Super Long Books—Hypnotic or Exhausting?
Let's talk about Tolstoy, Harry Potter, and some of my favorite recent reads
War and Peace comes in at more than 587,000 words, although it was originally published as four volumes and two epilogues. These days, most of us read the novel as a single continuous book running between 1200 and 1400 pages, depending on font, layout, and language.
This much-loved (and feared) masterpiece was published in 1869, and the plot revolves around Napoleon’s 1812 Russian invasion. Since some of Tolstoy’s contemporaries had lived through the war, experts disagree on whether War and Peace counts as historical fiction. My friendly AI search bot calls it a “historical epic.” Even among people who haven’t read it, the novel is legendary for its length. It’s about twice as long as Moby Dick, and you’ll need some forty to sixty hours to complete it.
Is it worth it? It’s “the summit of realist fiction,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Emily St. James at Vox explains its appeal: “It has romance. It has comedy . . . It has plot twists galore.” The Guardian’s Sarah Hughes describes reading the novel for the fourth time and relishing “the wideness of Tolstoy’s vision . . . the sense that all humanity is trapped on these pages.” Read Radiant argues that the book’s length “provides the space and scope for Tolstoy to encapsulate the vast tapestry of human existence during a time of war and societal upheaval.”
Detractors have weighed too. Ivan Turgenev, the author of Fathers and Sons, admired Tolstoy’s early works but wrote that War and Peace was “positively bad, boring, and unsuccessful—how cold and dry all this is.”
War and Peace is not one of my all-time favorites, although Anna Karenina is. Even so, slamming the novel as “positively bad” and “cold and dry” seems excessive. To quote the glorious Chuck Berry, “It goes to show you never can tell.”
Over the years, I’ve loved novels that are long, short, and in-between. Reading a longish novel can create an agreeable rhythm. You immerse yourself in the setting. The characters become familiar. The plot builds, and every day, you’re eager to get back to your story. You feel a sense of loss when there’s no more book to read.
Abraham Verghese’s The Covenant of Water ( at 724 pages) and C. J. Sansom’s Tombland (at 865 pages) have recently given me just this kind of reading bliss. I was sad to learn that C. J. Sansom died a few days ago. I will devote a future post to him. He’s one of my historical fiction heroes.
When I ventured into writing fiction myself, I learned that publishers and agents rely on word count guidelines when they assess new books. According to McZell Bookwriting, three reasons drive their thinking: 1) Shorter books are more marketable; 2) Printing long books costs more; and 3) Audiences expect a certain length. Literary agent Rachelle Gardner of Books & Such Literary has provided this useful counsel on industry expectations:
Word count recommendations differ by genre—shorter for young adult books and longer for literary and science fiction. After I had completed an early draft of my own upcoming historical novel, I attended a workshop for the field. One piece of advice: Add 10,000 words. Historical fiction fans want more detail. By this time, I knew my characters and setting well, so the editing came easily. I created several new scenes with my protagonist encountering additional dilemmas. Now, of course, I’m convinced that the “extra” material gave the plot more tension and depth.
Publishers drop the guidelines for best-selling authors like Verghese and Sansom. J. K. Rowling’s seven Harry Potter books total more than 4000 pages, and the last four are over 600 pages each—much longer than typical for younger readers. But Rowling’s publishers can be confident of splendid sales. Her audience has already fallen in love with her characters and storytelling.
So how long should a book be? How many words would be too many? In a famous bit of dialogue from Amadeus, the Emperor Joseph II suggests that Mozart’s music has too many notes. Mozart is appalled:
Emperor Joseph II: My dear young man, don’t take it too hard. Your work is ingenious. It’s quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that’s all. Just cut a few, and it will be perfect.
Mozart: Which few did you have in mind, Majesty?
(From Amadeus by Milos Forman, Screenplay by Peter Shaffer)
Take a look at the scene from the movie. It’s sheer brilliance—and who can argue with Mozart?
Ideally, a novel has precisely the number of words and sentences it needs to create its world. Sprawling tomes by self-absorbed writers can be mind-numbing. Long books by amazing authors are magical.
So here’s my question for all of you: What’s the longest book you’ve ever read and adored?
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this piece.
The Mozart scene was hilarious.
Geraldine
another fine piece, Jean. Great idea to end with a question/challenge for your blog readers.