings on Napoleon (hates him - surprised?) and Emperor Alexander. He gives metaphor after metaphor to dispell any theory that may have been presented by a historian, a class of people he completely detests. I just wanted to sit Tolstoy down and say, you tell great stories, and you teach people a lot about historical events, so sit down and shut up. Keep your crazy rants to yourself! Since I can't say that to him, I'll just say to you, that it was a great book, but it could have been a few hundred pages shorter and I would have liked it even more!