Indifferent to Tolstoy: What's Wrong With Me?

[mtpspur]

I have two friends on Facebook that are Russian and two friends HERE on Litnet that highly recommend Tolstoy. Having suvived 60 years without him and being only a bit aware of him--I thought it would please my one Russian friend (who frankly told me War and Peace's middle section bored her) to experience one of her nation's greatest legacies. Two things have come of this. I LIKE War and Peace but I probably will never fall in LOVE with it. Currently I'm in Book Two completing Chapter 15 just a few minutes ago and I'm only just now starting to care about what happens to a character--once I figure out who is who and all that. I keep mixing Andrew and Nicholas up though Pierre remains very much an individual. I'm not all that convinced Tolstoy writes all that well. A turn of a phrase here and there and a sly observation but all his characters seem to dislike others for no real reason it seems other then to be petty. On the other hand I do find his humor delightful--the bear and the policeman--the army getting dressed up spiffy when they were meant to be ragged for an inspection--VERY true to life that scene being retired military gives me some insights into the madness of military planning. Just saying. Like others have said--no reflection if he is NOT your cup of tea. I have said it before--Hemingway is a GREAT writer--and I can't stand ANYTHING he writes. He is STILL a GREAT writer.

[kelby_lake]

mtpspur, have you read Anna Karenina?

[KCurtis]

Why worry? I have an indifference to a whole host of literary totems that are discussed ad infinitum on this forum, including inter alia Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Joyce, and Beckett without losing a moment's sleep over it.
As long as you steer clear of Harry Potter, Twilight and any of their variants you will still have plenty of good writing to choose from.

I loved Harry Potter! It was a fantastic adventure for our family- I read it for entirely different reasons than for classic literature.

[mtpspur]

To Kelby Lake--No I haven't but have been assure dit is a better read. As I posted somewhere or over Rafael Sabatini spoiled me on what to expect from a historical novel. Tolstoy writes great character analysis (in a kind of shorthand so to say) and his conversations are engrossing. I just believe the book could have more tightly plotted and more flesh to the characters. Just saying. Over and again I would read a chapter and come away with well--so???? I think my main weakness in reading the book is that characters spend far too much tie worrying about what everyone else thinks of them.

[kelby_lake]

To Kelby Lake--No I haven't but have been assure dit is a better read. As I posted somewhere or over Rafael Sabatini spoiled me on what to expect from a historical novel. Tolstoy writes great character analysis (in a kind of shorthand so to say) and his conversations are engrossing. I just believe the book could have more tightly plotted and more flesh to the characters. Just saying. Over and again I would read a chapter and come away with well--so???? I think my main weakness in reading the book is that characters spend far too much tie worrying about what everyone else thinks of them.

Anna Karenina is very dramatic with a good juicy story.