Book of the Week

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Juan Garcia-Rodenas tackles Tolstoy's rollicking historical novel. 

War and Peace is considered by many to be one of the greatest novels to have ever been written in any language. The story follows three Russian families, Bolkonsky, Rostov and Bezuhov, during the Napoleonic Wars, arguably one of the most interesting periods in history. The story begins in 1805 and ends later, after the Napoleonic era.

I found the book to live up to its expectations and more. Tolstoy writes in an amazing style, with a rich language yet clear narrative, which all adds to the overall enjoyment of the book. The novel also has some great characters, which evolve and grow (some literally) psychologically, most obviously Pierre and Natasha. Yet these characters are real and human, all the characters have flaws and weaknesses. Even Andrei, arguably the most ‘noble’ of all the characters, can be surprisingly cruel, especially to his wife, Lisa and his sister, Marie in which he cannot understand her spiritual beliefs and superstitions, him himself being a realist.

 

There is also the character of Pierre, arguably the main character, he is more of a philosopher, spending his time thinking about the meaning of life and leaves the actual running of his property to his staff. Natasha, a childish, mischievous young girl, who never seems to settle down on anything (or anybody!). Nikolai Rostov, the young man trying to prove his worth in a society full of famed names and generals. There are also many other ‘minor’ characters that play a part in the story such as the scheming Prince Vasili or the down to Earth, honest general, Kutuzov. Each of these characters has their own personality and all see the world differently and all their interaction with one another seem just as real as any conversation.

There is also the historic aspect of this novel that is also done extraordinarily. There were parts in the book that deserve to be in a history book for their comprehensive overview it gives over certain battles, most notably Borodino. And yet, despite this, you never want to stop reading about the battle, in many respects War and Peace is a historical textbook with a lot of research gone into the battles. There are parts of the book I didn’t enjoy so much, most notably Tolstoy’s historical analysis that humans have no free will. In many respects this is an unfair criticism to make, the only reason I didn’t enjoy it is because I personally disagree with his opinion, nevertheless, I found some of Tolstoy’s arguments to be quite flawed. 

 

 

For example if we are to assume that all humans are governed in their actions by necessity then all humans would strive to achieve the best they could for themselves and only for themselves. If this were the case, then all human behaviour would be directed towards the single-minded goal of achieving the best for oneself, in a Western society this would probably manifest itself in financial success. However as we see, this is not the case, our world is not made up of selfish individuals who will use any means possible to achieve success in life. Furthermore, if all humans did act out of necessity then there would be nobody who would, for example, tell someone that their change had fallen out of their pocket, people who would offer a seat to a random person on the underground. It is little things like these that show us that we have free will and are not all scrambling to the top. 

Overall, I believe War and Peace is one of the greatest novels I have ever read. It is gripping from the start and doesn’t stop until the end where the tiny Nikolai vows to beat his father Andrei. Its characters are some of the most iconic and memorable ever put to paper. A book that has and will stand the test of time. A masterpiece.