War and Peace: End of book (Page 1315), Day 79

The end. I never thought that I would get to it, or say that I was sorry to read those words. I'm excited to have finished, but sad that there is no more of War and Peace for me to read. It took an extremely long time, but I think that this is the first book that I have really read. 

The second epilogue was a huge letdown. All of the characters that we have been following for the past 1,200 pages are pushed aside so that Tolstoy can rant about his own views of history, and towards his novel. All I can say is that if this epilogue was a prologue, I would have given up long before I reached the book's actual body, which would have been a huge loss. 

Tolstoy is like one of those house guests who overstays their welcome, but your thrilled to have them around. Once their last night comes you feel depressed, but they're beginning to ramble on far too much so you're ready to say goodbye. Will that one bad night cancel out the two great months that you've spent together? Of course not. You will remember the guest fondly, and tell everyone about how great his visit was. Although War and Peace had a whimper of an ending, the novel radiates greatness thanks to all of the snapshots of humanity that Tolstoy provides us with. 

Reading War and Peace was all the adventure that I hoped. I always thought that when I finally finished this tome I would celebrate in some way. Now that the time has come I feel that I need to sit and process it all for a good hour. In the appendix, Tolstoy states that War and Peace is "not a novel." Oddly enough, I would have to agree with him. War and Peace is nothing like any other book that I've ever read. It deserves it's reputation as one of the best classics, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a challenge. Yes, the book was repetitive and didactic at times, and there were moments that I wanted to scream while reading it, but after reading it I have been changed for the better. War and Peace is the Everest of literature. At over 500,000 words, it is clearly the ultimate challenge and the ultimate experience.

War and Peace: Day 75, Page 1209

 There is one, very simple truth at the heart of War and Peace, and this is that "there is no greatness where simplicity and goodness are absent" (1144) Can you fall in love with a quote?  I think that this one is perfect, no wonder it's one of Tolstoy's most famous. Tolstoy clearly thought that feelings objectified reality better than language ever could. Oddly enough, by writing novels he evokes feeling though language, which is a contradiction of these feelings. As I sit in front of my computer trying to come up with something to write, I have realised how frustratingly difficult  it is to describe the plot in a way that will do the novel justice right now. Although it's gotten quite philosophical and serious, Tolstoy was talented enough of a writer to include forms of whimsical escapism.

Volume 4 contained a lot of history lessons, but mostly interesting ones. Tolstoy discusses military strategy and the internal politics of a country, yet also produces graphic and appallingly vivid descriptions of the final battle scenes. One of the most confusing aspects of his writing in these scenes is the constant flip-flop between the view of a solider and of a general. The worst part is that after mentioning their names once, he goes on to refer to every character as "he." In the end, Tolstoy doesn't identify the winner of the war, because--according to him--the outcome was made up of dozens of mysteries, and each side had many successes.

After being sick for two volumes of the novel, Prince Andrew finally dies with Natasha by his side. Is killing one of the main characters a joke that Tolstoy chose to play on his readers? It could be his interpretation of  history's joke on all of humanity: that while we are alive we make up only a tiny section of the earth's history, and then we die inglorious, insignificant deaths. Either way, Prince Andrew's fate is cruel, and leaves Natasha in depression until she abruptly falls in love with Pierre four pages before the novel ends.

I'm surprisingly sad to have finished the body of the novel; it really did swallow me whole. I used to think that I was a fast reader, yet this tome has taken me much longer than anything else I have attempted. 75 days seems like an extremely long time to commit to one book, but this is by far the most difficult piece of literature that I've read. It's too difficult to compare it to anything else though, War and Peace is in a league of its own!

War and Peace: Day 70 Page 1047

Wow... I should probably end this post here, since nothing I write will even come close to explaining how I feel about War and Peace right now. This book is slowly becoming my whole life! I'm so invested in it that I fell asleep reading it last night and ended up using the book as a pillow. I guess I have myself to thank for the stiff neck.

Book 4 has already become my favorite section of the novel, even though most of the events that have happened so far are mostly depressing. There's so much to learn from, and I especially love reading parts that Pierre is in. When the French take over Moscow he is tried for being an incendiary, and is imprisoned. Pierre watches as most of the other prisoners are executed, and is convinced that he will be executed too, but he isn't. (I wonder why?) As he loses his freedom and comes face to face with death, Pierre realizes how important every moment of his life is. Pierre's joie de vivre in this section is practically contagious! I'm hoping that later in this section of the novel Pierre can transport his happiness to Natasha, who has been taking care of Prince Andrew as he approaches death.

Time and patience is really all that you need to read this book. By now pretty much everyone that I'm close to knows that I'm reading War and Peace. So many of my friends can't even believe that I'm still even reading it, but I love telling them that I've actually past the 1000th page benchmark. They keep asking me if it's really worth it to "waste" my time with a novel so huge. I honestly think that anyone who can read should try War and Peace. Is it a difficult read? Of course, but most eye-opening novels are.

War and Peace: Day 66, Page 915

I feel like I've read an enormous amount since I last wrote at the start of my break. Luckily, I'm feeling a lot better about the novel right now. It's almost as if Tolstoy could sense that his readers would get bored in certain sections, and chose to add in bits of entertainment. Count Rostov is one character that brings a sort of comic relief, mostly because of the way that Tolstoy imitates his accent:"What if the Smolensk people have offahd to waise militia for the Empewah?" I spent way too much time reading his lines out loud, which says a lot about how interesting this section of the book was(n't).

I'm going to take a flying leap over most of part one and the beginning part two, just because I don't have anything significant to say about them. At the end of part two I finally got the war scenes that I've been waiting for. The French are starting to advance towards Moscow much too quickly for the Russians to keep up, and some of the main characters of the novel are really suffering. Napoleon has made plans to occupy Borodino, which ends up being an extremely bloody battle. Napoleon refers to the whole situation as a game, and to the Russians as chessmen, which is pretty grim. He actually has a cold for most of the battle, which is one of the reasons that historians say that the conflict didn't live up to its full potential. The story moves on faster and faster until Pierre, who is what some would call a brave civilian, gets himself into the battlefield and is face to face with a mess of corpses. This part of the war was described much too thoroughly... Tolstoy definitely had an eye for detail! 

Now fast forward to part three, where Prince Andrew is in the "hospital" with Anatole. They refused to speak to each other the whole time, which I suppose makes sense, considering they are both Natasha's ex-fiances. Prince Andrew decides that if he makes it out of the treatment alive he will try to get back into Natasha's life. I'm actually not sure if he died or not, because Tolstoy moved right on to an analysis of absolute continuity of motion, something that this novel does not have. 

There are so many things that Tolstoy could have cut down while writing. It's not that what he has to say is boring, it's how verbose he is in his descriptions; if only he had an editor to help him out. I still like to think that I'm racing to finish this book, just that now I'm running a more well-paced race. Excuse the novel-related pun, but I'm soldiering on!