War and Peace (Oxford World's Classics)

War and Peace - Henry Gifford, Aylmer Maude, Louise Maude, Leo Tolstoy So, my husband and kids watch this show called Man VS Food right? It's about this guy who goes across the country doing all these eating challenges. You know the ones right, eat 15 scoops of ice cream in an hour and you get a t-shirt or a 10 lb hamburger and fries in half an hour and you get your name up on a wall. Gross right, yeah I think so too, however sometimes while they are watching and I am laying on the couch reading, I take notice of it. The thing I have noticed is that the main guy gets this glazed look in his eyes when the food is going to win (I think it is the look of imminent chunk blowing) and you just know he is done. Well, I had this look on my face late last night as I tried to get through this book. And so, with only about 40% to go and other books on my mind, I waved the white flag of surrender on War and Peace.Much like the food eaten by the challenge guy, War and Peace did not nourish me, not my mind or soul, infact, I couldn't feel connected with the story at all. With all the characters, many of whom I couldn't keep straight and being written in a way that I felt set apart from the characters, I just never started to care about any of them. I like to think I am a smart person, I can hang with Dickens and Conrad just fine but for some reason, I don't get Tolstoy. As I was trying to keep the story straight and figure out what was going on with this guy or that, there were whole sectons within the story that made no sense whatsoever with what was going on. I couldn't follow it, and I TRIED. Anyway, I didn't like it, I don't understand why anyone would like it. It is just not good.