Epilogue

So, it is done. I have finished War & Peace this evening. If I am to be completely fair, the argument that all actions and outcomes in the war were inevitable and independent of any one individual's decisions or intentions became a bit beleaguered towards the end. However, that was less because of the insights into political history and more because I was anxious to get back to the fates of the characters involved. This was an incredibly moving story that has really taken me on an amazing journey during the last month. I have spent so much time now with these individuals and their families through such intense events in their lives, it will be a bit strange to go on without them. As I said in an earlier post, this book really captures so many aspects of the human experience. Sometimes there would just be a tremendously apt observation about falling in love or grieving a loss, aging or coming of age, as well as simply the wild oscillations between the mundane and the rapturous we experience as humans. There will be more to come on this book later as I am able to process it all and really formulate something intelligent to say on the matter. However, tonight I simply wanted to say I am done, and it would be my great hope to have a home full of such rich love and complex history as that at the Rostov/Bolkonsky estate at Bald Hills.