War and Peace (Oxford World's Classics)

"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.


Simply one of the best books ever written   December 1, 1999
Doug Vaughn (Washington, Dc USA)
156 out of 183 found this review helpful

I first tried to read War and Peace in High School. A teacher, who had carried the book all through the Pacific campaign in WWII recommended it as a book that had changed his life. I tried three times and couldn't get past a few hundred pages because of the numerous characters - each with multiple names. The fourth time I stuck with it and was rewarded with a reading experience that has seldom been equaled. Since that time I have reread the book every two or three years, so I must have been through it 15 or more times, and each time I find things I haven't noticed before.

This is such a grand book in terms of number of characters in all levels of Russian society, historical scope, period detail, philosophical implications, romance, drama, tragedy, action etc, etc, etc. There is just no way to enumerate all that is appealing about Tolstoy's masterpiece. The main characters are as humanly complex and interesting as real people. I feel that I know them like friends. The plot(s) are involving and get more tight and interconnected as the book progresses, so that there is a great satisfaction as various threads come together, and never with the jarring coincidences that propel a typical Dickins novel.

If I had to pick only one novel that I would ever be able to read again, it would have to be War and Peace. There is so much of interest going on in this book that it would be hard to wear it out in a lifetime.


Yes, It's Worth the Trouble   August 25, 1999
85 out of 103 found this review helpful

Although my blind urge to read the Great Classics has (thankfully) faded somewhat over the years in favor of reading whatever I damn please, I finally decided it was time to give War and Peace a try. After all, how can anyone who enjoys novels resist the lure of "the greatest novel of all time"? And Tolstoy himself was an unusually interesting man -- not a screwed-up genius but one who seemed to eventually figure it all out. It took me maybe a hundred pages to get into the rhythm of the book and figure out who all those characters with multisyllabic Russian names were. After that, it was totally engrossing and surprisingly easy reading. There's no point giving you a book report on what happens -- you're supposed to read it yourself -- but I do disagree with some of the other reviewers who didn't care for the sections describing Tolstoy's philosophy of history. I found those sections (a very small proportion of the book) fascinating, albeit a change of pace. This is part of what makes the book great. War and Peace is not just a story of what happens to a bunch of made-up people, but a major work of art expressing the wisdom of a great man.


The Garnett Translation is World Class   March 23, 2006
P. Costello (New York, NY United States)
64 out of 71 found this review helpful

Since everyone already knows that this is the greatest novel ever written, I thought I would just comment on the edition and translation. I strongly recommend the Modern Library version translated by Constance Garnett. Ms. Garnett has received flack because her translations are deemed (by some) to be "outdated" and "stuffy." Nonsense. First of all, there is a reason why after over 100 years Garnett's translations are still ubiquitous. It is because they are great translations, rendering Russian works of literature into English language classics in their own right. Second, the fact that a translation might be "outdated" is not a valid criticism. Would you "update" Jane Austen to make it more "readable" to a modern audience? Of course not. The fact is, Garnett's translations are the closest in time to the original Russian works, and therefore probably the most accurate to the tone of the originals. The Garnett translation of War and Peace simply jumped off the page and pulled me into this novel from the first page on. I could not put it down, and the 1400 pages just flew by. I spent hours comparing this translation to Maude, Dunnigan, and Edmonds, and they just didn't seem to have the force and emotion of the Garnett. There is a new translation now by someone named Anthony Briggs who claims to render the novel into more contemporary English. But my question is -- WHAT IS THE POINT?? Of course, you can't go wrong no matter which translation, because you can't mess up Tolstoy, but I just wanted to throw in a very strong recommendation for the Garnett.

Finally, the Modern Library paperback version is a great high quality paperback with clear white opaque pages and nice typesetting, unlike most of the other paperback versions out there.


The Eye of God   December 23, 1999
Dennis Dalman (St. Cloud, Minnesota)
38 out of 38 found this review helpful

Ever since I was a teen (I'm 51) I tried reading War and Peace. The furthest I ever got was something like Page 80. Six summers ago, I thought, what the heck, give it another shot. After Page 100 or so, the book picked up steam, and I was absolutely awed as I've seldom been by all the great books I've read in my life. That's what I want to share with potential readers of this great book. Stick with it. It's like a trickling stream that grows and grows from many tributaries into a grand wide raging river. It's got everything in it, as if it were written by God. Tolstoy saw everything. There are so many, many unforgettable scenes in it. My favorite two are the costume party at the country estate (pure magic!) and the great wolf-hunting scene in which the wolf actually takes on a personality under the all-knowing skill of Tolstoy's great pen. In just a line or two, Tolstoy could actually get inside the "soul" of even an animal! I can only imagine how great this book is in the original Russian. After War and Peace, I devoured Anna Karenina, which is in many ways an even greater book. I'd recommend people read War and Peace with Cliff's Notes, as I did, because you get a sense of the historical background and it helps you from getting the hundreds of characters mixed up. War and Peace is more than a novel. It's an Everest of creation. Please stick with it!