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Summary: The Joy of Tolstoy
Review: I've just started War and Peace.....and already it promises to be as satisfying as Anna Karenina, so I can't wait to really get 'stuck in'. It is incredibly readable, lovely to get lost in, time flies by while you're reading it. His characters are so richly drawn, his ancedotes about each one are filling and often funny. I only wish that a translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky were available as they bring a fresh modern voice to translation (I can't wait to read their translation of Anna K. and 'The Idiot' by Dostoevsky).So why am I writing a review of W&P if I've just started it? Well, first to share the fun I'm having and encourage others to give this great book a try.....and to invite others who have read the book or are reading it to write to me and share your comments. One of the best things about writing reviews on Amazon.com is that I occasionally hear from other reviewers or readers with comments on my reviews or recommendations of their own.....and I love it. And I love Tolstoy! I think he's the best writer in the world. Although....quite honestly, the most memorable literary passage I've ever read was found in Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment". But you'll have to write to me to find out which one I'm referring to! Happy reading!
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Summary: Not a War of Attrition!
Review: War and Peace had stared at me from my bookshelf for over a year before I had the courage to begin. A present from a friend, War and Peace seemed more like a challenge than a gift: a challenge that could develop into a war of attrition between my completism and my boredom. Nevertheless, one chilly December day, I took the plunge into nineteenth century Russian life, into the lives of a circle of aristocrats, and into the Napoleonic wars. I was immediately struck by Tolstoy's flowing prose, his humour both gentle and ascerbic, and his skill in creating and developing characters of real depth. War and Peace was a suprisingly easy read. Each short chapter containing interesting incident. It is also a book of great variety. It vividly depicts the sufferings of war, the opulence of the Russian aristocracy, and the joys and woes of family life. It touches phychological, social, political, historical, and religious themes all intertwined in a charming story. However, its outstanding feature is its characterisation. One cannot help but feel intimately connected to the Rostov family, the well-meaning but flawed Pierre, the self-sacrificing Princess Mary, and the tragically disillusioned Prince Andrew. As I became increasingly involved in the book I looked forward with real anticipation to reading my nightly chapter. I did not want the story to end. The only disappointing feature was Tolstoy's insistence on including chapters devoted to elaborating his historical philosophy. To my mind, his philosophy simply marred the gently unfolding story, was repetitive and boring, and seemed irrelevant. Fortunately the strength of the rest of the novel outweighs this Achilles Heel.
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Summary: the title is not translated correctly
Review: The book is great, but the title is always translated incorrectly. It has to be "War and World", not "War and Peace".
I am native russian speaker, and in high school (the russian literature as major) the teacher explained to us that there is wide-spread confusion about how to translate the title. Currently, in russian, words "Peace" and "World" are represented by one word, but when the book was written, two words existed, which though were pronounced exactly the same, were written differently. Leo Tolstoy used the word "World". Actually, "War and Peace" title does not make sense to me at all, as probably for everyone who read the book.
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Summary: Well worth the time it took to read it.
Review: "Nobody gets through 'War and Peace'". I heard it many times before I decided to tackle it. At first, I decided that I would read it cover-to-cover just so I could say I did it, regardless of whether I liked it. When I finally put it down, I realized that it was the best novel I ever read. Stunning visual descriptions, thrilling battles, family and political intrigue, and characters that you begin to care about so much that they become a part of you. Who wasn't moved when Pierre finally took Natasha's hand in marriage, or didn't feel heartache as the fortunes of the Rostov family fell so far from their former heights? It's a beautiful story, from beginning to end. My only real gripe has to do with the interspersed pieces of philosophy from Tolstoy himself. As a student of history, I found them interesting, but I think they would have made a better appendix. They show up at very inopportune moments and can throw you off track. Nevertheless, I didn't let their presence spoil my enjoyment. Bottom line: Don't be intimidated by this book's length. Take your time with it. You will be rewarded.
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Summary: Great story, odd philosophy
Review: A wonderfully intricate story by an unbelievable tale spinner. The war is Napoleon's invasion of Russia, a complete fiasco because Napoleon failed to make provision for the Russian winter and the absence of food for his invading army. It's a long but generally quick read, sometimes as hot and scandalous as the gossip on TV. The strength of the book is in the characters. There are five Russian families to follow - the fabulously wealthy Bezukhovs, the slimy Kuragins, the cerebral Bolkonskys, the spirited Rostovs, and the crafty Drubetskoys. There are few characters in literature as memorable and adorable as Natasha Rostova, as a child and as an adult. Don't be intimidated by the size of the book. This isn't Proust or Joyce. It's not that difficult. And it's a really good story. It's not perfect. Tolstoy throws some rather crackpot ideas in. He believes that Napoleon and other historical figures (we can assume Hitler and Stalin would fit his criteria) have no influence on history - they are simply pawns in the game of fate. Why not just say that everything that you and everyone else has ever done and ever will do is nothing but preordained fate, having nothing to do with you, beyond your control or influence. Tolstoy is a much better storyteller than he is a philosopher. The only way to make any sense of his philosophy is to take it in small doses and just admit that world leaders wouldn't have risen to power unless they met the perceived needs of some of the people they governed.
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Summary: It is worth the time you put in.
Review: War and Peace, one of the most intimidating books ever, the tears of sorrow and happiness that I have shed over this book, ye gods, have mercy on this child, I read it for Lit class and everyone else wrote a review on the book, I'm going to review the Norton Critical Edition of War and Peace, very insightful information and it is especially for 1st time readers. It helped me out quite a bit, w/out the notes, I couldn't have finished the book, now I'm on to read Faust.
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Summary: Life.
Review: Over the 4-week period it took me to read "War and Peace", I was asked several times by friends and co-workers who saw me with the book why it was so long. At first, I really didn't have a good answer although I felt I knew why. Having finished it, I would tell them that its length is due to its being a very thorough novel covering almost every aspect of life in general. This could be said about several books obviously, but in "War and Peace", Tolstoy covers human life more thoroughly than, although maybe not as well as, any other book I've encountered. "War and Peace" lets us follow along in the daily lives of several land-owning class characters from early 19th Century Russia. The Bolkonsky and Rostov families comprise most of these figures, but their friends and acquaintances take up nearly as much of the focus of Tolstoy's classic novel. These characters cover a wide range of personalities from the devoutly religious Maria Bolkonsky and her close and conflicted friend Natasha Rostov to the independent Pierre Bezuhov and his miserable wife Helene Kuragin. Tolstoy is able to go in and out of his creations' lives with simplicity and without exaggeration, whether its in relating the most common moments of their daily lives or the climaxes of their earthly existences. The range of emotions, feelings, and actions that Tolstoy is able to relate is easily done through his genius in setting the story in the midst of Russia's War of 1812 (the history of which he knew very well), one of the worst in its long history. It's through such a life-shattering event that people can be seen everywhere from their best to their very worst, and Tolstoy, through a compelling story line and the novel's famous length, displays the entire spectrum. I still love Dostoevsky's writing more, mostly because of the difference in the conclusions his characters come to in their cathartic moments, but "War and Peace" gave me a much greater respect for Tolstoy than I had previously held (having read Anna Karenina, among others). I definitely recommend taking the time to read this classic.
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Summary: Well worth the time spent...
Review: War and Peace is a complex story with revolves around the lives of three affluent families, the Bezuhov's, the Rostovs and Bolkonsky's, over a period of fifteen years. This book takes place during Russia's struggle against Napoleonic Europe, describing Russia's early defeats and then recounting how Napoleon fled Moscow in a weakened condition. The book begins with Pierre coming into his eventual title of Count Bezuhov, along with the enormous wealth accompanying it. Pierre is the pretty much the primary character in the book, and his path into his marriage of the young Helene is explored as well as his eventually affections for the young Natasha Rostov. War and Peace also explores Pierre's search for religion, his falling out with Christian beliefs and his joining of the Freemason's Order. Tolstoy's uses of description in the battles make the scenes come to life for the reader and portray a genuine picture of warfare during the Napoleonic Wars. The descriptions of Prince Andrei's exploits in battle are extraordinarily rich with details and in giving equal time to the description of the common soldier. Tolstoy's basic analysis of humanity is that instead of great leaders such as Napoleon and Czar Alexander being held responsible for the great occurrences of the time, it was instead the result of a million individual decisions from the common people participating. The reader takes away from this book an understanding of free will versus destiny and the way they shape our lives and the paths we take.
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Summary: A Life Changing Experience!!!
Review: I first read War and Peace with Anna Karenina during a course in the fall of 2002. I had always aspired to read Karenina but not necessarily War and Peace. I was very much surprised. War and Peace is a cultural gem, not necessariy a novel but an exprerience. What I liked about War and Peace was Tolstoy's incredible means of developing his characters. In essence, we see his characters as adolescents and twenty-somethings develop into middle-aged people who have gone through child-rearing and career development. The key figures to watch are Pierre Bezukhov and Prince Andrei as they seek out the quest for fulfillment. We see them as young people trying to figure out questions of religion and love interests. We see them lose people they love, get divorced and do the wrong things sometimes. We read their letters, diaries, find out their secrets, and watch them fight out duels. We experience the characters becoming parents, nursing their babies, and fighting petty arguments. Tolstoy wrote this work during a happy time in his life, and this is especially evident through his portrayal of Pierre and Natasha. The other characters are memorable -- through Tolstoy's vivid use of visual imagery -- Helene's white shoulders, Princess Mary's heavy walk, etc. etc. The cities are characterized -- Moscow is good Russia, St. Petersburg has been corrupted by too many European influences. The Rostovs are admirable Russians whereas the Kuragins tend towards corruption. The historial tracts and the portrayals of the historical characters are interesting -- I can't say enough things about this work. It was life-changing, and it inspired me more than any other book that I have ever read. Try to get this Maude translation -- it is the best one and it has wonderful explanations and background information!
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Summary: 19th century soap opera
Review: To fully appreciate this novel, you need to read the unabridged version, not Cliff Notes or some other shortcut used by students. You need to set aside a significant period of time for this (when I first read the novel 40 years ago, I used a week long break between school terms). The story is about a Russian nobel family and their friends and associates over an extended period of time. Young children grow up, get married, have children, and take over the family estates. It is set during (and after) the Napoleonic Wars, the setting being in Russia (to a very large extent in Moscow, but some on country estates). Tolstoy was a member of the nobility and, by standards of the day, could have been considered a social reformer trying to improve the lot of the peasants. You will usually find a character in his novels that reflects his own attitudes (but not the principal character). He wrote and published novels in installments. To produce this properly in a film media would require making a lengthy TV series, somewhat like "Upstairs, Downstairs." I am surprised that has not been done. The novel covers the rise and fall of the fortunes of the family and the people around them. The family's fortunes are shattered by a variety of circumstances including bad management of money and the French invasion. Partly the head of the family puts the welfare of others ahead of his own family. When the French are at the gates of Moscow, and they have wagons to save their belongings, they leave their own possessions behind in order to use the wagons to rescue wounded Russian soldiers. Eventually, the next generation is left with the task of salvaging what remains and restoring the family fortunes.
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