Rating: 
Summary: My opinion
Review: War and Peace is a wonderful story about the war and the lives of the people it affected. I thought it was a very exciting story. Everything was described extremely well and efficent. What I thought was missing in the story though was the effect the war had on the poorer people. The story was only told from the view of the richer people. How hard it was for them and how much they lost, well, imagine how hard it was for people who didn't have much to lose. In my opinion you can't say War and Peace is the nations story unless you tell both sides of the story. But otherwise it's a fantastic story that I don't regret reading. :)
Rating: 
Summary: There's no such thing as a great novel
Review: While cultural pundits try to convince you that some literature is better than other literature, the truth is that all art is relative to individial tastes. Thus, it doesn't make any sense to think that a novel like this one is really any better than say, Michael Crichton or Stephen King. Aesthetic standards can't be grounded.Thus, don't listen to anyone who tries to distinguish between "serious" works of literature like this one and allegedly "lesser" novels. The distinction is entirely illusory, because no novels are "better" than any others, and the concept of a "great novel" is an intellectual hoax.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: 'War and Peace' looks formidable when it is sitting on your desk. However, the sheer readibility of this delightful historical novel eclipses the volume of the novel. 'War and Peace' reads almost like a serial publication about the military, provincial, and urban life of Russians on the brink of an epic collision with Napoleon's army and the invasion of Moscow by the French in 1812. The plot does not need rehashing here as I believe that other reviewers have done an excellent job already. I had initially found the opening chapters of War and Peace to be somewhat archaic, particularly the battle of Austerlitz where generals looked on while their soldiers were slaughtered. Military death appeared to be portrayed with a sense of romanticism and heroics. This initial assessment was incorrect. Tolstoy was at the vanguard of modern perceptions about war in the closing chapters. Kutuzov, the Russian counterpart of Napoleon, was the moral centre of this novel: weary of war and with no lofty ambition for glory but rather, the security of his nation, and a man who respects destiny's hand in deciding the outcome of war. Kutuzov to me, was the only main character in the novel who understood chiefly, with compassion, the vileness of war but also its necessity. He was the cusp between the two central theme in the novel - war is needed to achieve peace but the cost is often diminished by the ambition of glory, medals, and renown. Tolstoy's keen assessment of humanity, the minute mannerisms that gives away a person true intentions, and the incongruous but enlightening details that are peppered throughout the novel marks him as an astute and articulate writer. Although Tolstoy set out to write a fictional novel set within a historical context, what struck me most about War and Peace was the philosophical examination of what it means to be a good person (Pierre's quest), to love life as well as another person with the greatest depth (Prince Andrei, Princess Maria, and Natasha's journey), and the true mechanism that drives war and history (Kutuzov's battle with Napolean). I don't feel that my review does War and Peace justice. It is an epic novel that is surprisingly intimate and empathic because of the way that Tolstoy characterizes the ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances. I apologize that I may not have covered some of the important themes in the novel as I'm not particularly sophisticated in literature. I found War and Peace entertaining as well as enlightening and hope that potential readers will overcome their initial aversion due to the size of the novel and embark on this journey.
Rating: 
Summary: Essential reading
Review: War and Peace is the master of all Russian novels, read by every Russian high school student. Recreating the life and times of the Russian aristocracy (and to a more limited extent, the peasantry) of the early 19th century, it's not only a portrait of individuals living through times of war and peace, but an overview of Russian life and culture and a portrait of humanity.
Rating:
Summary: Actually
Review: War and World is the bad title. I perfectly understand the title to be war and periods of military quiet. It also contrasts personal struggle and personal content
Rating:
Summary: Worth It
Review: Many "classics" fail to live up to their accreditation. War and Peace does not. It is geniune article, the definitive soap opera novel with a giant cast, incredible insight on humanity at all levels and brilliant storytelling. The caveat is you will probably not be able to spend a couple of months at it and retain understanding of the immense volume of characters, their relationship to each other and the broader canvas of philosophy Tolstoy shoves in every now and then. I read it in 13 days, about 100 pages per day, 30 years ago and have never forgotten that thrill ride. If you make time for it you will realize why people say they read War and Peace. Not bragging rights. They want to share a sublime experience.
Rating:
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.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing book, unlike anything I ever read
Review: I am a PhD student at Northwestern University, in a department of applied mathematics, and I have discovered the wonderful world of Russian classics recently. This book is beyond anything I ever imagined! Tolstoy has such an understanding of human nature...I learnt a lot about myself while reading this book, and I understand why it is acclaimed by many to be the best novel ever written. Don't get discouraged by the length of this book, or by the variety of characters introduced early on in the book. This book will make you laugh, cry and want to scream at the same time. It is a story of life...of a great people and a magnificent culture, and the faults and virtues of all the characters can teach us a lot about ourselves...
Rating:
Summary: Ahhh - this takes me back
Review: Back in 1996 I was 15 years old and idly began to read a very cheap edition of War and Peace. Certainly it had an appalling cover, and had spelling and typesetting mistakes, and the font was too small, but still - I had discovered a brilliant translation of a brilliant book. It took me three months to read it. I don't have a clue how I did it, or why - but the book made a big impression on me. Eight years later, and the book still wows me. Very roughly, the book describes the interactions between five prominent aristocratic families in Russia as they live through the Napoleonic Wars (1804-1815). Trying to describe the plot of War and Peace is like trying to describe the "plot" of a zoo or a botanical park. The events are presented shapelessly and meanderingly, with little apparent structure. It is character rather than event that makes this book memorable. No one could define character and moivation like Tolstoy. His characters are always ensnared by their own character traits, which are made clear to the audience by their reactions to events. One scene has the teenaged Nicholas Rostov, who is very close to his father, incur a gambling debt - something he did not habitually do. He has toi get his father to pay it. At first he decides to throw himself on his father's mercy - but of course, he is a young soldier, trying to prove he is grown up. So he pretends to be arrogant and coldly tells his father of the debt; and asks him to pay it. "It happens to everyone" he says brusquely, although he feels awful saying it.
But of course Count Rostov is a perceptive man; rather than go with his first impulse and tell him off for his arrogance (which Nicholas is secretly begging him to do), he says humbly: "Yes, all right, it happens to everyone..." and he glances at his son and pretends to leave the room.
Of course then Nicholas Rostov, filled with guilt, breaks down and tearfully asks his father to forgive him. This sort of psychological chess-game is Tolstoy's speciality. All of his characters are irresistably familiar, and their motivations and reasons for doing things are very realistic. Consider Anatole Kuragin's utter incomprehension when Pierre tells him off for trying to elope with the Count'sd daughter. Not only does Anatole (a party animal/dilettante) not feel guilty for what he has nearly done - he does not even have the slightest comprehension of what Pierre is talking about. So he simply stares blankly. To say this book has a shapeless plot doesn't mean it doesn't have an epic sweep. In fact, that's probably what's so brilliant about this book. The drama is a drama of character rather than event. Changes of character can occur while the character is sitting in a chair thinking, or wandering in a POW train, or lying at death's door in a bed. It seems to be what is happening inside the character's heads that interests Tolstoy; and the only events in the book that are revolutionary occur inside the characters' heads! The battle of Borodino passes with hardly any change for the characters; but Prince Andrei's last days alive, sitting alone in a room, are monumentally important. In a memorable - and very strange - static scene, the very young Petya Rostov, who has joined the Hussars (and is doomed to die the next day) asks a Russian soldier to sharpen his sword for the next day's battle.
Petya is the brother of Nicholas and Natasha, very musical people. But since he is so young, and so eager to join the army, that he hasn;'t really shown this trait yet.
So when he listens to the sound of his sword being sharpened, he falls into a trance-like sleep that lasts for hours. The sound of the sword becomes music in his imagination - in fact, a fugue. Petya imagines that he is conducting this sword-music. Hours later, he awakens, and the soldier gives him his sharpened sword, and he prepares to fight in his first (and terminal) battle.
This scene is odd, and hallucinatory in its vividness; Tolstoy was a genius at bringing out the nature of this boy's introspection. Of course, the musical talent of Petya - he can hear music only in swords - is to be wasted the following day on the battlefield. Again, this is a static scene; the battle itself becomes only a transitory event. I must admit, I am one of those who doesn't like Tolstoy's historiographical theories and how they are pushed into the narrative. To me, it is the characters, not the philosophy or events, that make the book memorable. Well, no wonder none of the films of this book seem to be as good. Films by definition can only show character through events - unless yu have far too much interior monologue.
Rating:
Summary: This book is a classic
Review: Books like this give a good name to all books! I've read it several times and can't read it enough if i had a dime for every time i read it i'd be the bill gates of hobos! Buy it and you'll think better of all books!
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