J

This is comfortably my favorite of my recent efforts to read/reread a bunch of classics I have broad strokes knowledge of but want to get the real deal as an adult. Moby Dick is "the book" everyone thinks of on obsession, but this is a far more interesting examination of it to me. (I also vastly prefer that he mostly just tells the story without the bombastic, repetitive style.) Edmond is obsessed with revenge almost beyond reason, and at several points flirts with where the line is and who he's willing to sacrifice to achieve it.

It also feels like it lays the outline for modern heist movies, with intricately laid plan on intricately laid plan that you get to watch slowly unfold.

I'm not really qualified to review this book, as much of what I found most compelling were the mini-essays included in the portrayal of the invasion of Russia by Napoleon, and I just don't have the historical context required to understand how much is accurate, how much is a product of its time, and how much was genuinely novel.

They are, however, fascinating. The portrayal of Napoleon is interesting, and the emphasis on focusing on the "spirit" of the people (both soldiers and civilians) as driving history is compelling. There are other parts that are easier to reject (divine direction, his presentation of marriage) with modern ideas, but I don't know how to put them in the context of his time. I will, with or without additional context, likely come back to many of them to read again.

The actual story is slow and plodding (especially the first two books), and there are bits I would remove. But, I was connected to the characters and their journeys, and ultimately consider the story pretty good as well.