Chris Marshall
05-24-2005, 06:07 PM
I have just started reading the book for the second time (the last time being about two years ago). It's certainly a long haul - the library copy of which I was the first user (!) was quite worn out by the time I'd finished - but it is absolutely worth the effort. Despite the alleged cast of 500 characters (it seems less than that to me) it is amazing how attached you get to some of the characters (Nicholas Rostov in particular, in my case), probably because by the time you've finished the book will have been a part of your life for about a month at least.