Love and Hatred: The Stormy Marriage of Leo and Sonya Tolstoy

Rating:
Summary: MORE WAR THAN PEACE IN THIS HOUSE
Review: Leo Tolstoy wrote in "Anna Karenina": "Happy families are all alike." It would seem the question is, "How would he know" because his fifty year marriage to his wife, Sonya, was scarred by painful acrimony and downright misery.

He said, "Nobody will ever understand me." She said, "He has never taken the trouble to understand me."

And seldom the twain did meet.

The stories of these two diverse personalities are well told by William L. Shirer in his last book, completed shortly before his death. Impenetrably enigmatic, Leo Tolstoy disdained religion yet was wed to the devoutly orthodox Sonya, took communion, and maintained a warm relationship with his sister who was a nun. Claiming that one's health should be left to the grace of god, he ordered medical treatment for himself.

Sonya, who wanted a home and some luxuries, was often the butt of Leo's cruelty. He derided her in his diary and in long letters to friends, then had her copy the letters. Eventually, Leo fled their home and Sonya went mad.

Granted, they lived public lives during a time of upheaval in Russia. Yet one is not prone to believe that their union would have fared better today - Leo the visionary preached the virtues of chastity, as Sonya became pregnant by him 16 times.

There was much more war than peace in the Tolstoy's years together. Shirer has researched and documented this well.

- Gail Cooke


Rating:
Summary: i think it's good...
Review: i don't know why it seems nobody is interested in this book. personally i think this book is good. it helps people to get to know this great writer's weaknesses and to provide a good case study of a stormy marriage.

Rating:
Summary: i think it's good...
Review: i don't know why it seems nobody is interested in this book. personally i think this book is good. it helps people to get to know this great writer's weaknesses and to provide a good case study of a stormy marriage.