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War and peace - third attempt

• mattmanser 1y ago
  It's really good. A story that still pops into my mind occasionally today. As a Brit I'd never really thought about Napoleon's invasion of Russia. The retreat in the book is evocative and really left an impression. But I read it when I had far more free time than now.
  • constantinum 1y ago
    Getting past 200 pages is the tough part. Hope I’ll get through. Also, getting used to so many characters with unfamiliar Russian names is slowing things down. Let's see. Any tips and tricks for reading the magnum opus? Would help!
    • mattmanser 1y ago
      Now that you mention it, I also struggled with that to begin with. My penguin edition had a dramatis personae list at the start that I ended up referring to a few times. Rare for me to use them. So, a crib sheet if your edition doesn't. There's a sequence with the boys out on the town which helped me cement each of the main male protagonists images in my head. Fairly early on I think. Pierre + Andrei being main characters, Nikolai (the younger) and Antole being the rest of that group. I also I ended up classifying the characters into three generations, the young men/woman, the older parents, and the younger children.
      • constantinum 1y ago
        Thanks for the tip.