Set in the years leading up to and culminating in Napoleon's disastrous Russian invasion, this novel focuses upon an entire society torn by conflict and change. Here is humanity in all its innocence and corruption, its wisdom and folly.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Great Book!!:
I am loving this book because it gives me something to keep my mind active during my down time!!
War and Upstairs-Downstairs:
The nineteenth century was the era of the great novel. The twentieth may have seen far more, but 20th-Century novels are basically dispo-lit: throw-aways not expected to endure: published in paperback, and rightly. "Atlas Shrugged" (1951) was the last "great" novel. The worst shortcoming of 19th-Century novelists was their tendency to get the train of story stalled on irrelevant sidetracks while they explored history and geography: Dickens & Dumas wandered afield, but divertingly, & Hugo... more info
Great story, but terrible historical accuracy....:
For me at first the novel started pretty good, and was quite one of the best I ever read, but from the half part of the book on after the french invasion of Russia, I was shocked to see so much historicals inaccuracies, and descriptions that seemed more and more propagandistic. For example his description of Napoleon, as a tiny egocentric man, that believes his own lies, and this is the secret from his victory, obviuosly seem more of Russian propaganda than anything else. And besides the Battle of Borodino,... more info
Rosemary Edmonds trans. of War and Peace:
I'm suprised not to see anyone mention Rosemary Edmonds' translation of this masterful work. Her translation, published by Penguin Classics, is really quite good, and reads smoothly, and it seems accurate to what Tolstoy would have considered his message. I highly recommend this translation of War and Peace.
