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Summary: best book ever (besides The Bible)
Review: tolstoy went all out to write this;the significance of the whole book is self definition,in which the characters struggle through death, love, war, and the changes they encounter. war and peace is the struggle for the meaning of life which you find when andrey dies(best part of the book)and when pierre's mentor dies
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Summary: long? not long enough!
Review: I must admit, when I purchased this book, I was fairly intimidated by it's size. However, when I started reading, I immediatly forgot all the warnings I had been given about character confusion and length, as I was drawn into 19th century Russian society. Tolstoy created real people that I actually cared for. He fashioned a setting that can be seen in the mind's eye so accurately, that I felt I could even smell the air of the countryside of Russia. The character development over the years spanning the book was incredibly realistic. Tolstoy's conceptions of human nature, God, time, marriage, society, death and war are thought provoking and inspiring. This book is not for the impatient reader who likes the action packed "quickie" page-turner. It is a real world, with real conflicts infused with fictional and factual characters that blend together to make this one the greatest stories ever penned.
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Summary: Good, but swollen, story. Jejune style.
Review: As far as the stories, the descriptions of the settings, and the characterization are concerned, "War and Peace" is very good; in fact, I suspect many readers would find the battlefields and ballrooms of "War and Peace" more to their liking than the sitting rooms and country meadows of "Anna Karenin". But, in terms of the style and execution, I prefer "Anna Karenin" with its complex plot structures, subtle foreshadowing, perfect pacing and rhythm, deeper and more detailed characterization, and its tighter focus on the characters (as opposed to events or, even worse, ideas); but, I am as enraptured by Jane Austen's prissy parlors as I am by Dickens' grimy ghettos. All in all, reading "War and Peace" was an enjoyable experience, but the settings and characters of "Anna Karenin" are as vivid in my mind as the stomping-grounds and friends of my own past.One thing about Tolstoy that stands out, even to casual readers, is his ability to render very tender moments without becoming maudlin or saccharin. Tolstoy's pacing and rhythm when handling these delicate passages is often uncanny, the level of detail is extraordinary, and the effect is profoundly moving; I am often left struggling to pool together the words as they swim about the page. In "Anna Karenin" Tolstoy was in peak form (perhaps unsurpassable) in this regard; in "War and Peace" Tolstoy was sketchier and more rushed with these passages, but still good. I highly recommend keeping notes on the different characters for the first 100-150 pages or so; after that you can relax and enjoy without getting confused. Considering its length and variety of characters, it is actually pretty easy to keep track of everything; Tolstoy is incredibly adept at managing the complex movements and relationships of his characters (he gets dates and the characters' ages a little mixed up though). Finally, I'm somewhat partial to Rosemary Edmonds' translations; she has a good eye for detail. I understand that the Maude translations of Tolstoy are also good but I have not read them yet. A good translation makes all the difference, so choose carefully.
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Summary: An Ode to Humanity, to Russia
Review: War and Peace is clearly a masterpiece. This novel reveals more depth of the individual and the nation than any psychology or history book could ever provide. As we read War and Peace, we learn about Russia, we learn about the human story of struggle and victory, we learn about ourselves. Tolstoy has created a world for us to cry, learn, and live in. War and Peace could have been much more accessable if Leo paired down the book a bit. His observations on history were too repetitive. But it's hard to blame Tolstoy-- he just couldn't stop writing one of the best novels ever written.
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Summary: Remarkable Book
Review: This is, by far, the most remarkable novels I've ever read before in my life. Tolstoy is an incredibly good author. The characters were enjoyable and likeable. Though I was first overwhelmed with the size of the book (all 1386 pages) I was quicky engrossed completely in their lives. Though some claim it's hard to follow the characters, it isn't too difficult if you pay attention to the soiree at Ana Pavlovna's house at the very beginning where it introduces all the main characters. By the time I was on page 900 I was rather saddened that I was almost done with the story, as by that time I was greatly enjoying the experience few enjoy on first reading a very good book. Of course, I can sympathize with everyone who found those tedious epilogues rather dull, they weren't too interesting, but rather a piece of Tolstoy's philosphical ideas. However, it IS shoved in towards the back of the book so it's easily skipped over. And finally, the end of the sprawling epic novel is a pleasant bitter sweet ending, drawing to a close one of the greatest books I've ever read before and closing with a 40 page epilogue that I still haven't read. Even though I'm only 14, I found it a remarkable book that I would recommend to everyone.
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Summary: A very long book.
Review: Of course this book is not Les Miserable, but Victor Hugo would have been proud of the length and complexity. There is much about humanity in the pages of this august work, but to grasp it all, I fear one would have to read it twice, no, three times and then again. Still, not to have read it at least once would be to miss one of the greatest works of fiction, of morality, of insanity, of death and life and none of it diminished by time, none of it constrained by time. The actual moment in history for the story is of no real consequence, no imperative; it is but a backdrop. Read this book if you can, if you have the time, and if you do not have the time, make it! You will learn how to love, how to fear, how to be courageous, how to die, but of greatest importance, you will learn how to live! Rock on LT!
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Summary: An immortal work of epic scope
Review: What are the thoughts of Napoleon as he crosses into Russia? How does he feel after advancing to Moscow to find it abandoned and ultimately aflame? If you were Kutuzov, the Russian Commander-in-Chief, how would you counter a military mind like Napoleon? If you were Tsar Alexander I, how would you greet, or rather or not adress, Napoleon demanding surrender of the city in his quest for Asia? If you were a citizen of Russia and witness to this battle of military titans like Tolstoy, how would you capture it on paper? Who would have the audacity, the brilliance, the scope, the pure talent to encompass such an epic and render it sensible? Tolstoy gets into the minds of his epic cast and creates astonishing characters of people who shaped the history of his day. He was Pierre Bezuhov, perhaps, more than anyone and yet he was all of them. The miracle is that Tolstoy rarely ventured far from his country estate. He barely glimpsed the high society about which he wrote so convincingly, so authoritatively and so genuinely. This book makes my all-time Top Five List: it's a supreme literary experience. Daunting though it may seem by its sheer volume, I swear to you, it reads quickly and the pages fly by as you become engrossed in this incredible epic tale. The novel's straight-ahead narrative style is easy to comprehend once you place the characters into proper perspective. Each figure is a gem crafted by virtue of his or her character through Tolstoy's gifted portrait work. The women are beautiful and deep, the men are bright and courageous, the turbulent times were a crucible for them all. This is truly a one-of-a- kind masterpiece: it's one of life's great treasures. You owe it yourself to take on this epic work: you be generously rewarded for your own ambition. You'll never forget it -- ever.
Rating: 
Summary: 2nd worst book ever read,
Review: Tolstoy was such self-important, disrespectful, intolerant, bum! Tolstoy insults the intelligence of all people who do not accept his personal version of christianity. I came to detest the characters as amazingly weak, and the story totally unbelievable in its presentation.
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Summary: A reader from the Wall of the Badlands, South Dakota USA
Review: I have read lots of books, and gave up on lots of books that were either to boring or too complicated. Simply put, the biggest injustice that has ever been inflicted on literature is the labeling of this masterpiece as one of those books. If you love great books and have never read this book, do yourself a huge favor and set aside your fears and plunge into the most enriching literary experience of your life. The first fifty pages scare away most people, which is cool, because if everybody read it then it wouldn't be so much fun to be a member of the club that has. The trick is to buy a book with a character tree or create your own to stay unconfused. But after 100 pages you are there, and by the time you are on page 450 you will already start getting depressed that there are only 550 pages to go. This book has it ALL. One of the greatest love stories of all time. One of the greatest war stories of all time. A feast of introspection into yourself and everybody you have ever known. Incredible females for the men to fall in love with, and incredible males for the women. People for all of us to emulate, and people for all of us to avoid. Everything beautiful about life and everything awful about life. Wow! It's been 15 years since I read it, and these characters all seem like old, lost friends from a magical time in my life.
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Summary: A magnificent panorama of life and love and death
Review: Tolstoy towers over the art of the novel like no other author in the history of novel writing (not Balzac, not Dostoevsky, not Dickens, not even Proust), in that he simply holds up a mirror to the reader and allows him to understand himself. Tolstoy's genius doesn't rely on dramatic plots, poetic language or revelations about humanity that nobody else had ever propounded, 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 almost irrelevant to think about War and Peace in terms of a novel. For me it is life itself, and the truth that it communicates is never surprising, but the truth that you always knew: it just took Tolstoy's voice to make you realise. In terms of reducing this magnificent work to the conventions of novel writing: the "plot" focuses on the Napoleonic wars as a backdrop to the lives of the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys and Pierre Bezuhov, among others. 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. Throughout the vast panoply, Tolstoy demonstrates his abiding philosophy, that history is the product of the will of the masses and that "a king is history's slave", thereby undermining the popular view of great men shaping great events and bringing about change. Historians and philosophers like to pour scorn on this view, but I think they misinterpret what Tolstoy was trying to achieve - 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 a necessity. My words cannot possibly do justice to this novel, but just let them convince you of one thing: life would be poorer if you never read War and Peace.
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