War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
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Book Reviews of War and Peace
Book Review: Intense and enthralling
Summary: 4 Stars
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy is an intense and enthralling historical novel describing the events before, during and after Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Russia in 1812. An extensive array of characters fraught with their own personal problems begin a tale of personal consequence, while the historical figures of Tsar Alexander I and Napoleon march to a different tune, one of hierarchical power. This novel is such a masterpiece because of it's perspectives on the historical Battle of Borodino and prior events that lead up to the French armies moving into Moscow. Textbooks describe great leaders like Napoleon Bonaparte and generals like Mikhail Kutuzov commanding armies of hundreds of thousands, to meet on the battlefield. But Tolstoy inspects these armies further, the individual unit of a war.
What I found most interesting about this novel was the integration of Tolstoy's own fictional characters and his personal representation of historical figures involved at the time. You can trace the battles on a map, marking where the field of Borodino is, and where the nobility from St. Petersburg came from. It gives an intensely personal side to a war that has been plundered by historians, who are notorious for leaving out what may be the most important aspect to a war, the citizens, the soldiers and the families who suffer and who fight.
Two issues I had while reading this book was the vast array of characters and family names to keep track of and the length of the novel itself. It took about 100 pages to get into the rhythm of the story, but after that, the tensions continue to build, the hardships come more often and it is a work of historical importance that I had to continue reading.
Book Review: Improving On A Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
It's hard to find anything original to say about "War and Peace." This classic of 19th century Russian literaure, written by one of the greatest novelists of the last 500 years, has been exhaustively reviewed, studied, dissected, and interpreted in film, drama, opera, and dance (I think). What I can say as a literary gourmand (someone who will read everything from the back of the shampoo bottle to "Valley Of The Dolls" to "Ulysses") and a professional specialist in the Russian language is this: WoP is a damn fine historical novel, worth a try for anyone who's every enjoyed a long historical novel. And this War and Peace, the latest translation of this monumental work from Russian into English, is the most readable and accurate version of the several I have read. Not only do they provide immediate translations of all the French and German conversations and letters in the book so you don't have to wonder what in tarnation is going on, they are true to the marvelous humor and simplicity of the original Russian language. The translation team of Pevear and Volkhonsky has successfully tackled several classics of Russian literature, making books like Demons newly accessible to English-speaking readers. This book is worth the money and the potential hernia.Book Review: Forget its size and just start reading...
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished reading this amazing (and amazingly long) book and I am left in awe by the presence of such a great writer. This is my first encounter with Tolstoy but it definitely won't be my last. To tell the truth I would never have picked up this book on my own because it has this aura of intimadation about it and its sheer length can be utterly daunting; in fact I almost dropped the class because I was hoping we were going to read Anna Karenina, but that would have been a fatal mistake!
War and Peace is a book unlike any other I've read (and I've read in the hundreds)... it has amazing scope and originality and a psycological precision that truly stupifies. Tolstoy is in absolute control over his prose; at times he teases and misleads the reader (this killed me at first) and at other times he tickled my funny bone just right. He occassionally bends down to catch that humorous side of human nature that can only be seen from a certain angle and I respect him for that; it's not all artists who can manage to do this. I remember I had barely reached the first 100 pages when I began to recognize just what kind of writer I was dealing with and all I could do was submit my will and bow down to this towering giant of world literature...
I will never forget the experience of reading this book. And finishing feels pretty damn good too! Now on with writing my paper on it!!!
Book Review: The drums of war, then as now, beat out the same sad tune.
Summary: 5 Stars
When French forces led by Napoleon spread across Europe and threatened Russian safety and independence, Russia declared war against France. The novel revolves around a group of Russian protagonists (Pierre, Andrew, Natasha, Mary, Nicholas and General Kutuzov) during time of French occupation of Moscow, decisive battle of Borodino, French withdrawal from Russia, and the return to a life of normalcy.
Tolstoy's characters, like those of Dostoevsky are intricate complex; both Andrew and Pierre had qualities similar to Tolstoy himself (the death of Andrew's wife during child birth just like Tolstoy's mother, Pierre's alienation from society and his odd unattractive looks). Still, Tolstoy artistically made the two characters distinguished and different, Tolstoy went to great fascinating lengths to very clearly detail Andrew's inability to open up for others and his dislike of being touched by others .
Tolstoy's personal religious leap of faith is reflected in this story, which is told against the historical backdrop of spiritual Russia defeating rational France, when the people of both nations were suffering because of the actions of their governments; it is a universal tale.
Great exploration of human irrationality and motives, a story of every person's anguish in the face of loss, death, and search for meaning in life.
Book Review: This translation reads similiar to that of Maude's
Summary: 4 Stars
While undoubtedly this translation is an improvement from Maude's edition, the similarity is immeasurable. The cadence, the vocabulary, the awkwardness of the sentence structure and so on. This similarity may imply two things: 1. Maude's translation was surprisingly accurate and faithful to the Russian original, after all, it was authorised by the author himself. 2. P&V must have used Maude's translation as the main reference while working on their version, and maintained the loyalty to the original, or loyalty to Maude's work. I hope this similarity is only a coincidence, which would give me the confidence that Maude's or P&V's translations are indeed the most faithful ones, and closely reflect the author's original brilliance and defects.
The translation by Anthony Brigs reads more energetic, more fluent, and at times more vivid and concise than both above mentioned translations, the cadence is his translation is clearly different from that of P&V's or Maude's, the structure of sentences often seems more creative with greater clarity. It also conveys most effectively Tolstoy's subtle sense of humour and mockery. I suspect this translation has probably even improved Tolstoy's own writing. It is a very good translation in its own right, but how faithful it is to the original is a question.