I've started this review three times in three different ways. A "review" is impossible. What more can I possibly say other than, "I finished it" that will make it sound any more impressive? Nothing will make you want to read it any more--or less--than you already do, because this is The Book that serious readers vow to read "eventually." 
 When I stared at the blank page of this review, I experienced the same emotion as when I turned the page to see the word 
 Epilogue 
 --my eyes actually teared up, because I'm in disbelief that it's over. 
 War and Peace follows the story of three families in the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Their tales are intertwined, and we experience the ins and outs of their lives. The men go off to fight battles against Napoleon, and those not in the army--the women, mostly--live their lives in Russian high society, naive of the outside world. 
 But "war" and "peace" aren't as clear-cut as that. At one point, it's said that Count Nikolai, when returning home on leave, "knew that he had to go from this clear, good world to somewhere where everything was nonsense and confusion." War is easy. It's structured, simple. High society life is nonsense, with constant soirees and the marrying off of daughters. It's complicated and confusing. 
 But then the two worlds mix, when the French army invades the Russian cities, and everything became tragically beautiful and complex. 
 I won't deny that Tolstoy tends to be... wordy. But you get used to it, and you come to appreciate it. Could this story have been told in half the time? Perhaps. But it wouldn't be Tolstoy, and it wouldn't have half the charm. I compiled some of my favorite quotes here, which reveal everything I love about it. How he can take life experiences and show them in such a way that they're genuine, regardless of era, because we're all human and will always experience the same things. 
 My only complaint, which seems to be a fairly common one, is that epilogue. The final summarization of our characters is great, but it goes into such bizarre, complicated details on the philosophy of history that I hardly even paid attention to the last twenty pages or so. 
 The rest of the book kind of makes up for that, though. 
 It's impossible to discuss everything that happens here. He intertwines fictional characters with historical events, and it feels real. I would love to write pages on each of the main characters--they're all so distinct, so loveable--but I fear this review is long enough as it is, and it wouldn't make sense for those who haven't read it (Look, I'm already bragging). 
 It's a monstrosity of a book, and my muscles ache from lugging it around for nearly two months, but... it was well worth it. It should be read not just for the sake of saying you did, but to experience one of history's greatest works of literature. 
 You'll understand when you read it.