Review: War and Peace

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Three summers ago in Devon, I picked up my copy of War and Peace from a local bookshop. As I was planning to study English and History at university, I felt it was just one of those books I ought to read. To my surprise and everyone else’s (when you tell a person that you’re reading War and Peace the response never varies) I actually enjoyed the book!

Tolstoy was born in Russia in 1828 and the book was published in instalments from 1865-69. The content of the main book spans the time of 7 years – in these seven years Russia sees the build up to and the event of the Napoleonic invasion and withdrawal from Russia. The title ‘War and Peace’ pretty adequately defines the content of the 1205 page novel. Tolstoy pretty accurate accounts (footnotes highlight mistakes and inconsistencies made by Tolstoy) the complex series of battles and agreements between the Tsar and Napoleon, Russia and France, occupation and invasion. But, he dances skilfully between the history and the captivating fictional lives of his characters, which the detailed nature of the book allows you to fall in love with.

The key characters who you meet with within the first few chapters are often introduced in a loving way by Tolstoy, but he also introduces their flaws and naivety. Through the journey of the seven years of the book, you cry (sorry, I mean, weep) and smile as they grow into and fulfil the futures Tolstoy cleverly leads you to want for them; be it love, stability, faith or victory.

At times the theorizing and philosophising over the nature of war felt like tedious hard work – even causing me to close the covers and not re-open them for a week just past the half way point. Tolstoy however, does make the complex ideas and theories that he communicates easier to digest with intricate metaphors and comparisons, which seem to describe perfectly and simply some of his most confusing and controversial ideas.

Often in his writing Tolstoy looks upon historical figures with irony and sarcasm, declaring himself unimpressed by their failed exploits and immoral motives. While at the same time looking with a kind, empathetic eye on those characters that history views as unsuccessful. War and Peace challenges and disregards the importance of reputation, power and glory so prominent in the 19th Century developed world, and places his blessing and admiration on wisdom, morality and kindness.

I read War and Peace simply because it is one of those books you should read at some point and I discovered that it entirely deserves its ‘classic’ status. Serving simultaneously as both a valuable insight into the mechanisms of 19th Century Russia, and an enjoyable indulgence into the life and times and joys and sorrows of Moscow and St Petersburg’s upper class. A 19th Century, Russian version of Gossip Girl, if you will.




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