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The appendix of Tolstoy’s commentary on what his work is about is useful to understanding and is quite enjoyable to read in its own right as an author’s comments on his own work

Finished War and Peace. 5/5. What a great novel

The last few chapters on freedom and necessity are some of Tolstoy’s most heady but also most nuanced thoughts. to know History, we must recognize a dependence we do not feel

I love chapters 5-16 of the Epilogue. The happy endings feel earned even if a bit conventional b 19th century novel standards. After all, all happy families are alike. Yet Tolstoy brings rich ironies near the end. Referencing Plutarch, he gives a really profound vision of Young Nikolai’s great dream. There’s joy and irony at the same time.

Amid the “happy endings� there seem undercurrents of bitterness here and there. Nikolai Rostov has this temper, and of course Sonia’s “sterile�

I like the first four chapters of the Epilogue. There are some truly fascinating meditations about chance, greatness, and the historical great men such as Napoleon.

And now we get back to the ending of the three families, including about how the Nikolai-Marya thing resolves itself

This is the end of Book 15. Next we go to the epilogue which will conclude the stories of the three families and more Tolstoy digressions