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"War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy

3/29/2014

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Title: War and Peace
Author: Leo Tolstoy (Anthony Briggs Translation)
Genre: Horror, science fiction, thriller
# pages: 1358, 1408 with notes
Date published: 1869
5-star rating: 5 stars
Would you recommend it? Yes


Perhaps it is the novel’s reputation as Tolstoy’s masterwork, to be referenced and reflected upon for a generation of Russian writers. Perhaps it is its girth, so sprawling that Tolstoy reportedly called it “not a novel” and “still less a historical chronicle,” but “what the author wanted and was able to express, in the form in which it is expressed.” Still yet it may be the title of War and Peace itself, a sweeping overview of the broad cross-section of the world it seeks to portray, and seeming to imply a philosophical inquiry into the nature of warfare and its effect on the societies involved, rather than a human story. Despite these and other red flags that might intimidate a modern reader, it would be a shame to dwell on them, because War and Peace ultimately proves emotional, compelling, and terrifically readable.

In spite of its sweeping title, and a smattering of rather metaphysical tangents along the way, Tolstoy’s work emerges as a distinctly affecting, even tender story. Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, though the central axis on which the plot turns, never overwhelms the far more intimate struggles in the daily lives of the characters. The dichotomies of love and loss, of nationalism and personal interest, of duty and desire, all manifest themselves not only in Tolstoy’s sweeping examination of the war itself but in the lives of the three major protagonists and their families. Natasha, Prince Andrey and Pierre emerge as human figures, inherently flawed and utterly relatable. Most of us can sympathize with Natasha’s confusion between infatuation and love in attempting to find a partner, or Pierre’s ill-fated philosophical experimentation in his quest to understand the meaning of life.

In short, War and Peace need not be so intimidating. Beneath the cacophony of names and places, of battles and cold history, lives a novel of people struggling with forces beyond their control; perhaps we can even call it a heart. And therein lies the reason to read War and Peace at all, if we put to rest our preconceived notions, our wider views of war and peace, and simply give ourselves up to the small victories, the moments quiet and monumental, the intimate victories that people Tolstoy’s world. 



Review by Jennifer Heine, A&S '16

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"The Mystery of Edward Drood" by Charles Dickens 

2/20/2013

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Title: The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Author: Charles Dickens

Genre: Mystery
Date Published: 1870
Pages: 432 (with notes)
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

One of the most beloved of Dickensian tropes, and perhaps also one of the most ridiculed, the ending, in pulling together and even justifying the rest of the story, has been called the signature of all Dickens and even Victorian novels. In this sense, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, his last and unfinished novel, seems to violate every motivation that one would have in reading such a book. In breaking off a mere six installments into the planned twelve after its author’s untimely death, it lacks what most readers would consider the most satisfying portion, where Dickens tends to tie up loose ends into ingenious, if always perfectly fitting, conclusions. Furthermore, the title refers to a mystery, and indeed, by the end of the existing installments, Edwin Drood has vanished, apparently dead, without the ending Dickens almost certainly envisioned to explain the circumstances of his disappearance.

            What has continued to draw readers to the story is this unknowable nature; the story has no ending, yes, but that only increases the appeal. After all, isn’t the perfect mystery the one that can never be solved? As a result, one can attach significance to any small detail and conjecture the vital purpose it might have served in the final chapters. Scholars and laymen alike have pored over the details Dickens provides, but even with the help of the notes recovered after his death and the famed “Sapsea fragment,” a piece of a later chapter introducing new characters, the question of what happened to Edwin Drood cannot definitively be answered. 

            The clues are all there, of course. Most pin the deed on John Jasper, Drood’s crafty uncle and the choirmaster, whose supposed piety masks an opium addiction and an obsessive love for Drood’s fiancé. Yet other questions abound; who, for instance, is the mysterious stranger and detective, Dick Datchery, whose inscrutable features many scholars believe hide the identity of a previously known character, disguising him or herself to uncover the truth? What stake does Princess Puffer, Jasper’s opium supplier, have in the case, and why does she venture to Cloisteram in the final chapters?

            Readers must accept that these questions can never be answered. Those who hope to find the answers to the questions The Mystery of Edwin Drood poses will inevitably be disappointed. But those perhaps accustomed to Dickens through his other works, who can wonder his motives and plans without ever realizing them, who can relish in the utter impenetrability of the mystery that Dickens has set before us, those are the readers who will enjoy this novel. The Mystery of Edwin Drood has been called the perfect mystery novel, not by virtue of its technique or even the author’s intention to deceive, but because it is the only one whose mystery can, quite literally, never be solved. Who killed Edwin Drood? Only his creator can fathom. 



Review by Jennifer Heine, A&S '16
Illustration below by Patrick Hughes, A&S '14


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"Les Misérables" by Victor Hugo

12/3/2012

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Title: Les Misérables
Author: Victor Hugo (Charles E. Wilbour translation, with modern notes)
Genre: Historical Fiction
Number of pages: 1488
Year Published: French: 1862, Original Wilbour Translation: 1863
Rating (out of 5): 5


The highly anticipated film version of Les Miserables to be released this Christmas will undoubtedly send devotees back to the timeless musical upon which the movie is based. But many forget even the musical is based upon an original source: Victor Hugo’s classic novel.

Often considered his masterpiece, Les Miserables has proved the most enduring of Hugo’s works. Even those who have never read the novel often recognize the characters. To call Les Miserables epic would prove a grand understatement, weighing in at about 1500 pages in the most commonly accepted English translation by Charles E. Wilbour and spanning the entire adult life of its major character as well as the countless intersecting lives.

This depth and attention to detail enables the reader to slide easily into the richly drawn world of nineteenth-century France. Although abridged versions leave out what some deem unnecessary detours into such subjects as the pidgin of the urban poor and the history of the Parisian sewer system, these addendums not only serve to deepen the reader’s appreciation for the setting, but the information often proves vital later on. How better to appreciate Jean Valjean’s harrowing journey through the sewers than with a full understanding of these labyrinthine tunnels, and how better to appreciate little Gavroche’s endearing songs than with an understanding of his dialect?

Despite the historical fiction setting, Les Miserables draws its scope beyond the breadth of its time and place. The language itself, even in translation, proves nothing short of breathtaking. Throughout the work, the reader finds himself pausing to relish the simple beauty of Hugo’s sentences, a pleasure that never flags even during the tautest of scenes. Furthermore, the story extends far beyond the tragic student revolution. As in the musical, that fateful night serves as the novel’s climax, but here the climax extends some 200 pages and expertly sweeps up a multitude of divergent storylines into one heartbreaking, electrifying, and ultimately life-affirming whole.

Every character here receives not just a song but a wholly realized life, with such histories that even those familiar with the popular musical will have something to learn. Most adaptations, for instance, do not acknowledge that the beloved Gavroche is in fact Eponine’s younger brother. These histories lend characters that may seem simplistic in the well-publicized drama greater complexity; never before have the sometimes excessively villainous Javert or the childishly sycophantic Azelma seemed so pitiable, even relatable.

 It would be fair to conclude that, despite the desperate conflict at its heart, there are no villains in Les Miserables, only flawed mortals anxious that they might become heroes, and as readers we become invested in them all. We swoon for Marius and Cosette’s relationship just as we ache for Eponine’s unrequited love; we cheer Jean Valjean’s earnest hope of self-redemption just as we understand Javert’s irremediable dedication to his duty. Over the long course of these pages, these characters take on greater depth than any adaptation can afford them: their story has become akin to a life, a life from which one emerges with almost a sense of bereavement from the world to which he has dedicated so much emotion. Ultimately, this is less a novel than an experience.

Review by Jennifer Heine, A&S '16



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"The Secret Scripture" by Sebastian Barry

10/15/2012

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Title: The Secret Scripture
Author: Sebastian Barry
Genre: Historical Fiction
Number of pages: 300
Year Published: Great Britain – 2006; United States – 2008
Rating (out of 5): 4

If one considers the mark of a good character the extent to which he or she inhabits the reader’s head, Sebastian Barry does the reverse with the characters in his novel, The Secret Scripture. Rather than conforming to our minds, his protagonists beckon us to enter theirs.

And what richness they offer. The novel’s heroine, the enigmatic and ironically named Roseanne Clear, opens with the revelation that she, at 99, has decided to pen her own “secret scripture” hidden away on scraps of paper, detailing the upheavals of her life en route to her present existence at Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital, including the distraught the nation of Ireland faced in the 1900’s. Paralleling her story is that of William Grene, the senior psychiatrist coping with a personal tragedy of his own.

The book’s structure is a unique one. It doesn’t begin with the early part of Roseanne’s life, but instead starts with the end and then proceeds to recall the characters’ histories in an erratic fashion, akin to a series of journal entries. The effect of this style, though potentially limiting in that the reader knows from the beginning where both Roseanne and Dr. Grene will end up, is one of greater intimacy. Although the novel does offer some revelation, its chief satisfaction is not in the disclosure itself, as the reader realizes far in advance what the “twist” is going to be. Our enjoyment derives from the effect this information will have on the characters, who the reader easily comes to admire.

Yet Barry manages not merely to depict the inner lives of his protagonists. It is through their struggles that he broadens the novel’s scope to include the struggles of Ireland throughout the twentieth century. The intensely personal nature of The Secret Scripture only serves to focus the overwhelming subject matter: an entire nation boiling down to two individuals filled with adversity in their lives but still surviving. Much of her life will remain uncertain, caught between the contradictory testimonies of her own memory and Dr. Grene’s discoveries, but the one omnipresent certainty for the reader is Roseanne’s endurance. Just as Ireland emerged from the twentieth century battered but not beaten, this personification of its century perseveres to share her story.

Review by: Jennifer Heine, A&S '16

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