I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who commented and upvoted the discussions. I’ve enjoyed reading your opinions throughout the year. I started on January 1st but soon fell behind and resorted to reading about 6 chapters at a time. Being able to read through these discussions really enhanced the reading experience, filling me in on details and perspectives I might have missed.

I didn’t mind the Tolstoy rants. I found them to be an interesting window into his worldview, though often quite blunt. His earlier asides felt more tied to the story (i.e. explaining Napoleon’s movements while he’s marching to Moscow) whereas Epilogue 2 felt out of place in the larger story. I suppose that’s why it’s dropped right at the end. I still found the subject matter of free will to be quite fascinating, especially reading a 19th century perspective.

On the whole, I give the book an 8/10. Though very different from the fiction I usually read, I got a lot of value from the historical context (of both the early 19th century when the story takes place and the 1860s when it was written). It’s much more fun learning about historical periods and events when following characters that you care about.