The various reactions to the idea of reading a long book
A couple months ago I wrote a blog post about Beginning War and Peace. I was a bit nervous at the time that it might be my last blog post about the book. After all, Tolstoy's classic is so long, and life is so busy. But determination won through, and I am now 3/4 of my way through what many site as the world's greatest novel.
My biggest surprise? It's an easy read.
OK, maybe not The Little Engine that Could easy, but War and Peace is certainly not as difficult as it is made out to be. I can read it on the bus and before bed, and it's even good airplane reading. This is due in part to the brilliant translators, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, who have maintained the feeling of an old book but used language that is easily accessible to the modern reader.
All this has me wondering: why do people make such a big deal out of this book's difficulty? It seems to me that, in an age of multitasking and instant gratification, adults in our culture are overwhelmed by the possibility of spending more than a couple weeks on a book.
Ironically, kids don't seem to have any problem with the concept of long books ever since the advent of Harry Potter. Perhaps their generation will be more prepared to take up a large tome by Tolstoy when they're older.
There is still hope for the older generations, though. The majority of people look at me strangely when they see me toting around War and Peace, but I've been surprised by how many people stop to talk about the time they read it. Universially, those who read it are glad they did.
