War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy
eBook
(GoodBook Classics, Oct. 6, 2014)
Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives.Quotes from the book:“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”“Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women.”“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.”Readers' reviews:“Shimmering. . . . [It] offers an opportunity to see this great classic afresh, to approach it not as a monument but rather as a deeply touching story about our contradictory human hearts.” (Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World)“Epic. That’s the most suitable word to describe this book. The amount of pages are enough to make most people runaway, methinks. The essence, however, with the details, the characterization, the plots, the parlance (with occasional French); this book has everything needed for a great literature.” (Sylviana, goodreads.com)“Beyond the panoramic Battles of Austerlitz and Borodino, the muffled burning of Moscow and Napoleon’s dilapidated retreat, Tolstoy in War and Peace painted the Napoleonic War’s dislodging the cast of characters from their apparel concerns, gossipy sorties, troubled marriages and career ambitions and through their social clumsiness, oppressive ideals, spiritual dullness and determined naivete, extorted their unavoidable responses to these tidal waves.” (Leonard. goodreads.com)