Now that we've gotten you past one thousand pages you're
ready to hear about some of the really big ones, and of that group Leo
Tolstoy's War and Peace is one of the biggest--not just in size but in range
and depth of narrative.
Come to think about it, War and Peace combines some of
the best features of Lonesome Dove and Gone With the Wind: a story of
friendship between two Russian nobles ending in death for one, and a beguiling
young heroine whom both are in love with--Natasha Rostov, the darling of an
aristocratic family beset with tragedy during the Napoleonic War of 1812. There are so many parallels to GWTW, in fact,
that I've often wondered if Margaret Mitchell wasn't inspired in part by War
and Peace some 75 years later: the burning of Atlanta and the burning of Moscow
for one.
War and Peace is more complex than the other two novels
I've recommended because it has so many characters involved in so many life
altering situations. At first it may
seem that the number of characters and their long, unfamiliar names is an
unravelable puzzle, but once you begin to sort them out they will endear
themselves to you and become just like people you know. Tolstoy's greatest gift as a writer is his
ability to put you in an unfamiliar situation and make it feel as natural to
you as one involving the people next door.
Our next column:
short novels are rewarding too!
is this book available at the library?
ReplyDeleteYes. We'd be glad to check it out you.
ReplyDelete