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War and Peace

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mtpspur
, 03-05-2012 at 03:48 AM (1092 Views)
Great Expectations had a successful run and was finished with great satisfaction. David Copperfield was considered as that too was a High School experience but rejected simply because I remembered it fairly well whereas G E shall we say had more action/suspense to it. The Old Curiousity House was briefly studied but the internet gave away the ending so that died aborning.

In the past year or so I have been on another chatroom where the atmosphere is rather freewheeling and their are all sorts of people to meet and converse with. Two of them are very nice Russian ladies who are now fond members on my Facebook page. I thought the next challenge would be something that might please them and interest me as well. War and Peace by Tolstoy. As a collector of Rafael Sabatini novels, C. S. Forester's Hornblower series as well as Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series it seemed a natural fit.

I had never given Tolstoy a fair shake of any kind and I vaguely knew he held some strong Christian beliefs.

I count the chapters on Litnet here and find 365 total. The one chapter a day with Dickens went by the wayside after nine days and the shortness of Tolstoy's chapters gave me a goal of at least two chapters a day. I am ahead of schedule--hoping to finish in six months mid August.

So far so good. This has to said with my usual very opininated just me dsaying--Tolstoy is no Sabatini. The pace is s-l-ow and I find everyone is Prince This or That. Plus they all seem to take dislike to each other over who knows what half the time. They are interesing but only now in the latter portions of Book 2 coming alive to me. I cheat a bit reading a plot summary on Wikipedia so I have some idea WHO to pay attention to. Pierre may be the main character but I am more drawn to Andrew except for his unexplainable coldness towards his wife.

Oddly enough when Tolstoy goes for humor it works. There is an incident regarding a policeman tied to a bear thta had me rolling and favorite chapter was the arrival of a regiment that get themselves ready for an inspection thta goes awry and I CAN see this happening in real life. The Sharpe novels have helped give me more of a background to the battle scenes.

Anyway I'll report progress periodically.
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  1. NikolaiI's Avatar
    I've only read Karenina by him but I loved it. And the Death of Ivan Ilyich.
  2. qimissung's Avatar
    I have never read anything by Tolstoy. I remember Paul Clem read him last year.

    You are to be commended. It sounds somewhat interesting. Keep us posted.

    What's the website, btw? Do you chat randomly or is there a particular subject everyone is interested in? Have the Russian ladies informed you of current Russian life?
  3. mtpspur's Avatar
    I'm in book 3 now and the characaters are starting to come alive and become real to me. I had never read him either and since my comic collecting is somewhat curtailed by finances have bene supplemeting the down time with rading here. The Russian ladies are students--one in econiomics--one in languages--she is wanting to be an interpreter but nor going well. She and her boyfriend are trying to make ends meet. I have known her about a year and a half now and the other 4 months. It was a random website --I think I clicked in over a movie or TV show and just chatted a bit and things mushroomed. The audience comes and goes. I once mentioned the USA-USSR conflicts--form the view of an old man and one of them just laughed at the concept of beign enemies anymore. I let it go.
  4. Buh4Bee's Avatar
    I was madly in love with Andrey. It's is a master piece and offers so much pleasure while reading that it is hard to match. Makes me happy that others are embarking on a journey with Tolstoy.
  5. mtpspur's Avatar
    So far Andrew is my favorite EXCEPT for his attitude towards Lisle his wife since his coldness -to me--is not explained very well. I get the impression he simply has nothing in common with her and she bores him. Nicholas is next in line but his actions go from one extreme to another and his pride/temper shoots him in the foot a bit too much. I know I'm supposed to like Pierre but truly the only human momenet I've seen from the fellow is when he accidently saw Helene cleavage and lust took over and he's been befuddled ever since. Loved how Vasilli got him engaged--almost like an episode form a TV sitcom. Book 3 has been the turning point in merely reading to say I read it to hey this is getting good.