Rating: 
Summary: Of course, a classic........
Review: I opened the first page of War and Peace with trepidation several years ago believing I was endeavoring to scale a mountain of intensely complex reading. I was wrong. War and Peace ranks with the best novels ever written and its pages are replete with masterfully created characters within an intensely interesting period in history. I have since read the book again and remain in awe of Tolstoy's talent. Here is one of the best authors to ever walk the face of this earth presenting one of his best literary efforts. Everyone should read this book at least once in their lifetime. I shall read it many times more.
Rating:
Summary: Title interchangeable with Life and Death
Review: What can I say that hasn't already been said? If there was a truly objective literary eye, I think this book would make a serious case to be the greatest novel ever written, all things considered (personally, I wouldn't say that it is). This book can be read as a story, as a bit of history explained from a human perspective, or as a depiction of so many human institutions and facts of life. It probably comes as close to the realist ideal as a book can do so, yet its omniscient narrator is always both inside the hearts and above the heads of his characters. His strong voice is never muted out by the voices of his characters, yet their voices are always autonomous. He tells us a story of a time and stories of people, and he makes them come together into one greater story that never really ends. Tolstoy shows us how and why the story continues and must continue. His own analysis of the human interpretation of history is fascinating. It humbles every individual in the frame of a greater scheme without taking away their own individual significance in the making of history. Tolstoy rejects simplification and rationalization and argues against the impulse to make gods out of men. Instead, he focuses on the experiences and conditions shared by all mankind. Every artifice created by human beings seems to come down to something simpler and more genuine. Best of all, he manages to do it without preaching any gospels. Nothing is explained or discovered, but we experience enlightenment.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: I lost the count of how many times I read this wonderful book. Yet, every time I am moved by my favorite characters and passages. The anticipation, and then the entrance of Natasha in the great ball, the Emperor present! The unbelievable old Count Bolkonski, the general Kutuzov and his cinic philosophy, the great oak-tree scene, the hunting party... But, mainly, the enormous tapestry which is gradually composed before us, as the reading unfolds. This is an immense book, in more than one sense. It requires a certain degree of continuity: not appropriate for subway reading. Select a time (maybe even build yourself a log hut in the woods for the occasion ...)of quiet, start very leisurely, read and reread the first pages... Soon the book will take over, and you will be thankful for your whole life. To find something of this quality in a novel you'll have to go backwards down to Cervantes. Give yourself this treat.
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Summary: Birth, death and everything in between....
Review: Tolstoy towers over the art of the novel like no other author in the history of novel writing, in that he simply holds up a mirror to the reader and allows him to understand himself better than anyone else has done before or since. Tolstoy's genius doesn't rely on dramatic plots, poetic language or revelations about humanity that nobody else had ever put forward (though all of these elements can be found in War and Peace), but rather in the resounding truth that rings through all that he writes. It is sometimes difficult to think about War and Peace in terms of fiction. For me it is almost more real than life itself, and the truth that it communicates is never surprising. It is the truth that you have always known: it just took Tolstoy's voice to make you realise. In terms of reducing this magnificent work to the conventions of novel writing: the narrative focuses on the Napoleonic wars as a backdrop to the lives of the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys and Pierre Bezuhov, among a myriad of other characters. The characterisation is everything - Tolstoy's strength lies in his peerless ability to create real people with complex emotional and intellectual make-up, who love and fear and are magnanimous and are petty, who make grand gestures and who fall victim to their own human weaknesses. Tolstoy views humanity not just through a microscope, like Proust, but at the same time through the widest of wide angle lenses. No other novelist can match this ability to understand the most complex of personal motives and give them context in the vast scheme of things. Throughout this epic panoply, Tolstoy convinces us beyond doubt of his abiding philosophy - that history is the product of the will of the masses and that "a king is history's slave". The notion that history is about great men shaping great events and bringing about change is shown up as the romanticized propaganda that it clearly is. Historians have poured scorn on this view, but I think they misinterpret what Tolstoy was telling us - he was not holding himself up as a prophet, he was simply saying to people "look at the world around you and try and tell me that revolution created this!" As many of the previous reviewers have rightly advised, don't let the size of the book put you off. Tolstoy will not confound you with style - reading him is almost like breathing, it is an unconscious necessity. However, my words cannot possibly do justice to this novel; just let them convince you of one thing: your life will be infinitely poorer if you never read War and Peace.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, the humanity!
Review: One of the most amazing things I've ever read. All the works of Tolstoy that I've read (this, Anna Karenina and Resurrection) astound me with the depth with which he understood human nature. When a character does something or behaves in a certain way, I often think 'Yes, I've done that!' The principal characters are all wonderfully realised, and their actions are both believable and easy to empathize with. The overall plot takes some liberties with temporal mechanics (people age nine years in four, that sort of thing), but who cares when the story is this mesmerising? Tolstoy depicts real, human lives and real situations with piercing insight. His view of warfare is grim, unromantic and tells it how it is: confusing, frightening and not at all fun (well, I believe it's like that anyway!). The historical analysis which occasionally crops up and is done in depth at the end is heavy going, but it's fascinating and still of interest today - perhaps even more so: this celebrity-obsessed world could maybe do with a dose of Tolstoy's ideas about how history really happens. I don't perhaps wholeheartedly agree with everything he says, but that just adds to the fun. In conclusion: READ IT! Once you've got the hang of all the Russian names (the character list at the front of my edition was a useful aid; probably the one here will have it too as the translator is the same), the pages will just flow away.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the Greatest Book Ever!
Review: "War and Peace" is undeniably epic, and consequently a prodigious read. But as anyone who has finished it will tell you, it's well worth it (and more). When deciding which translation to opt for, do yourself a favor and get the Maude translation (Norton), edited by Gibian. Only in this edition will you find the interesting and invaluable scholarship Aylmer Maude so painstakingly assembled. If you are poised to read "War and Peace" for the first time, the last thing you need is a wordy review by some git on amazon.com, so I'll exercise modest brevity. There's no need to mention the love triangles, mystical persuasions or the finely wrought battle scenes, all of which are so prominent in "War and Peace." This book is, simply, life. Like the course of time, chugging it's way ad infinitum, the truths, ideas and emotions in this monumental work are universal; like earth, fire and water, Tolstoy is elemental!
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the effort
Review: What a tale! Tolstoy's War and Peace has everything - a broad palatte of characters set to the greatest event of the 19th century - with conflict, romance, honor, courage, a beautiful (if initally maddeningly spoiled) heroine and a bookish (but likable) hero. This fabulous book is everything you've heard about it. To many, the daunting size, scope and scale of War and Peace is a deterrent to reading it. Fear not: the story is so uttery engrossing, you will literally be unable to put the book down. Tolstoy's characters are almost real in their mannerisms, actions, thoughts and relationships - you feel almost kin to the central figures as they mature and change over time. The drama of the Napoleonic Wars, and the vidid descriptions of the life of the Russian aristocracy at its zenith also drew me into the story. The book truly is a maserpiece of literature, and I highly recommend it. The only criticism I have is that Tolstoy, as usual, uses the book as a bully-pulpit to share his personal views, but unless you are specifically looking for them, they are negligable. (A hint: look for his themes of "fate" and "destiny" - there are others, but those are my favorites.) There are many great works of literature - War and Peace certainly deserves to be counted among them. Take the time to read this book - you will not be disappointed.
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Summary: The War of 1812
Review: Tolstoy set out to tell the story of the Decemberists, a group of soldiers who 'liberated' Paris in 1813 (the French word bistro comes from the Russian word bystro -- meaning fast --, which the Russian soldiers were supposed to have used in Paris when they want their food fast). They returned to Russia with the new ideas, demonstrated, at great cost to their lives, in St. Petersburg a dozen years later, and Russia off on a new path of history. Tolstoy thought that he needed to give a little background before he got to the main event. Well, he never got there. War and Peace, in all its glorious pages, is the background! When you read the book think as much about the word 'and' as you do 'war' and 'peace.' This book is as much about the contrasts between war and peace as it is about either of the nouns. Which is worse? For some of the characters, war is much easier than peace. For some, it is easier to go into battle than say "I love you!" Also, notice how Tolstoy makes the familiar strange. Many of the chapters are written as if the character had never been there before. Natasha at the opera is classic. If you don't feel comfortable with opera, neither dpes Natasha, and the resulting passages are great fun! The novel has a reputation for being long and hard, but it isn't eather! After all, Tolstoy never got to the main point! Just a word about the translation; Ms. Garnett cleaned things up a little, so the text isn't quite as 'rich' as other versions of the book. If you are interested in a fuller, more colorful translation, try another one.
Rating:
Summary: Marterpiece of a novel
Review: It's not so often that I come across such a wonderful novel as 'War and Peace'. The title may give the allusion the it is one of those books that gives meaningless descriptions of wars and battles. Well, on the contary Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' is about humanity. It depicts vividly the lives and conditions of the Russians in the time of Nepoleon's invasion of Russia. In this enormous novel Tolstoy describes every action, thought, emotion of his caracters. The great writer scutinises each and every character starting fron the Tsar and Nepoleon to the poorest of paupers. However, it contains no unnessary details, nothing to bore you with. 'War and Peace' is one of my personal favourites. Believe me you won't regret buying this book!
Rating:
Summary: Perfection
Review: A lot has been said about this novel by other reviewers, and a lot more could indeed be said about this remarkable novel. Read it slowly, read it carefully, but please do read it. After I finished this book, I had trouble reading other classic fiction because I knew I would never again read another novel as close to perfection as Tolstoy's War and Peace. It is an experience you will never forget, with characters who become as real to you as your own relatives.
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