Not War and Peace..... ( )

A fascinating fictional account based on Tolstoy's own experiences in the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) in Crimea. Three short stories. ( )

Powerful depictions of war in the Crimea.

Leo Tolstoy goes in as a soldier and comes out as a near-pacifist. ( )

I decided to read this book to see if it shone any light on the present tensions in the Crimean region, which I don't think it did, other than to highlight that Russia has been a presence there for a long time. What it did do is confirm me in my opinion that war is, generally, a bad thing.

Tolstoy doesn't glamorise his characters nor the conditions in which they are fighting. This isn't a "gung-ho" piece of nationalist propaganda despite having been written and published during the conflict and under the eye of the Czarist censors. Tolstoy draws his sketches well, the soldiers and their motivations seem true-to-life. ( )