Have you actually read War and Peace?

[fourisenough]

My daughter has a question she needs your input to answer. Her class is studying Into the Wild, and as a part of that they are doing some original research. They have been asked to speak with people who have read War and Peace to pose the following questions:

 

1) What is it about this book that people like so much?

 

2) Why so popular for so long?

 

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[SereneHome]

Those are very interesting questions bc they are really not asking an opinion of a person who read it, but opinion of everyone in general

 

yes, I read it.  I read it as a child bc it was a required reading in our schools.  I think I was in 7th-8th grade.

 

I can only guess as to why it is so appealing - it really covers a wide range of topics and emotions and over all life. 

 

The thing, though, I don't know how "popular" it is.   Is it?

 

Also, I don't know if it matters, but I read it in the language it was written bc it is my native language.  I should read it in English and see how it compares.

[ebunny]

I absolutely love the works of Tolstoy. I prefer Anna Karenina over War and Peace, yet, would pick War and Peace over J.R.R.Tolkein.

The characters in W/P are extremely well written. Most of them are very human, with shades of grey. Tolstoy was also a social critic, so his narratives tend to have a protagonist who is philosophical or critical about societal norms and the social practices (of that era) are described  phenomenally.

 

ETA: Wrt Q1 &2-  I don't know if the book is that popular and can't speak for other people who have read and enjoyed it.

[maize]

I read it when I was about thirteen. I need to re-read sometime.

 

I remember Tolstoy's writing being very powerful, but I admit to having forgotten much of the story at this point.

[Loesje22000]

DH read it, he is a fan of Russian Literature.

He likes the descriptions and the psychology in it.

He thinks the philosopical questions of the books are for all eras and all places.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

I read it around 10 years ago; it's one of my favorites. I think the answer to your questions lies in the book's universality.

 

There are so many threads in the novel: life and death, growing up and growing old, coming of age and falling in love (and out again), loyalty and betrayal, everyday life and the critical moments that change us forever...  and, of course, war and peace.

 

I remember thinking How could he know? How could this man who lived so long ago and far away describe the thoughts that pass through my mind and the feelings that pulse in my heart?

 

The book is humanity at its worst -- and its best.

 

 

[bpskowski]

Boy, it's been a while since I read the book.  I'm fuzzy on the plot, but I remember being fascinated by the characters.  For me, at that time, during college, I was into reading books "of character."  There was so much philosophy of life to learn then.  Crime and Punishment was another great one.  Although, I agree with a pp that Anna Karenina was preferable and a more enjoyable book of Tolstoy's.  But my most favorite from that period (of my reading career) was Hugo's Les Miserables.  

 

These books are timeless.  These characters make you look at our own lives and societies and evaluate who and where we are as a culture and as individuals.

[Critterfixer]

Yes, and yes, I loved it, and yes it took me over forever to read.

Why I loved it: It throws pie in the face of anyone who says you can't have more than three in depth characters or you can't keep up with them. Tolstoy can. Don't know that I would ever try it, but his characters are far from stock and there are so many of them. I LOVE keeping up with them.

The second reason would be the chapter where he compares Moscow to a diseased bee-hive. I had just begun to get into bee-keeping at that time, and I knew Tolstoy knew bees intimately from that one scene. It was literally like sitting in the room with him and listening to him describe it, the picture was so vivid. There were other points in that book that felt the same way, just visceral, clear images that arrest the imagination and take you there. Tolstoy is a master of painting pictures in the mind. You are just "there" in a way that seldom happens as an adult in reading. 

You simply cannot skim Tolstoy. It's not possible. And that may be one reason that when reading Tolstoy I read more like a child. I actually get lost in Tolstoy. That to me is the timelessness of his work. I can skim stuff, I can digest it and take it apart by character and plot, but I can't do that to Tolstoy. Even if you know how he does it, it is just exceptional stuff. 

 

Now you are making me want to get it off the shelf and read it again...

[IsabelC]

My daughter has a question she needs your input to answer. Her class is studying Into the Wild, and as a part of that they are doing some original research. They have been asked to speak with people who have read War and Peace to pose the following questions:

 

1) What is it about this book that people like so much?

 

2) Why so popular for so long?

 

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

I have read it and I love it, but I only read it for pleasure and never actually studied it at school or college, so I don't really know anything about it except what I know from reading it, iykwim.

Personally, the main reasons I like it so much were first, that it covers a lot of topics I'm interested in and second, because the main characters' thoughts, feelings and motivations are presented in a way that seems authentic. Especially Pierre, just because he is a sort of Everyman on a spiritual journey but at the same time he is such a wacky idiosyncratic individual. One of my favorite book characters ever.

[Orthodox6]

Four complete readings in English. Portions read in Russian during graduate school.

 

Popular in what country?

 

Some of the responses for why the novel holds continuing appeal hold for other authors' works that encompass a wide range of characters and of moral types. (e.g. Balzac)

[IsabelC]

Some of the responses for why the novel holds continuing appeal hold for other authors' works that encompass a wide range of characters and of moral types. (e.g. Balzac)

 

Yes. I'm definitely a fan of long books with lots of characters :)

Les Miserables is another one that springs to mind. (And it also has some of those detailed digressions that I find fascination but which, I am told, some philistines actually skip!)

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Yes. I'm definitely a fan of long books with lots of characters :)

 

 

Likewise. :)

 

[fourisenough]

Op here. Thanks, everyone, for your responses. These will be helpful for dd.

[Ausmumof3]

I love Tolstoy because his characters are so real.

 

Les miserables is my favourite too but the characters are so grand and absolute. Tolstoy captures the fluidness of humans, the way the same person with the same basic character can be so different depending on circumstances. The characters are more detailed, complicated and subtle.