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War and Peace (Oxford World's Classics)…
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War and Peace (Oxford World's Classics) (original 1868; edition 2010)

by Leo Tolstoy, Louise and Aylmer Maude, Amy Mandelker

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28,65145197 (4.26)28 / 2453
Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML:

Napoleon's turbulent history with Russia including his doomed 1812 invasion provides the setting for Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. Often referred to as the greatest novel of all time, Tolstoy's classic follows the tumultuous personal lives of two aristocratic families touching on all of the great human epochs; youth, matrimony, age and death.

.… (more)
Member:Dr.Creps
Title:War and Peace (Oxford World's Classics)
Authors:Leo Tolstoy
Other authors:Louise and Aylmer Maude, Amy Mandelker
Info:Oxford University Press, USA (2010), Edition: New, Paperback, 1440 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:Russian Literature

Work Information

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1868)

  1. 170
    Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (chrisharpe)
  2. 80
    Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman (chrisharpe, longway)
  3. 60
    Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann (roby72)
  4. 20
    History by Elsa Morante (roby72)
  5. 20
    The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy (BINDINGSTHATLAST)
  6. 10
    La Lumière des justes by Henri Troyat (Eustrabirbeonne)
    Eustrabirbeonne: Well, Henri Troyat is no Tolstoy of course, and he did not pretend he was : he described himself as a mere "storyteller". Yet some of his fiction is real good, and this "cycle" is certainly his best. And of course, Russian-born Lev Aslanovich Tarasov had in mind the never-written sequel to "War and Peace" about the Decembrist uprising, which Tolstoy initiates in the final chapters of "War and Peace" with his hints at Pierre's active participation in a "society". Would Natasha, already a mother of four in 1820, have left her children behind to follow Pierre in Siberia, as other convicts' wives did?… (more)
  7. 10
    August 1914 by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (ukh)
  8. 10
    The Dynasts by Thomas Hardy (CurrerBell)
    CurrerBell: Hardy's "Immanent Will" has much in common with Tolstoy's historical determinism. Personally, I'm in that probably quite small minority that prefers The Dynasts over Tolstoy's novel – partly because I find in Hardy's "The Road to Waterloo" scene (3.VI.vii) one of the greatest of antiwar poems.… (more)
  9. 10
    They Were Counted by Miklós Bánffy (WirSindAlive)
    WirSindAlive: Both works share the thrilling stories in a the historical setting of the hight aristocracy, mixed with some political backgroungd.
  10. 11
    The Years by Virginia Woolf (roby72)
  11. 11
    Los mas bellos cuentos rusos. Prologo con resena critica de la obra, vida y obra del autor, y marco historico. (Spanish Edition) by Alexander Pushkin (carajava)
    carajava: Es muy recomendable despues o, en todo caso antes de leer guerra y paz, puesto que, mejorarà tu forma de ver el mundo donde viviàn los rusos, comprenderlo y razonar sus precarias situaciònes.
  12. 11
    Traveller of the Century by Andrés Neuman (rrmmff2000)
  13. 13
    Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (fulner)
    fulner: rich people sit around and talk about war as if it didn't matter
  14. 14
    Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky (chrisharpe)
Europe (2)
1860s (4)
100 (15)
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Group TopicMessagesLast Message 
 Book talk: War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy edition 1868 + 1869 (Russian literature)1 unread / 1leo1868, February 2023
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 2, Part III6 unread / 6EMS_24, June 2021
 75 Books Challenge for 2017: Group read: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy33 unread / 33Storeetllr, February 2017
 2016 Category Challenge: Group Read: War and Peace189 unread / 189mathgirl40, April 2016
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Intro thread (no spoilers)42 unread / 42jnwelch, December 2015
 Fans of Russian authors: New edition of War and Peace?3 unread / 3DanMat, July 2012
 History at 30,000 feet: The Big Picture: WWII, from the inside10 unread / 10cbellia, February 2012
 Fans of Russian authors: Who Translated the 1911 Everyman's Library War and Peace?6 unread / 6DanMat, September 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 3, Part III10 unread / 10Rebeki, July 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 3, Part II10 unread / 10Rebeki, July 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 2, Part V12 unread / 12Rebeki, July 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 2, Part IV7 unread / 7Rebeki, July 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Epilogue II9 unread / 9cushlareads, June 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 1, Part 3 spoiler thread13 unread / 13Rebeki, June 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Epilogue I8 unread / 8JanetinLondon, June 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 4, Part IV7 unread / 7JanetinLondon, June 2011
 Book talk: War And Peace8 unread / 8Sandydog1, May 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 1, Part 2 spoiler thread13 unread / 13Deern, May 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - "Wrap Up" (spoiler) Thread6 unread / 6JanetinLondon, May 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 4, Part III3 unread / 3JanetinLondon, May 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 4, Part II6 unread / 6JanetinLondon, May 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 1, Part 1 spoiler thread16 unread / 16JanetinLondon, May 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 4, Part I7 unread / 7JanetinLondon, May 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2011: War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 3, Part I8 unread / 8cushlareads, May 2011
 75 Books Challenge for 2009: Group Read: War and Peace237 unread / 237billiejean, December 2009
 Fans of Russian authors: War and Peace4 unread / 4erinn, April 2009
 Fans of Russian authors: Tolstoy's War and Peace: more on the Volokhonsky/Pevear translation1 unread / 1chrisharpe, May 2008
 Fans of Russian authors: Tolstoy's War and Peace: comments on the Volokhonsky,/Pevear translation by Simon Schama, BBC R31 unread / 1chrisharpe, November 2007

» See also 2453 mentions

English (399)  Spanish (14)  Italian (7)  Dutch (7)  German (5)  French (4)  Portuguese (Brazil) (2)  Hebrew (2)  Greek (1)  Catalan (1)  All languages (442)
Showing 1-5 of 399 (next | show all)
It's hard, if not impossible to give a rating for this book.

Good:
It's about Russia during the reign of Alexander I. I didn't know anything about Russia, and for that sole reason this book was interesting to read.
The book reads like a movie.
There is variety in the text. Some parts are a bit Jane-Austen-like (salon-situated satire), others more like philosophical musings on the workings of men and war and some parts are like an episode of the BBC-series Sharpe, when Tolstoy follows officers during the Napoleonic wars.
Tolstoy sketches brilliant psychological portraits of his characters. Eventually you can relate to any of them (or at least you'll have a friend that is a lot like that character).
Tolstoy describes phenomena in human interaction that are still applicable today (and probably always will be), such as what we (at my office) call Weasels: people that behave in such a way that they earn the rewards for the work and suffering of other (lower-ranking) people.

Bad:
Some parts are slow and a bit boring.
Some characters are introduced with great care only to be mentioned in later books with the greatest indifference.
In the first part, you cannot but hate all the characters in the salon. Tolstoy described their faults in great detail and no one is left to like which makes reading on difficult.
Pierre varies between a hero and an anti-hero.


  jd7h | Feb 18, 2024 |
It's a very good war novel buried under ~600 pages of soap opera and ~200 pages of Tolstoy's philosophy of History. ( )
  amanda4242 | Feb 1, 2024 |
War and Peace is one of those books which can be placed in almost any section of a library. Writer Leo Tolstoy refuses to call this book a novel, so what is it really? For me, this book is simply the most perfect example of preservation of history. It is a time capsule containing remnants of the years 1805-1813, and one could get a very detailed insight of life in the various sectors of the two Russian socioeconomic centers, Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

The book mainly serves to educate the reader about Russia's civil and military state during the years that it covers, and fills up the narrative spaces with fictional characters and events that end up defining the soul of this book. War and Peace is a great history lesson, but it also has some of the best characters ever written. The way the fates of its protagonists intertwine with the historical events and with each other over the course of this book makes the reader go through the entire emotional spectrum. War and Peace is destined to make you smile, sob, hold your breath, and be inspired. If you're a fan of war stories and epics, this book will give you one of the best literary rides of your life. ( )
  shadabejaz | Jan 31, 2024 |
I'm giving the translation 1 star, with a bonus star because it is Tolstoy after all. I slogged through it in 2007 or so when this highly touted translation came out. But recently I have figured out that the Maud translation is widely considered to be the best and specifically the Norton Critical Edition. What a difference! This Pevear/Volokhonsky translation includes all the French, with translations down at the bottom of the page in tiny type - very distracting - and explanatory endnotes rather than footnotes - too awkward to consult. For a true scholar, this may be the best way to go. For a casual reader like me, it just throws up obstacles to enjoyment.

Here is an example from the translators' introduction, which shows their approach and has convinced me to reread War and Peace again in a different translation: "The children were riding to Moscow on chairs and invited her to go with them." Huh? They then give examples from previous translations, which make it clear to me what this sentence means: "The children were sitting on chairs playing at driving to Moscow." "The children were playing at 'going to Moscow' in a carriage made of chairs." They claim that these miss both the rhythm and the point (what point? it seems to be to see things naively from the children's point of view). For me, the less slavishly literal translations explain what the children were doing so I can get on with reading. ( )
1 vote Amniot | Jan 18, 2024 |
I think Emily May, Matthew and Lyn did a better job of reviewing this book than I ever could.

I can understand why this is seen by many as the greatest novel. It literally has everything in it in regards to methods of telling a story in a novel.

The title of War and peace can apply to the war with Napoleon, but also for society, relationships, and even within the lives and minds of the characters. All of it is in constant turmoil and rest. Tolstoy is quite observant of humanity, and does an excellent job of exploring those observations in this novel.

For such an exceptional novel, the only drawback I would have is Tolstoy's exposition on history in the second epilogue. You can skip that. The rest of the novel is fantastic. There are not many novels that give such a detailed account of a time period, place and character development over a long period of time. A very long novel that most of the time didn't feel like it at all.

If it is on your to do list, then I recommend diving in. It will go by faster than you think. ( )
  wvlibrarydude | Jan 17, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 399 (next | show all)
The title Tolstoy finally settled on was taken from the political theorist Pierre-Joseph Proudhorn's book La Guerre et L Paix (1861) a title which means what it says and no more. But when Tolstoy completed and published the final version of his novel Voyna i mir in 1869, the word mir carried a number of connotations and meanings, including a slightly obsolete one referring to society, mankind. In this case the word could mean, roughly speaking, humanity. Tolstoy's novel is concerned not merely with war and the cessation of war, it is about human beings, for whom war is a vast muddle, which is the curse of society. It is about the triumph of the human spirit in time of war; and the side that wins the war is the side that displays the stronger spirit. Natasha's dance and Andrey's sudden understanding of what matters are triumphant leaps of the human spirit; each results in an inner joy, a peace.
added by Cynfelyn | editSlightly Foxed, Christopher Rush (Feb 1, 2023)
 
The novel is not just a masterclass in fiction, Ms Li believes, but a remedy for distress. At the most difficult times in her life, she says, she has turned to it again and again, reassured by its “solidity” in the face of uncertainty.
added by tim.taylor | editThe Economist (Apr 25, 2020)
 
I had it on my desk for about a year, and now I've given up and put it back on the shelf.
added by Sylak | editStylist [Issue 338], Paula Hawkins (Oct 12, 2016)
 
Tolstoy’s singular genius is to be able to take the torrent of conscious experience and master it. There are countless moments in the book where this happens ...
 

» Add other authors (119 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Tolstoy, Leoprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Adler, MortimerEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Adrian, EsaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Alcántara, Francisco JoséTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Andresco, IreneTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Andresco, LauraTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bahar, NurettinTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bayley, JohnIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bell, ClaraTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bergengruen, WernerTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bloemen, YolandaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Borden, GabrielleCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Boutelje, A. E.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Briggs, AnthonyTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Cadei, ErmeTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Carson, Carol DevineDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Christian, R.F.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Conrad-Lütt, BarbaraTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dahl, HjalmarTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Davidson, FrederickNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Dunnigan, AnnTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Eberle, TheodorIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Edmonds, RosemaryTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Edmonds, RosemaryTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Eichenberg, FritzIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Faber zu Faur, Christian Wilhelm vonIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Fadiman, CliftonIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Figes, OrlandoAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Foote, PaulTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Freedman, BarnettIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Fuller, EdmondEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Garnett, ConstanceTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gibian, GeorgeEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gifford, HenryEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Grusemann, MichaelTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Guertik, ÉlisabethTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hartig, K.Cover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hilbert, ErnestIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hockenberry, JohnAfterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hollo, J. A.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hutchins, Robert M.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kúper, LydiaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kegel, MarianneÜbersetzersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kropotkin, AlexandraTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Laín Entralgo, JoséTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Malcovati, FaustoIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Maude, AylmerTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Maude, LouiseTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Maugham, W. SomersetEditorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mongault, HenriTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Mongault, HenriTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Newton, ThandiweNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Nighy, BillNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pacini, GianlorenzoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Papma, DieuwkeTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pascal, PierreIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pascal, PierreIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pevear, RichardTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Röhl, HermannTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rho, AnitaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sýkora, VilémTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sýkorová, TamaraTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sibaldi, IgorTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sibley, DonIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Thomassen, EjnarTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Topolski, FelixIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Verestchagin, VassilyIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Volokhonsky, LarissaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vries, H.R. deTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vries, René deTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Whitman, J. FranklinIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wiebes, MarjaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wilde, Barbara deDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Wilson, A.N.Introductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Zveteremich, PietroTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
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"Well, Prince, Genoa and Lucca are now no more than private estates of the Bonaparte family."
'Well, Prince, Genoa and Lucca are now nothing more than estates taken over by the Buonaparte family.' (Anthony Briggs)
Quotations
War is not a polite recreation but the vilest thing in life, and we ought to understand that and not play at war.
Since time began and men started killing each other, no man has ever committed such a crime against one of his fellows without comforting himself with the same idea. This idea is 'the public good', a supposed benefit for other people.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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This is the complete work "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy. Do not combine with single volumes of the work, or with abridgments of the work.
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Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML:

Napoleon's turbulent history with Russia including his doomed 1812 invasion provides the setting for Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. Often referred to as the greatest novel of all time, Tolstoy's classic follows the tumultuous personal lives of two aristocratic families touching on all of the great human epochs; youth, matrimony, age and death.

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Haiku summary
There's a bear in there
and people as well. Stories
to tell, and a war.
(alsoCass)

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Penguin Australia

3 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0141025115, 0140447938, 0451532112

Urban Romantics

An edition of this book was published by Urban Romantics.

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