I JUST FINISHED WAR AND PEACE

Last summer, I took a thirty hour train ride from Russia to Kiev. There I stayed the night, then took an overnight train the next night to L'viv. I flew out of L'viv, through Munich, to Chicago, where I was supposed to get on a plane to OKC. At that point I had been traveling for four days, and had been away all summer. I was worn out and jetlagged. I missed my flight to OKC and had to spend the night in the Chicago airport. The next morning I flew to Denver and then to OKC. I had come SO far and was SO close to being home, but it felt like it would never be over.

That is how I have felt about War and Peace today. War and Peace is an excellent novel. You should read it. No, really, you should. It's got love and romance, war and violence and killing. Duels, marriages, births, deaths, broken marriages and engagements, elopements, ruined fortunes, gambling, amputations, hunts, balls, captivity, the burning of Moscow, and so much more. It has philosophy and religion and history and drama and French and English and Russian and German. I can help you pronounce the characters' names if you want. BUT. War and Peace is also 1200 pages long. Today I reached Part Two of the Epilogue. Yes, even the epilogue has two parts. At this point I was just dozens of pages away from the end. At which point Tolstoy decides to unload himself on his readers in a lengthy manifesto on history, power, freedom, fate, and I don't even know what else. It was so hard to get through. I was at the Chicago airport, watching my plane leave without me. I was flying to Denver instead of Oklahoma City. I was so close to the end, but just....not....there.

Okay so I did finally finish. And I liked the book. And it is over now so I can go study for the midterm. But I just don't understand why Tolstoy did that. Why not end on a good note? On an interesting, exciting note? On something that leaves your readers happy and wanting more?

Why???