War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
|
Our Price: $206.63 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $26.50 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of War and Peace
Book Review: For me, a page-turner, a rich experience
Summary: 5 Stars
I am not a connoisseur. I was drawn to this book by excerpts read by the translators on a radio interview. I have compared some passages with three other translations. I like this one because the sentences are unhurried and seem exotic to me, transporting me away from the here and now. What I saw in the other translations lacked this quality.
The first 100 pages or so were slow going while I got familiar with all the characters' names and figured out what was going on. This was well worth the effort. I marked the useful sections that identify characters, summarize chapters, and furnish historical background notes of interest. The further I read, the less I used those sections.
This tale has humor, insight, a lot of irony, pathos, beauty, passion, reflection, likable characters, not-so-likable characters, a lot of real information about the era--everything I could want in a book.
The French language passages, starting at the beginning, are a little laborious to read because of the small-print footnoted translation, but that's not a deal-breaker. On balance, I would rather have it this way so I know when the characters are speaking French.
Book Review: Wonderful Discovery!
Summary: 5 Stars
Having read all the reviews I see how disparate the reviews are and how passionate they are about War and Peace. Let me start by saying I tried to read W&P as a teen and could not get throught it so I have no basis for comparison but I find this edition extremely readable. I found the long French footnotes a distraction at times but I found myself being able to translate many of the shorter passages for myself as the book progressed. I have to say I'm in love with this book and with Tolstoy. His writting is subtle, amusing, horrifying, beautifully descriptive and places me firmily in anouther time and place. I tried not to read it too fast so as to not miss the many joys of the writting but at the same time wanting to read on to find out what happens next. Also I learned a lot about he Napoleonic Wars which I knew less about than I do now. To others who have not read W&P before as I, I heartily recommend reading this version.Do not let the 1200 pages discourage you, it will be done before you want it to be. There is a reason W&P has passed the test of time and people are still translating and reading it. It's a MASTERPIECE OF EPIC STORYTELLING!Book Review: Engaging rendition
Summary: 5 Stars
I have tried to read different translations of War and Peace, including Garnett's and Edmonds'. One thing that has always annoyed me - especially with Garnett's translation - is the tendency to use Western or Roman Catholic terms whenever something related to Christianity is involved (Edmonds does not make this mistake). Instead of using the language of Orthodoxy, we often get "holy images," attended Mass," the Virgin Mary," etc, instead of "icon," "attended Liturgy," or "the Theotokos." While invisible to most readers, to Orthodox ears it is grating. The Pevears get this right by avoiding Western terminology in speaking about things religious. And, as other reviewers have noted, it is nice to see the French broken out. As far as the quality of the language, it doesn't seem any less awkward than other translations I have read. Garnett may have turned a phrase with a bit more flare but at the expense of making Tolstoy sound like Tolstoy and more like a Victorian. I agree, too, that this version would have been nice had it been published as a three volume set. You can't really tote it around to read at work or on the bus.Book Review: Perhaps the best novel ever written
Summary: 5 Stars
War and Peace, particularly this translation, is perhaps the best novel ever written. The historical sweep, punctuated by details of everyday life in the early 19th century Russia, is commanding. If there is one drawback to the novel, it is Tolstoy's increasingly repetitious philosophical musings about historical theory toward the end of the book.
Anyone who wants to be a writer needs to study this book. Tolstoy masterfully sets up the dynamics of Russia and Europe, the Russian class system, and the changing attitudes that finally led to the 1917 revolution, in the characters of several families, in particular the Rostovs, Pierre Bezhukov, and the Bolkonskys. Tolstoy steers us through the rising and falling fortunes of these people with the Napoleonic Wars as a backdrop. His descriptions of military camp life can be touching, humorous, and disturbing, all at once. And his description of the Battle of Borodino is achingly realistic, and perhaps one of the best anti-war passages ever written without being polemical or political.
Do yourself a favor and read this translation.
Book Review: A Translation Worth Waiting For
Summary: 5 Stars
I've waited a long time for such a good translation. Twice previously I had tried to read "War and Peace," but I thought the book sounded awfully Victorian, as if it were being translated by a 19th century English novelist. The emphasis seemed to be on romance and elegance. This brilliant translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky captures the Russian essence better than any I have read before. I can almost feel Tolstoy thinking. The characters sound more real, vividly memorable. Leaving the French passages in was a terrific move because the French was in the original. For those who know little French, the footnotes capture the meaning for you precisely. The sweep and scope of events, the mingling of nationalities, the foibles of individual characters are alive on the page. And the language is wonderful, and seems to capture the cadences that Tolstoy put into his original (although I'm not literate in Russian and can't say for sure). What I do know is that I'm getting a lot of literary pleasure from each page. I haven't finished it yet, but am relishing the hundreds of pages left to me.