| War and Peace (Abridged 4 CDs) |  | Author: Leo Tolstoy
Creator: Neville Jason
Label: Naxos Audiobooks
List Price: $28.98
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Rating:  342 reviews
Sales Rank: 618,035
Format: Abridged
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Abridged
Pages: 6
Discs: 4
Number Of Discs: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 1
ISBN: 9626340428
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
UPC: 730099004220
EAN: 9789626340424
ASIN: 9626340428
Publication Date: April 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Tim Pigott-Smith reads Tolstoy's War and Peace. There are four audio CD's in a plastic case.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 342
 Great translation of a masterpiece June 14, 2010
Ritesh Laud (Houston, TX USA)
Who has enough spare time to write a proper review of a >1400 page tome like this? Maybe a few people, but I won't even attempt it. Here are a few of my comments:
This is partly a history book and partly a drama, in alternating sections. The portions that are historically accurate in narrative (except for the involvement of the main characters) describe Napoleon's invasion of Russia, capture of Moscow, and subsequent retreat. As with all events observed before the invention of still & video photography, accounts of the war varied depending on the perspective and mindset of the observer / author. Tolstoy's descriptions of motives / actions / results in the battles during the campaign differed considerably from other accounts of the period. It is to Tolstoy's credit (posthumous) that historians later incorporated many of his viewpoints & descriptions into the modern consensus account of the war.
I greatly preferred the war portions of the novel to the drama portions. While reading the drama sections I never really got engrossed and kept wanting to get back to the war. The characters in the drama didn't seem to speak or act in a realistic fashion; many, such as Pierre & Natasha, were clearly idealized or at least embodied the extreme of the type of character that Tolstoy wanted to portray. In reality, people generally have mixtures of several different personality types and as a result end up being an extreme of none of them. Nonetheless, the story in the drama held my attention and contained several unexpected emotional moments.
The last 100 pages is the Epilogue and reads like an afterthought, though in the last 30 pages or so Tolstoy takes a decent stab at describing why and how major historical events occur and how a "rogue genius" like Napoleon can seem to alter the course of history and impact millions of lives.
I found the Dunnigan translation to be very readable, not laborious work. Still, 1500 pages is 1500 pages and it took me nearly a year to get through this book over a great many snatches of time.
At the end of the day, "War and Peace" really is a masterpiece. Not really on account of its length but more due to the diverse subject matter, vast scope, and quality of narrative. It's a must read for anyone with an historical bent or who just wants a good, deep, involving yarn to dig into.
Timely reading if you deplore politics May 20, 2010
Katherine Harms (Baltimore, MD)
I first read War and Peace when I was sixteen. I was captivated by Natasha, and I skimmed hurriedly through Tolstoy's ruminations about history and the conduct of war. Nevertheless, I could hardly put the book down, because the plot hooked me early and kept me coming back for more.
I read the book again when I was 22, and I have read it three more times since then. Each time some new aspect of the book captures my attention.
On my most recent reading, I was amazed by the political element. The characters of this book are caught up in a crisis that strains the ability of the introverted czardom to cope. Despite an apparent focus on the wealthy landowners of the Russian Empire, Tolstoy incorporates characters from all levels of the society and skillfully depicts the impact of political choices on the whole nation. As I read it, I was led to compare the internal politics with the situation in our own country today. There are some amazing scenes that might not be called parallels to contemporary politics, but they are prickly enough to make the reader think. Readers who have bid farewell to family and friends deployed to distant war zones will find a real touchpoint in Tolstoy's depiction of the soldiers in battle zones.
Tolstoy created a story with so many facets that it would take a lifetime to explore them all. I wonder how he had time to write so many other novels. I will probably read this book again in a few years. I wonder what new perspective the next reading will bring.
Merits the designation as one of the greatest novels of all time April 21, 2010
Gary Selikow (Great Kush)
I first read War and Peace 21 years ago at the age of 15. It was a light in my intellectual development. Rereading it today took me two weeks and helped me revisit the concepts and the power of this magnificent epic novel which combines , romance, realism, and philosophy and deserves it's designation as one of the greatest novels of all time.
War and Peace operates from the premise that history is a result of predestination and not as the result of the actions of great and powerful men. Having said that one comes away from reading it with an admiration of the Marshal Kutuzov, who from the beginning to end never once from the beginning of his activity in 1812 never once swerving by word or deed presents an admirable example of self-sacrifice and a present consciousness of the future importance of what was happening. and of the heroic Russian people, who valiantly defended their homeland and suffered such terrible and massive losses.
They would repeat this valiant performance against the Nazi invaders some 130 years later.
Tolstoy wrote War and Peace in 1864, and it took him nearly six years to finish it. The book covers Russian history between the years 1812 and 1818, and takes in Russia's struggle against the French, including Napoleon's 1812 campaign which effectively destroyed his power.
It deals with the Russian upper class family life and it's near dis-integration through adversity, yet the traditional Slavonic pessimism is not allowed to dominate the novel and it ends on a note of hope.
War and Peace essentially deals with five Russian aristocratic families, but includes in it'it's pages over 500 characters; all of whom are delineated with amazing realism, even the dogs emerge as personalities. Many of the people in the novel are drawn from life and are recognizable as relatives and friends of the author.
Reflecting the two sides of his own character, Tolstoy puts himself as it were in the book, as the very different friends, Prince Andre Bolkonsky and Count Pierre Bezuhov.
You will find that you have your own favourite and best loved characters and circles of characters. My favorites were the engaging and spirited Natasha Rostov (whose development from a charming 13 year old child to a 25 year old mother of four I followed closely) , and the pious and kindly Princess Maria. But I could not help feeling a certain sympathy for the Princess Helena..
Despite the novel's length, and break in the narrative, for discussion of the forces that move history, the interest is kept up all the way through.
The extraordinary trueness to life of the book was achieved by painstaking research into the historical background and by minute observation of real people.
The novel deals not only with the forces that move nations but with deeper questions of people's consciousness and the realities of human freedom.
Great Book March 18, 2010
Jackson Dog (massachusetts)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I started reviewing the top 100 best books and this is up there. This is simply one of the best books you will ever read...it will take you a while.
Amazon 'Look Inside' hopeless for translated works February 21, 2010
Hawthorne Abendsen (San Francisco, California)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
One of the great virtues of a 'Look Inside' feature should be to let you see how different translators present a work. Not so at Amazon, where what you're reading may come from any edition they have, not the one you're browsing. Useless and of course disrespectful to the reader, translator and author.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 342
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