Double Review: War and Peace and My Kindle

War and Peace

by Leo Tolstoy
Published: 1865
Genres: Adult Fiction, Classic, Historical Fiction
Format: eBook (1392 pages)
Source: Purchased

Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives. Balls and soirees alternate with councils of war and the machinations of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles with everyday human passions in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed.

It was a little philosophical in places but not so much that it bogged down the story. The characters were amazing and the “point” he was trying to make was not at all what I was expecting. There’s humor, love, tragedy, and a unique look at a different time.  Tolstoy isn’t as hard to read as I thought he would be.  And there’s one reason why:

Review of My Kindle

Here’s why I love reading really long, old books on my kindle.

• I like to read in bed, and reading the 2-inch hardcover of War and Peace would probably have given me some sort of injury.
• Tolstoy loves to name his characters with the exact same first name and difficult to pronounce last names. For example: Anna Pavlovna Scherer and Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy. Without the search function, it would have been impossible to tell the difference between these two characters.
• Speaking of character names, he also likes to give each character at least 1 name, 2 last names, and 5 nicknames.  Take Nikolai for example.  His full name is Count Nikolai Ilyich Rostov.  But everyone calls him Nikolushka, Nikolenka, Nikolashka, Kolya, Nicolas, and/or Coco. I would like to express my thanks to the Search feature on my kindle for saving me from a big headache.
• I read the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation and they left all of the original French in the text.  Without my linked footnotes that instantly go back and forth between the English and French, it would have been a lot of page turning.
• Instantly looking up archaic words in the built-in dictionary is always handy and saves me from having to hold another large and heavy book (namely, my dictionary:).
• Oh, and the best reason.  Most old books on the kindle are free.

So, if you want to read War and Peace, it’s worth it and I recommend you get one of these↓