Tolstoy's War and Peace is over 1,300 pages long. I've not read it. James Wallace Harris recently finished it, and I enjoyed his essay about having read it. Overall, he feels the rewards were worth the effort. His chief complaint (which seems to be shared by a lot of readers) is that it was hard to keep track of all characters.
War and Peace wasn't hard to read. Many people have asked me about that. Yes, the Russian names are problematic, but I think it helped that I watched the BBC series first, and watched the Russian language Mosfilm version that was released as four films over two years (1966-1967) while I was reading the book. Those four films of War and Peace are currently available on HBO Max.
My friends also ask me if War and Peace is worth all the trouble to read. When I've mentioned to folks that I was reading it, many reacted like I was doing something yucky. It's actually a wonderful novel, quite philosophical, but mainly about romances within large aristocratic families during the Napoleonic Wars. If you're a fan of Downton Abbey or Jane Austen, just imagine that kind of story on a much bigger scale with two epic battles, and the downfall of an emperor thrown in. I enjoyed the war parts, but I'm not sure if most readers will.
He adds:
By the way, it's quite cheap to try War and Peace since it's in the public domain. Get a free Kindle copy. If you get hooked keep reading. I enjoyed reading it and listening to it on audio. My Kindle edition let me switch back and forth instantly.
[Image: By Liannadavis – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26243474. Modified]
