War and Peace (Penguin Classics) Paperback – Illustrated, February 24, 2009

As a mother who screens everything her 13-year-old daughter reads, I was hesitant at first to introduce her to one of my all-time favourite books, partly because if its length, and partly because *other people* say it's too difficult for anyone not in a college Literature class. I am SO GLAD I decided to ignore common wisdom! This book, and all its various dramatizations have made Leo Tolstoy our permanent favourite writer. The only thing missing from our "War and Peace" experience is visiting Russia in person. I'd settle for seeing a Fabergè exhibition if there was one in town :-) Nevertheless, I foresee a revival in all things Leo Tolstoy in the days to come: "War and Peace" is quoted in both "The Gallagher Girls" YA series as well as the (unexpectedly affecting) existential novel "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" (which actually quotes Anna Karenina more). "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" is also a movie available in DVD form now, I believe. I am convinced our enjoyment of these other books (and life in general) would be much enhanced with a (re)reading of one of the world's first l-o-n-g series. If a person can get through all seven of Harry Potter's adventures, (s)he can certainly manage "War and Peace." I'm only sorry *I* didn't read Tolstoy myself until I was 30!!! Said daughter's review follows. Her quotes are taken from a mix of the Kindle version of the book, and the Penguin Classics edition." 'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy is one of the longest books in the world, a story spanning the course of about twenty years and which is about, well, *life*. And, like life, the book is complicated when trying to explain it, yet it makes perfect sense to anyone who reads it. There are betrayals, death, marriage, love, religion, war, passion, historical facts, courageous and cowardly men - actually, I think the only genres it *doesn't* cover would be cowboy and alien. As a thirteen-year-old girl, who has always loved books, I'm not usually a fan of giant books - I prefer to be able to curl up with a book, not plonk it on my desk as if it's some tree-made brick. However, I think I will make an exception to this particular giant-of-a-book."In case you don't know the plot of the story, here's the shortest version I can possibly give you."Basically, the book revolves around five people - Prince Andrey, Princess Maria, Nikolai Rostov, Natasha Rostov, and Pierre Bezukhov, and their lives from 1805-1820."Prince Andrey is unhappily married, and is a bit of a jerk to everyone except Pierre, who's basically his BFF (Best Friend Forever), and, occasionally, his younger sister, Maria."Princess Maria is Andrey's little sister, and she is extremely religious and kind. However, her and Andrei's eccentric father often bullies her, and she is always being told that she is plain, so she is rather insecure."Nikolai is Natasha's older brother. He is "in love" with Natasha's best friend, Sonya. He, like most boys, dreams of being a war hero. Unlike most boys *now* though, he actually has a chance to be one."Natasha is about 12 years old at the start of the book, and is very naïve and lively. However, she is prone to bouts of depression and seriousness, which are sometimes good (like when she tries to understand the secrets of life), and sometimes bad ( when she thinks that no one will ever truly love or understand her)."Pierre is the illegitimate son of the wealthy Count Bezukhov, which makes him very unpopular among the aristocratic families. Unfortunately, he is also extremely clumsy and absent-minded, and spends most of his time drinking and partying. He's kinda like that boy in high school, you know, the one who's best friends with the school bad boy, but is never noticed without someone thinking 'ugh!'"As the book goes on, many things happen. Russia goes to war against Napoleon's armies, and Nikolai and Andrey both decide to go and fight. Meanwhile, Maria is very unhappy, but tries to cheer up for Andrei's pregnant wife's sake. Natasha is growing up, and becoming more and more beautiful every day, and Pierre suddenly inherits all of his father's fortune, making him suddenly popular with, well, everyone. However, then he gets a crisis of faith, and does all these things to try and find out if there is a God."My favorite part was the ending. I've always like epilogues, and with this, I'm no different. This is one of my favorite quotes from one of the endings. Tolstoy decided to have *two* endings - one so that readers can find out what happened to all the characters, and another to explain life and history. This quote (which is on page 1292 in my version of the book) is from the ending where we find out what happens to the characters:" 'After seven years of marriage Pierre had the joyous and firm consciousness that he was not a bad man, and he felt this because he saw himself reflected in his wife. He felt the good and bad within himself inextricably mingled and overlapping. But only what was really good in him was reflected in his wife, all that was not quite good was rejected. And this was not the result of logical reasoning but was a direct and mysterious reflection.'"However, you're going to have to read the book yourself to find out what happens to the rest of the characters!"My favorite characters (because I can't choose just one), would have to be Natasha and Pierre. I like Natasha because she's a bit like me - we both are a bit ... umm... *lively*, and we both sometimes get gloomy/serious. Unlike Natasha though, I'm not a good singer or dancer! :-) I like Pierre, though, because, right now I'm kinda looking for the meaning of life like he did. While Pierre joined the Freemasons though, I became Buddhist for about a month, before deciding that, as much as I liked Buddhism, Christianity was more my style. Also, Pierre really does *try* to be kind. Sometimes he goes about it the wrong way, but sometimes he ends up becoming the person's favorite confidant! As the book says, (on page 1231 in my Kindle)," 'In external ways Pierre had hardly changed at all. In appearance he was just what he used to be. As before he was absent-minded and seemed occupied not with what was before his eyes but with something special of his own. The difference between his former and present self was that formerly when he did not grasp what lay before him or was said to him, he had puckered his forehead painfully as if vainly seeking to distinguish something at a distance. At present he still forgot what was said to him and still did not see what was before his eyes, but he now looked with a scarcely perceptible and seemingly ironic smile at what was before him and listened to what was said, though evidently seeing and hearing something quite different. Formerly he had appeared to be a kindhearted but unhappy man, and so people had been inclined to avoid him. Now a smile at the joy of life always played round his lips and sympathy for others, shone in his eyes with a questioning look as to whether they were as contented as he was, and people felt pleased by his presence. Previously he had talked a great deal, grew more excited when he talked, and seldom listened; now he was seldom carried away in conversation and knew how to listen so that people readily told him their most intimate secrets.'"However, there were things I didn't like about *either* of them. I guess that means though, that Tolstoy did his job - the book is suppose to show what life is *really* like. And, yeah, sometimes fighting a war for a good cause won't save you, sometimes your friends will annoy you to death, and sometimes the meanest person you know is the hero in someone else's life. But that's life - complicated and messy and chaotic and sad, funny and crazy and mysterious - but you know what?"That's why I like it so much."

I just read this for the first time after seeing an IG reel about the longest book out there. After having read 'the count of Monte Cristo', I was feeling ambitious about this one.It took a little over a year of me reading it with no actual prior knowledge or background of the book. It was slow at times and I had to just force myself to read through the chapters. Some I found boring and when it got exciting, I binge read.As I reflected in my readings and the events happening in the current days, I found the similarities happening then as they are now. Human nature and the turn of events haven't changed, even when the world has.It is an adventure and a drama set in Russia during the Napoleon war. If I were to read this again, which I would love to, I would do it with a further understanding of the war and do this rereading with another person (or group) to discuss each chapter in detail. There's a lot of talking points to be made and it would have been nice to discuss them.

Most who are deciding on a modern translation of War and Peace have probably narrowed it down to the Briggs and Pevear/Volokhonsky version. This review mostly serves to compare the two.I have great respect for Pevear and Volokhonsky's rigorously faithful approach to Dostoevsky's nervous style of writing. But I didn't want a literal translation of this literary behemoth with all French passages intact. It seemed like overkill, so I ordered the Viking edition of Briggs' translation. I already have the P+V edition of Tolstoy's short stories and Anna Karenina, so, keeping in mind what I know of their treatment of Tolstoy, and having compared their War and Peace on Kindle, I'd recommend first time readers to go with Briggs over the P+V version.First off, be suspicious of those who claim P+V's translations of everything will be superior to any other translator ever. That's simply not true - it's just marketing hype obscuring the reality behind their success. The reality is that, when given the choice, P+V choose a mimicking of the Russian syntax and slightly more stilted, though accurate, word choice to fit the meaning in Russian. It makes every novel they translate sound different, and in many cases, more "faithful." As I said, it's a huge advantage to their work on Dostoevsky.This sets them apart from most other translators, but it's entirely a matter of taste as to whether it's a more worthy or authentic method of translation, because all P+V translations just take the English a few steps further toward Russian. Anthony Briggs instead prefers to stay rooted in sentences that sound completely authentic in English. Having made it 115 pages in to the end of Part 1 Volume 1 over the course of two days, I can say that it's been a completely comfortable read, more so than any P+V translation I've read, which typically take me a bit longer as I think over why they made the word choices they did. The overall story as translated by Briggs is very clear, and it's easy to keep track of all the different and distinct characters. And as War and Peace is meant not as a regular novel or exercise in style, but as an overall view of history and humanity, missing the forest for the trees due to a translation that tries too hard would be missing Tolstoy's point completely. I'm afraid this would happen with P+V's translation if I switched over to it wholesale. It's very accurate, and reads a bit unnaturally as a result. Briggs' sentences flow like Tolstoy just wrote it yesterday.Keep in mind that the Viking hardcover's binding is not sewn (as every Everyman book is) but glued, which requires a bit more effort to keep open and is probably less durable in the long run. But besides this minor flaw, the white cover design is beautifully minimalistic, and the print and pages are just fine and easy to read.In the end, for the average Russian literature enthusiast, reading Pevear and Volokhonsky's doggedly academic and faithful version the first time around is like trying to do a no-oxygen-tank hike up Mt. Everest your first time up - it's not necessary and you probably won't make it the whole way. So save their edition for your second pass, when you're familiar with the story and you want a more challenging, faithful interpretation. If you're a first time reader, get Anthony Briggs' edition, breathe easy, and you'll be happy you did when you reach the top.Update 11/23/2013: just finished War and Peace after many months, and it was every bit worth the hype. Everything I already wrote does hold true from start to finish.