josh • reading

penguins classic version . i’m going to try writing about this book as i read it (considering the length). just finished part one and the main takeaways are a) it’s very hard to keep track of all the characters (lots of shared names) and b) it’s surprisingly readable? i don’t know what i expected but most of the characterization is very clear and tight and even though it’s mostly been russian aristocrats drinking and talking so far most scenes are engaging - lots of humor? For a book with such central ‘important men’ (napoleon, kutuzov) Tolstoy describes the acts of war as deterministic - an army moves like an animal, reacting and moving towards goals without any decisions being left to any one persons will. napoleon nearing moscow was less of a function of any strategic objective but simply a game of chicken as russian armies tried to meet up and napoleon attempted to stay between them moving further and further east while looking to fight the decisive battle they avoided.