Alexei Tolstoy

Advantages: A great childrens book
Disadvantages: None

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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Beautiful writing, enthralling characters, excellent story
Disadvantages: Name confusion!

...into his work and decides to write a book. His only chance of reconcilement comes when it emerges that Anna Karenina is pregnant - and Vronsky is the father. Anna hopes to divorce her husband and marry Vronsky – if Alexei Alexandrovich will grant her a divorce – and Kitty finally realizes that she’s made a huge mistake by prioritizing her hopes for Vronsky over her chance of happiness with Levin. Will he be able to swallow his pride and propose to her again? Anna’s new situation makes her a social outcast. Tolstoy’s portrayal of her is remarkably sympathetic given that this novel was written in the 19th century and the tragedy of her situation still translates to the 21st century reader. She could get some semblance of respect if she divorced and then married Vronsky, but her husband keeps delaying the issue and refuses to give her a straight... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Literature at its finest. A book that will live with you forever.
Disadvantages: Tolstoys habit of advancing his ideas on determinism throughout.

...'War and Peace' is one of the greatest works of historical fiction ever written. It is hard to know which is the more impressive, the size and scale of the story or that of the book itself. I bought a paperback copy of this book for £1 from the classics section of WHsmiths a number of years ago and it was my only travelling companion as I spent a summer inter-railing around Europe. Reading the book is a journey in itself. What really stands War and Peace out is the way in which Tolstoy develops the protagonists over time. Tolstoy manages to convey the whole mindset of his lead characters as they change and develop overtime until. Your thinking grows along with theirs. Tolstoy also uses the book as a vehicle for his own philosophies, in particular his views on determinism in the course of human history. When you have read... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful