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Summary: How can a teen ager fall in love with a 1600 pages classic?
Review: I'm 15. My friends think I'm crazy or something to read a "heavy" classic such as War and Peace . Yet, I've literally "fallen in love" with the book after the first 100 pages. The story is winningly realistic. Although written long ago, it is easily relatable to one's life. Natasha is my one super heroine. I've identified myself with her ever since her first mentioning. And have followed her biography as the novel goes on as a prediction of my own life. Falling in love with fascinating and mature Andrei, betraying him and wanting to run away with the "Dorian Gray-type" Anatolius.... and finally settling with the sweet, sensible and forever in search of truth Pierre. Beautiful. The only "heavy" parts are the historical essays on the meaning of history according to Tolstoy. They aren't bad, just heavy. One has to sit down, and "digest" their meaning. So they are kinda rusty, not as easy going as the rest of the novel. Well, enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This was definitely a great book. It's not easy for a book to keep your attention for close to 1400 pages, but Tolstoy succeeds. The characters are incredible, especially Pierre, Prince Andrei and Natasha. Put this at the top of your list.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest novel ever written
Review: I first read this book when I was fourteen. I've read it several times since. Each time, something different has come out--something true, deep, instructive. Moreover, each of the main character has become like a friend. The bulk of the book (before the epilogue) covers about seven years of time, and Tolstoy is a master of developing his characters, of letting them subtly grow over those years. Don't let the size of the book scare you. It's a very easy read. The first few chapters are enough to completely hook you--and by the time you finish, you wish there was more. You'll wish he had written a sequel.The only parts of the book that I would NOT recommend are Tolstoy's "philosophy of history" chapters--where he discusses what he considers to be the nature of grand historical events. But they come mostly towards the end, they're easily identifiable, and even more easily skipped without any loss whatsoever to the story.
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Summary: Mars and Venus comes early!
Review: Never having the time to read this classic while in College, I sat down to read this epic a few weeks back. I was delighted by the detail in the translation and consumed with keeping track of the families. The only concern I had were the implications of making the "peace" sections concerned with such trivial matters (children cavorting, women giggling) and the "war" sections so completely detached. This is well worth the read, but as Mars and Venus dictate, many will find themselves aching to get to the next section.
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Summary: The Greatest Work of the Greatest Literary Genius
Review: It would be difficult to find a greater literary accomplishment than Leo Tolstoy's WAR AND PEACE. This should come as no surprise, since Tolstoy is perhaps the greatest literary genius of all time. The book is generally published at around 1600 pages, and it contains about 1600 moments of pure inspiration. For me, the most noticeable are the little things: Denisov's lisp; Andrei's mental game upon seeing Natasha for the first time; Pierre's almost accidental marriage; these are examples of the truly human moments which stand out amid the sweep of the story. And what a story! WAR AND PEACE is a great book in any translation, but I feel I must advocate especially the one done by Louise and Aylmar Maude. They were friends with Tolstoy (who was fluent in about eight languages), and worked with him on the translation. As such, to my mind, their work is as close as possible to the novel being written in English by the Master himself. And don't let the length put you off. Once you've cracked about 20 pages, you'll be hooked--and about to embark on one of the truly great reading experiences known to humankind. An added benefit is that any book you read thereafter will seem short.
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Summary: Historical fiction as great literature
Review: Perhaps if I had read this book in my 20s, it would have made a different impression on me. We judge literature according to our life experiences and my life has given me a different perspective from the one I would have had 30 years ago. I found myself wondering, at times, where the adults were in Tolstoy's novel, as most of the main characters were youths. Only at the very end did we see what kind of people they became as a result of their experiences. If I were 25, I doubt that I would have felt this way. I felt that the characters were drawn from a very narrow section of Russian society, yet this is not a fault: he gives such an excellent portrait of upper class life in those times. In addition, the emotions and perceptions of those characters are of necessity those of Tolstoy's time or of the time the novel takes place. It could not be otherwise, but for us in the late 20th century, with knowledge of the mass slaughters of WW I, the Holocaust, Stalin's terror, the Seige of Leningrad, and numerous massacres of millions of victims (all by so-called civilized people), Tolstoy's views are sadly optimistic. The main weakness of this novel is the amount of space Tolstoy devoted to expounding on his theories of history and life, which, in our own age, may strike readers as a little naive or beside the point. The strengths of "War and Peace" are the beautiful writing, the finely-delineated characters---how he can describe an individual with a few sentences, so that you see them as almost alive !---and his description of war as utter chaos, with no heroes, no military geniuses, only a vast panorama of death and action with no certain result. This has to be one of the greatest novels ever written. I only wish I had read it 25 years ago when my view of the world was fresher.
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Summary: The greatest novel ever written
Review: This is the best book I have ever read. I love all the characters and after I finished the book I felt like i really knew them. Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha, Sonya, Nikolai, Ellen, Anatol, and Prince Andrey all seem believable and so real. The first time i read this book I was twelve, and ive read it twice more since. Anyone that doesn't like this book is crazy. The great thing about it is that you can read it over and over again and still love it. No book can compare to it. After finishing it though you cant help but wanting to know more. I recommend this book to all adults and teenagers, you should not die without having read this book once in its entirety, if not more times!
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Summary: A great novel
Review: This was an excellant book that presented a grat picture of Russian gentry life during the Napoleonic era. It has a variety of interesting characters that seem as real to us as they did when the book was written. Its only setback is that the woman characters thoughts are not as often expressed as they should be and seem to be two-dimensional of people though their characters are believeable. This book should not be read abriged. I reccomend the Signet Classic edition or the Modern Library edition of this book, both are excellant translations.
Rating: 
Summary: poor translation
Review: This was a third rate translation that never should have been printed. The Norton Edition is like night and day compared to this primitive translation. I enjoyed both books but the Dunnigan translation is over inferior quality. I recommend War and Peace just not this edition.
Rating:
Summary: Rewarding
Review: I read War and Peace as an experiment to see if I could do it. I also read it over the course of nearly eight months. Being a slow reader is a detriment in some respects, however it usually improves my comprehension. War and Peace was tough to break in terms of keeping characters, family names, and surnames straight, however once that was accomplished, the novel was very understandable. I was rewarded in the reading by an understanding of the setting of Russia, and it's struggle at the hands of Bonaparte. I found this whole aspect and background of the novel intriguing and interesting. The character subplots took a back seat to the setting of the novel in my opinion.
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