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| War and Peace | 
| Author: Leo Tolstoy
Creators: Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $37.00
Buy New: $22.00
You Save: $15.00 (41%)
New (40) Collectible (2) from $22.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  61 reviews
Sales Rank: 2384
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 1296
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.9
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.6 x 2.9
ISBN: 0307266931
Dewey Decimal Number: 891.733
EAN: 9780307266934
ASIN: 0307266931
Publication Date: October 16, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
From Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the best-selling, award-winning translators of Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov, comes a brilliant, engaging, and eminently readable translation of Leo Tolstoy’s master epic.
War and Peace centers broadly on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the best-known characters in literature: Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves behind his family to fight in the war against Napoleon; and Natasha Rostov, the beautiful young daughter of a nobleman, who intrigues both men. As Napoleon’s army invades, Tolstoy vividly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture. And as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specificity, becoming some of the most moving—and human—figures in world literature.
Pevear and Volokhonsky have brought us this classic novel in a translation remarkable for its fidelity to Tolstoy’s style and cadence and for its energetic, accessible prose. With stunning grace and precision, this new version of War and Peace is set to become the definitive English edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 56 more reviews...
 Nothing more to be said September 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Nothing like it, nor will there ever be. It is a life changing experience.
The drums of war, then as now, beat out the same sad tune. September 11, 2008
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, who chose a leap of faith in his personal religious life, which is reflected in this story told against the historical backdrop of spiritual Russia defeating rational France during a time of mutual suffering of both nations 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.
 The Tao of Love and War September 11, 2008
The book is set between 1805 to 1820 in Russia, among a few families and individuals whose fates become entwined. The families are feudal nobility, most with peasant serfs. This historical time overlaps with when Napoleon Buonaparte came into power in France, then led his army against Russian, and withdrew, then was deposed. Half the book covers stories of war and battle strategy and decisions; individual skirmishes and battles; life in camp and war hospitals; and struggles of war, seen through the eyes of the characters who--some pages before--were engaging in intrigue and personality in drawing rooms and salons of Petersburg and Moscow. The book unabashedly includes the upper of the upper crust, including 'the richest man in Russia', people with access to the Tsar, families with houses and houses and estates and estates. It also includes characters with proximity to the heads of the Russian Army, making it easy to provide a backdrop to essays on strategy, the Russian communal personality and will, and the political intrigues of the various factions about how to handle Napoleon. The family and relationship dramas include a couple of characters and storylines that seem similar to what one finds in Anna Karenina: this is definitely a Tolstoy story and it will please or pain the reader in some ways just like the reader reacted to Anna Karenina. Surprisingly, the book ends just as strongly as it begins--it could have continued another 1,000 pages it seems just as strongly. As it winds down, one finds oneself at the beginning less of a French-ified salon story of Petersburg intrigue and more at the beginning of a Turgenev story of managing a feudal estate with hunting, agriculture, bailiffs, marital harmony.
The novel is good at so many levels. Finding a readable translation that handles the barriers to entry (like the French, and the diminutives and naming issues to understand how everyone relates) is the biggest issue. Once one is a good way in, keeping the characters in order becomes manageable and the book blooms on almost every page. Truly one of the best novels ever. That said, for me the book includes some of the disappointing themes from Anna Karenina that seem to imply an acceptable behavior of cheating on husbands by women without the reverse. Maybe this was Tolstoy's goal to draw out some reaction based on the sadness and hazing of cuckolded men but whether it's men cheating on wives or vice versa, Tolstoy's decision to lay in the most sympathetic and tragic figures as the cheated-on stains an otherwise pristine novel.
How to Read War and Peace, and Enjoy It Completely August 1, 2008
5 out of 9 found this review helpful
War and Peace is, without question, the greatest historical novel ever written.
However, if you carry a copy of War and Peace with you anywhere, you will be subjected to ridicule of many varieties. This, of course, says more about the critics than the reader. It tells us first that most people have largely lived their lives deprived of reading one of the most "need to read" books in Western literature.
The book and an understanding of it are essential for a classically liberal and comprehensive education in Western civilization. No other single book so completely expresses the essence of a critical age in history than War and Peace. As such, the central reason to read it is that it is an efficient window into who we are and how we got here.
The customary joking and ridicule also tells us that many people have been forced to read War and Peace in school, but never understood or appreciated it. That is a very sad state of affairs. It implies a kind of abuse that comes from forcing any good thing on someone just because it is deemed good for them and before they have a chance to understand and benefit from it.
I guess what I am saying is that this is not a book for the young or anyone else, unless the reader is prepared and coached along the way. The only way, indeed, a youthful reader can get the lessons of War and Peace is through extensive preparation and contextual education. War and Peace requires a whole course of background to be fully revealing and illuminating.
The purpose of my review of War and Peace is not to praise it or to evaluate its literary achievements. I am simply not an expert in a position to do that.
My purpose is to draw on my experience with the book and to provide prospective readers of all ages and backgrounds with an efficient but penetrating guide that will make the journey through the pages of the book come to life and swell with enjoyment and comprehension.
For now the review will have to be a work in progress. But in the end, I promise to provide a comprehensive plan of syntopical reading complete with travel suggestions that cement the standing of the book and equip the reader with the ability to disarm any critic and, more importantly, enjoy a life of interesting cocktail conversations upon completion of this great work.
In addition to this review, I recommend that anyone getting ready to mount the challenge of reading War and Peace can and should refer to the reading lists I separately provide on the Age of Napoleon and on the reading of War and Peace, as well as travel to and enjoyment of Paris, Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Greatest Novel Ever!!!!!! July 15, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is by far the best book I have ever read for so many different reason. Tolstoy is absolutely my favorite author and he out did himself with this book. The realism, the historical background, and the depth of the characters made this book so great.
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