"War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy

Like many avid readers (and English majors), I attempted to read "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy in my young and foolish years. (Attempted!)  I think it was the summer between second and third year university, and I had a shelf full of Penguin classics that I meant to read. "War and Peace" came in a boxed set of two volumes. I got about 60 pages in before I gave up. It was SO LONG -- and all those characters to keep straight!!  All those Russian names!!  

Then, late in 2023, one of my favourite writers, Rona Maynard, mentioned on a social media post that she'd just joined an upcoming "slow readalong" hosted by Simon Haisell. He'd been running a year-long readathon of "War and Peace" -- one chapter per day for an entire year -- on Instagram, and was about to repeat that feat in 2024, but this time on his Substack, "Footnotes & Tangents."  

I was intrigued. I was tempted. I thought about all my other (many) book club obligations, all the other books in my gargantuan To Be Read pile that I've been wanting to get to. Did I really need ONE MORE reading obligation??  

I caved in to temptation.  I signed up, downloaded a cheap (Kobo Original) copy of the novel to my e-reader, and (deep breath) opened it on Jan. 1st, 2024, and started reading. 

What a year it's been!  What a ride!  What a book!  

"War and Peace" begins in 1805, ends in 1820, and was originally published in 1868. At more than  1,900 pages (!!), the length alone makes it a daunting read.  Apparently "War and Peace," like many of Dickens's novels from around the same time, was originally published as a serial. This explains, perhaps, why it's so long -- were writer paid by the word back then?? But each chapter is a reasonable length -- seldom more than 12-15 pages long -- often with a pithy cliffhanger sentence!  

Consumed and pondered at the pace of one chapter per day, I found the novel to be entirely do-able and easily digestible. My enjoyment was enhanced by Simon's expert guidance, through his well-curated character list (which really helped to keep who's who straight, especially early on), weekly context/summary posts and (especially) the daily chat threads where readers discussed the chapter of the day with each other.  The comments were frequently thoughtful and insightful (and often witty and hilarious to boot). :)  Frequent refrain:  "I never thought I'd enjoy this book so much!" (Me either!)  

The novel is many things: there is romance, satire, history, family drama, long, rambling philosophical essays (which admittedly were boring at times, with many of us itching to get back to the stories of our main characters!), and many chapters in which Tolstoy takes Napoleon to task. (He clearly was NOT a fan!)  

"War and Peace" may not be the novel for you if you dislike ambiguity and crave clear-cut, happy endings. (It's a lot like real life in that way!) As a keen observation of human nature, and as a feat of storytelling, it's magnificent. 

To quote the title of another book that Simon frequently references (and which I'm hoping to read myself, now that I've finished W&P), "Give War and Peace a Chance." (lol) 

Seriously -- if you've ever thought about reading "War & Peace" -- this is the way to do it!!  If this post piqued your interest and reading W&P has been one of your longtime reading bucket list goals, Simon will be re-running the W&P (and Cromwell Trilogy by Hilary Mantel) slow reads in 2025 for paying subscribers, along with shorter readalongs for a couple of other books that will be open to all, free of charge. (I am seriously considering doing it again! -- and I am not the only one!)  Check out Footnotes & Tangents, if you're interested!   

(Content warning:  From an ALI angle, you should be aware that the book includes the death of a young woman following childbirth, an abortion that also ends unhappily, and a single childless character whose romantic hopes are never fulfilled.  There is also a wolf hunt that many in the group found difficult to read or skipped altogether.) 

Book:  4.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded down to 4 on Goodreads.  

Readalong experience:  a solid 5 stars.  :)  

This was Book #36 read to date in 2024 (and Book #4 finished in December), bringing me to ??%  of my 2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 8 (!) books behind schedule to meet my goal. :(  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2024 tagged as "2024 books."