Whenever anyone hears the title "War and Peace", they think of an insurmountable tome which takes a lifetime of literary study in order to read and comprehend.

On the other hand, from the very first chapter I was pleasantly surprised by the readability and engaging nature of this book. The language was very modern, and follows the fates of five different families in imperial Russia. What was most interesting, was often times the book would jump back and forth in time slightly, so that the reader would have no idea what was going on with a particular set of characters until they meet with the set he was focused on, and then it would move backwards to explain how they got to where they are. This way it built suspense in a different manner than most books. By not informing the reader about what actually happened directly, and then later filling in with an outside source, it added to the mystery. In addition to this, it added to the idea of how anonymously people die in war. Often times, they are injured, moved into a hospital, and then die alone.

The unique way of telling the deaths of soldiers and other events in battle conveys the idea of the meaninglessness of war. Several times in the novel the allies and enemies change, different people come in and out of power, and people fall in and out of love. All of these occurrences are often times random and without explanation. By the end of the book, Tolstoy shifts into a more philosophical mode where he has entire chapters talking about the philosophy of history and conflict. As opposed to the way most historians describe history as a set of deliberate decisions by brilliant leaders such as Tsar Alexander and Napoleon, history is a jumble of random occurrences by ordinary people that compound into the events.

Tolstoy posits that instead of human planning and logic driving history, it is instead the power of God who ultimately decides all of our fates. In his second epilogue, he describes how we are all powerless in our fates. Due to the unorganized and random nature of human history, there is no free will. We are all floating aimlessly and are at the mercy of God.

Another thing I found very interesting was how this book was a multifaceted description of the state of imperial Russia. Tolstoy both criticized and praised the country of his origin. He criticized how the royalty was so removed from the rest of society and they even spoke French to keep themselves separated from the people. This shows how in Tolstoy's eyes, the biggest enemy of the Russia people is themselves. Even further, this is manifested on the battle field when the Russian troops couldn't move anywhere because of the crowds of people. Their own forces were impeding their movements. Even when they could move, they were disorganized and often ended up having unnecessary deaths due to poor execution of battle plans.

On the other hand, Tolstoy was able to praise the Russian state by showing how even though the French looted Moscow, killed lots of their people, and for the most part crushed the Russians in every possible way on the battle field, they could never conquer the Russian spirit. In the end, it was this indomitable Russian spirit which fought off the cold hard logic and facts of the French army. In the first epilogue, Tolstoy puts forth a positive end. By putting together good marriages, and other positive developments for the next generation that came about after the events of the main novel, Tolstoy seems very optimistic for the state of Russia over all. Despite hinting at a possible fall in the imperial system on the horizon.

Finally, War and Peace is also about the dissolution of ideals. In different ways, Tolstoy breaks down religion, money, power, war, and marriage. Through different characters and events he shows how all of these things are not nearly as glorifying and amazing as the characters feel they will be. It's not until the different characters find true happiness in love and hard work that their problems are resolved instead of blindly chasing things they believe to be perfect. What's most interesting, is that while these characters do get away from a lot of things that have been pushed on them by imperial Russian society, they end of finding solace in Russian values, just ones that are more traditionally peasant in nature.

The only things that I had a problem with in this book was the repetitiveness of Tolstoy's more philosophical sections. Several of them began to say the same thing over and over again, especially in the second epilogue.
Whenever anyone hears the title "War and Peace", they think of an insurmountable tome which takes a lifetime of literary study in order to read and comprehend. On the other hand, from the very first chapter I was pleasantly surprised by the readability and engaging nature of this book. The language was very modern, and follows the fates of five different families in imperial Russia. What was most interesting, was often times the book would jump back and forth in time slightly, so that the reader would have no idea what was going on with a particular set of characters until they meet with the set he was focused on, and then it would move backwards to explain how they got to where they are. This way it built suspense in a different manner than most books. By not informing the reader about what actually happened directly, and then later filling in with an outside source, it added to the mystery. In addition to this, it added to the idea of how anonymously people die in war. Often times, they are injured, moved into a hospital, and then die alone. The unique way of telling the deaths of soldiers and other events in battle conveys the idea of the meaninglessness of war. Several times in the novel the allies and enemies change, different people come in and out of power, and people fall in and out of love. All of these occurrences are often times random and without explanation. By the end of the book, Tolstoy shifts into a more philosophical mode where he has entire chapters talking about the philosophy of history and conflict. As opposed to the way most historians describe history as a set of deliberate decisions by brilliant leaders such as Tsar Alexander and Napoleon, history is a jumble of random occurrences by ordinary people that compound into the events. Tolstoy posits that instead of human planning and logic driving history, it is instead the power of God who ultimately decides all of our fates. In his second epilogue, he describes how we are all powerless in our fates. Due to the unorganized and random nature of human history, there is no free will. We are all floating aimlessly and are at the mercy of God. Another thing I found very interesting was how this book was a multifaceted description of the state of imperial Russia. Tolstoy both criticized and praised the country of his origin. He criticized how the royalty was so removed from the rest of society and they even spoke French to keep themselves separated from the people. This shows how in Tolstoy's eyes, the biggest enemy of the Russia people is themselves. Even further, this is manifested on the battle field when the Russian troops couldn't move anywhere because of the crowds of people. Their own forces were impeding their movements. Even when they could move, they were disorganized and often ended up having unnecessary deaths due to poor execution of battle plans. On the other hand, Tolstoy was able to praise the Russian state by showing how even though the French looted Moscow, killed lots of their people, and for the most part crushed the Russians in every possible way on the battle field, they could never conquer the Russian spirit. In the end, it was this indomitable Russian spirit which fought off the cold hard logic and facts of the French army. In the first epilogue, Tolstoy puts forth a positive end. By putting together good marriages, and other positive developments for the next generation that came about after the events of the main novel, Tolstoy seems very optimistic for the state of Russia over all. Despite hinting at a possible fall in the imperial system on the horizon. Finally, War and Peace is also about the dissolution of ideals. In different ways, Tolstoy breaks down religion, money, power, war, and marriage. Through different characters and events he shows how all of these things are not nearly as glorifying and amazing as the characters feel they will be. It's not until the different characters find true happiness in love and hard work that their problems are resolved instead of blindly chasing things they believe to be perfect. What's most interesting, is that while these characters do get away from a lot of things that have been pushed on them by imperial Russian society, they end of finding solace in Russian values, just ones that are more traditionally peasant in nature. The only things that I had a problem with in this book was the repetitiveness of Tolstoy's more philosophical sections. Several of them began to say the same thing over and over again, especially in the second epilogue.