- Paperback: 1392 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (5 Mar 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0192833987
- ISBN-13: 978-0192833983
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 6.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (143 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 498,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy [Annotated]
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Product Description
Review
"There remains the greatest of all novelists--for what else can we call the author of War and Peace?"
--Virginia Woolf
--Virginia Woolf
"From the Paperback edition." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Review
`reveals Tolstoy in his majestic scope and precision to this reader for the first time...ringing with mastery and truth'
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
'WELL, PRINCE, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
'WELL, PRINCE, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
314 of 322 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
War and Peace is my favourite novel, bar none! It took me several attempts to read it from start to finish, but it more than rewards the effort. It is a work of understated genius, astute characterisation, and profound insight into what makes us human. Tolstoy's canvas is Russia at the beginning of the 19th century, and more partcularly the life experiences of those who lived before, during, and after the Napoleonic wars with Russia. Rather than inhibiting the appeal of the novel, this setting allows Tolstoy to explore the human condition through the highs and lows of his characters.
Rather than bore you with a plot synopsis or my fairly uninteresting insights, here are some encouragements for those who have an ambition to read War and Peace, or who have started but are flagging in the journey:
1. Don't be put off by the huge amount of characters introduced at the beginning of the novel. This is a little like entering a room full of strangers, and you can feel a little overwhelmed. Eventually, however, you will get to know a small group very intimately, and will be able to recognise them the further you read. A little like life really!!
2. Don't let the dimensions of the book put you off. Perhaps you should read sections (it is divided into four books and an epilogue, which might be a good serialisation).
3. Read other shorter books at the same time, just to remind yourself that you have the capacity to finish things you begin.
4. Go to forums and websites where others are engaged in reading it from start to finish.
5. Know that the further you get into War and Peace the better and more deep it becomes. It is a book which demands effort, but abundantly rewards it's reader. Tolstoy's opus literally changes the way you view the world.
I trust that this is of some help to those who are either wavering or flagging over War and Peace...
Rather than bore you with a plot synopsis or my fairly uninteresting insights, here are some encouragements for those who have an ambition to read War and Peace, or who have started but are flagging in the journey:
1. Don't be put off by the huge amount of characters introduced at the beginning of the novel. This is a little like entering a room full of strangers, and you can feel a little overwhelmed. Eventually, however, you will get to know a small group very intimately, and will be able to recognise them the further you read. A little like life really!!
2. Don't let the dimensions of the book put you off. Perhaps you should read sections (it is divided into four books and an epilogue, which might be a good serialisation).
3. Read other shorter books at the same time, just to remind yourself that you have the capacity to finish things you begin.
4. Go to forums and websites where others are engaged in reading it from start to finish.
5. Know that the further you get into War and Peace the better and more deep it becomes. It is a book which demands effort, but abundantly rewards it's reader. Tolstoy's opus literally changes the way you view the world.
I trust that this is of some help to those who are either wavering or flagging over War and Peace...
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having not read War and Peace before, and being fluent in neither Russian nor French, I am not qualified to compare and contrast this translation with other translations. But coming to this great novel for the first time I found this version to be an immensely readable book and it was with great sadness that I finished it. While others might concentrate on the pros and cons of this version against others, for those who have never read War and Peace before it is the story itself that is so fantastic. I was completely transported to Napoleonic times.
One comment on the translation itself though - in many places I found it mellifluous. 'Kapli kapali. Shyol tikhii govor. Loshadi zarzhali i podralis. Khrapel kto-to.' - 'Drops dripped. Quiet talk went on. Horses neighed and scuffed. Someone snored.' Fantastic.
And as others have noted the hardback is a wonderfully tactile object. Well done Clays and thank you Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.
One comment on the translation itself though - in many places I found it mellifluous. 'Kapli kapali. Shyol tikhii govor. Loshadi zarzhali i podralis. Khrapel kto-to.' - 'Drops dripped. Quiet talk went on. Horses neighed and scuffed. Someone snored.' Fantastic.
And as others have noted the hardback is a wonderfully tactile object. Well done Clays and thank you Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
First of all I'd like to make 1 thing clear; WAR AND PEACE is absolutely fantastic. Wordsworth's publishing of it is not so fantastic.
If you buy Wordsworth's edition of this book be sure to find it riddled with spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes, capital letters in the middle of words and other obvious mistakes that the editors really should have picked up on.
Thankfully, it's quite a popular book so there are many publications out there.
If you buy Wordsworth's edition of this book be sure to find it riddled with spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes, capital letters in the middle of words and other obvious mistakes that the editors really should have picked up on.
Thankfully, it's quite a popular book so there are many publications out there.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent
This novel has been around my house for years and I never EVER intended to read this book mostly because the length put me right off, it's so bloody long it can be used as a door... Read more
Published 7 hours ago by aya
I got it all wrong!
I was young and naive when I first saw War and Peace sitting impressively on my dad's bookshelf, which probably accounts for my longstanding childish conviction that it was the... Read more
Published 4 days ago by JMW
Excellent value for money
There are very few novels that offer the value for money that this mighty tome brings to the table. The version I am using for this review costs £1. Read more
Published 1 month ago by The Book Reader
Stunning Observation
I first read this book when I was about 16 and thought it was OK. A precocious child, at the time I preferred Dostoyevsky. Read more
Published 1 month ago by conjunction
Mrs. Milena Hood
war and piece is realy very good book to ried,very interesting give us information about the hystory and the live behaind the war.
Published 1 month ago by mechka
"What the author wished and was able to express in the form in which...
These are the enigmatic words with which Tolstoy described his completed work. As neither a novel, nor a history, this work sought to avoid the conformity of genre. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Tom S
Two for the price of one
Bought on the suggestion of another author, with no idea of the content or size. The twin themes of human activity and the philosophical consideration of war switched frequently. Read more
Published 1 month ago by JohnD
Just too many words
I could not believe how many words there are in this book! It is just full of them. Was Tolstoy taking the mickey? Or what? Read more
Published 2 months ago by wendy jones
Absolute Classic
Tolstoy's legendary work was first published in 1869 and ran at around 1,420 odd words, and in that body of work he presents us with a wide canvas of believable characters. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Falco
Don't be afraid of the page count - breathtaking work
I understand why people are put off reading this book. It's a mammoth undertaking just in page count, and the language is not as quick to read as 21st century English. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Juliet Foster
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