Newerways

  I once tried to read War and Peace . I say “tried” in the same way people say they “tried” to wake up early. There was effort, yes, but also confusion, fatigue, and a quiet sense of defeat. I made it through possibly 100 pages. Many people were introduced so quickly that I began to suspect the book was less a novel and more an endurance test. How many names can one human brain hold before it shuts down? Each character had a purpose. Each one was doing something important. But to me, they became “that guy,” “the other guy,” and “someone who seemed important but I forgot why.” Eventually, I wasn’t reading it anymore. Later, I mentioned this to my mother. She told me she had read the same book when she was younger and hadn’t found it interesting either. Too many characters, she said. It drained her attention. But she finished it out of sheer determination. I chose not to follow that path. There is a certain wisdom in knowing when to stop, especially when your brain has already filed...