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 The force that moves nations August 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
(contains spoilers)
There are two themes in War and Peace: one is "What is the force that moves nations", in other words what causes historical events to take place, the motivation that drives all humans; and the second is the particular focussing on a small number of families and their circle.
The sections of the book that deal with warfare and Napoleon are naturally biased towards the Russian viewpoint, with Tolstoy sarcastically referring to "that genius Napoleon." Rules of warfare and theories of battle are expounded and are (surprisingly to me) engrossing. The statistics of this war are staggering: although Moscow was taken by the French, the French army of 600,000 virtually ceased to exist as they struggled to leave Russia.
Tolstoy points out how extraordinary it is, that a country's army, though a tiny percentage of the population, brings about the subjugation of millions if they triumph in battle.
The human element of the novel focuses on a huge cast of characters. People claim they mix up the Russian names; but this edition didn't pose any problems. I loved the picture of Russian life, one of socialising, balls, hunting, serfs, peasants, Cossacks...during a war, life goes on elsewhere in that country as normal. A valued hunting dog is purchased for "three families of house serfs" and one of my favourite chapters describes a wolf hunt with 130 dogs
Pierre and Prince Andrei are tormented by their search for happiness in life, an objective, an aim. It is described as a torment that can never be satisfied. Tolstoy perceives man's restlessness as being a result of the Fall - as a result we can't be idle without feeling guilty. "A secret voice warns that for us idleness is sin". These two men strive against their baser nature, towards "the infinite, the eternal and the absolute".
These two upright, decent men contrast with Anatole, with his moral vacuum, self aggrandisement, vanity and pride. He is a rake, a "male Magdalen" who believes: "all will be forgiven him because he enjoyed himself so much"
Prince Andrei comes to the conclusion that we must have sympathy, love of our brothers, "a happiness beyond the reach of material forces, of the soul alone, the happiness of loving".
Pierre, who was captured by the French and endured dreadful privations, achieved peace and inner harmony through living through the horrors of death, and realising that his wealth had caused such a superfluity of the comforts of life that it had destroyed all the joy in gratifying his needs and choosing his occupations.
Women are central, essential to the male characters, but very much in the Miltonic mould: "he for God only, she for God in him." Initially Prince Andrei advised Pierre against women: "tie yourself up with a woman and like a convict in irons you lose all freedom....selfish, vain, humdrum, trivial in everything". Women such as Helene seem "as it were, covered with the hard polish left by the thousands of eyes that had scanned her person".
Natasha, who loves Prince Andrei but is spurned by him and becomes Pierre's devoted wife, receives one of literature's most romantic declarations: "if I were not myself, but the handsomest, cleverest, best man in the world, and if I were free, I would be on my knees this minute to beg for your hand and your love."
War and Peace is one of those remarkable books where the reader is surprised with the pleasure of recognition of the human situation. The old countess "evinced to a remarkable degree a trait noticeable in the very young and the very old. Her existence had no manifest aim...but was merely...occupied by the need to exercise her various functions."
One of a handful of books to regularly re-read.
Still historical June 30, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
You can't not give one of the world's greatest novels five stars. But you can consider how modern readers might find it. There are undoubtedly elements of what we would now call soap opera here - just as there are in Hardy, say, or Austen. Tolstoy's didactic purpose (a critique of 'modern' theories of history) waxes as the book progresses and concludes in a hundred page theoretical diatribe that - while it addresses philosophical issues that still have currency - probably won't detain many non-academic readers. This translation - now nearly 40 years old - has probably been surpassed but remains highly serviceable; realising, as it does, Tolstoy's ability to experiment with narrative postures without ever upsetting the reader's sense of 'normality'. Pierre remains one of the most fully-realised characters in fiction, while the battle scenes (especially, for my money, Schon Graben) are breathtaking pieces of writing. Tolstoy's innately aristocratic values can grate: the serfs invariably exist in a kind of Benthamite world of ignorant charm, while the author's worldly irony can create a sense that humanity barely deserves the humanist outrage that he occasionally heaps on Europe's warmongers. But this is just firing a catapult at an oil tanker. It's 'War and Peace' for goodness sake!
The best soap opera ever written! May 26, 2008
Starting this book I thought I was going to be reading classic literature in a way that was going to be very intellectual. What I got was one of the best dramas ever written but with an epic soap opera feel. If you can make it past the first two hundred pages you will love this book but getting there is hard as there are so many characters that I was very lost for a long time as to who was who and what was happening. Once I'd got past this I found I was reading a great drama about two families and the interaction that happens between them with love and war as the main events to occur. This is not highbrow literature this is great literature of a universal story about life and it doesn't get much better than this. Ignore the amount of pages and enjoy this for what it is epic drama!
THE novel March 23, 2008
Obviously there has been a lot said about this book, and taken together with its sheer size, this makes it a slightly daunting adventure. It took me about 3 months to get through, with a few breaks thrown in, but I enjoyed it from cover to cover.
While you might think that no book can merit 1500 pages, Tolstoy dispels this idea. No page is wasted - it really does put a lot of contemporary fiction to shame.
The story covers the period 1805-1820, looking at Napoleon's invasion and retreat from Russia. It's main concerns are history and its representation (philosophically expounded upon in the final 50 pages, where all the hints and asides of the previous 1450 are brought together into one huge rebuke of humanity's attitude to itself and its past).
The narrative covers the love lives of an intricately linked cast of characters as they flit in and out of the war with France, and Tolstoy proves adept at portraying both the grand and the menial in equally brilliant flourishes.
If you have read and enjoyed other Russian novels, you'll need to psyche yourself up and go in for this one at some point or other. My advice is not to delay. It's a rewarding, absorbing read...and even the sort of mini-achievement in our own lives that Tolstoy might have recognised.
 TO be taken lightly February 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
People will normally utter such platitudes with this book as 'don't start it lightly', but what is the alternative, to build up to it for years and never end up reading it at all? That, unfortunately is what the majority of owners of this piece do, buy it and let it stand on their shelves gathering dust. I was close to being of this ilk, but a moment of caprice had me actually starting on this tome, and now I'm 670 pages through. I don't hesitate to add, that it is growing tedious at this stage, and I am losing motivation, and it has become an exercise in my determination to finish it.
It is difficult to sum up the content briefly. Napoleon has come to power and is aggressively expanding. The Russians, under Kutuzov, and of course Alexander I, are drawn into a war of heavy attrition. In between bouts of peace and alliances, are major campaigns which culminate in the battles of Austerlitz and Borodino, at which our protagonists are present. The story alternates between these campaigns and the affairs of the gentry in Russian society, with its balls, affairs, rumours and petty quarrels.
We focus on three main characters, (Count) Nicolas Rostov, (Count) Pierre Besuchov and (Prince) Andrew Bolonski. Between the three we see the horrors and futility (and duplicity) of war, duels, freemasons, emancipation, romance (and heartache), loveless marriage, fraud, and everything you can conceive in any society. In fact it is rather overwhelming, and once you have read it you are only really left with a vague impression.
The beauty of the book, in my eyes, are these and other characters, who are so complete that they are constantly changing in personailty and outlook. Bolkonski himself goes from arrogant aide-de-camp, to disillusioned hermit, to philanthropist, to an unwilling colonel, from sheer hate and merciless regard of the French, to complete humanitarian, from hate to love..... It goes on.
The story skips between over 500 characters, all of whom seem to be 'princes' or 'counts'. The fact that they all have Russian, and therefore unfamiliar names, makes it easy to lose track, and to forget some of the minor characters. Also there are some people with almost identical names. I was caught out by the similarity between the Kuragins and the Karagins.
The book is certainly intimidating, open the first page and you see it is divided into 3 volumes, around 15 books, and hundreds of chapters, complete with epilogues, notes, a Tolstoy biography, historical notes and other paraphernalia. Do not forget that the origional version was around 1,800 pages, this has been condensed to around 950 (of the actual text), and is unabridged. It follows that the writing is going to be cramped on each page, as indeed it is, and this can fill you with a sense of forboding.
One frustrating thing about this novel, and believe it or not I am enjoying it in parts, is the constant need of the gentry to resort to speaking in French. In the version I am reading (translated by Maude), these remain intact and you must refer to the notes every time this happens, which breaks the concentration. An early example of this is a conversation by Shinshin, only a paragraph long, in which you have to refer to the notes 4 times!
I fully expected that I would not enjoy this novel, yet I tried (and am still) reading it anyway. The battles are fascinating, particularly young cadet Rostovs first action, and Austerlitz. Tolstoy fully researched his history and formulated his story around it, so you also learn some of the events of the Russian campaign. Later on, around half way through I think, we are 'treated' to Tolstoys philosophical digressions, by which he argues that the course of history is not formed by great individuals, but by myriad chances, by which people have no choice but to act as they do. this may sound confusing, and it detracts from the story.
Yet I gave it 4 stars. In summation, a great, truly epic story, and whoever it was who said this was a fantasy epic without the elves etc, was correct. It is easy to become absorbed in the story, and the characters. In many respects, no novel can compare to this, it is completely unique, and truly a literary experience.
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