Okay, so this is less review and more story time, because I haven't actually finished this beast. You have been warned.
So back in like, November of '21 hubby and I found the four-part Russian language epic film of War and Peace on HBOMax. Over the course of that month, we watched it. When I tell you that this was one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen, I absolutely mean it. Costumes? Stunning! Cinematography? Perfect! Staging? Immaculate! (Seriously, every scene and shot is perfectly balanced like a Renaissance master's painting) 10/10, totally recomend, totally worth it.
This was when Hubby and I seriously began discussing taking a stab at this literal literary Everest. It had all of the postmarks for a reasonable goal. One chapter a day for a year. I made a calendar to measure my progress and everything!
On January 1, 2022, we began. The chapters are short and fairly staccato, making establishing character identities and relationships a struggle if you are holding yourself to one chapter a day. I started keeping a notebook so I could track who was whom and how they related to everyone else. If I hadn't watched the film I would have been hopelessly lost.
Honestly, I still got lost, which was where my notebook came in handy. I had let myself fall behind so I could catch up at the pace of three-ish chapters a day on my lunch break. This made figuring out relationships so much easier. I was finally starting to get into the stride of the thing at three chapters, when hubby told me he was ready to call it. Honestly, glide or not, I was ready to step away before annoyance turned to hatred. Then I would never be able to fully enjoy that gorgeous film again. We made it to March which is a good initial attempt. My Kindle says I made it 15% into the tome. I realize that this doesn't sound like much, but I felt every word. It had begun to feel like a bad reading assignment in highschool that just... Would. Not. End. I had a similar bad experience with "Anna Kareneina" a few years back ( I am planning to try this one again though)so I may just not be a Tolstoy reader.
Maybe I'll take another stab at it another time, but for me, I'll stick to the movies (Hot Take: Some movies are better than their source material). That said, don't let me discourage you from trying. Who knows? "War and Peace" just might be the story that changes your life!
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