War and Peace (Classic Fiction) [Abridged, Audiobook, Classical] [Audio CD]

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Review

"There remains the greatest of all novelists--for what else can we call the author of War and Peace?" --Virginia Woolf

"From the Paperback edition." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

`reveals Tolstoy in his majestic scope and precision to this reader for the first time...ringing with mastery and truth'--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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By : L.N. Tolstoy (Author), Neville Jason (Reader)
List Price : £16.99
Price : £14.45
You Save : £2.54 (15%)

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Naxos AudioBooks; Abridged edition edition (1 Oct 1999)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 9626340428
• ISBN-13: 978-9626340424
• Product Dimensions: 14.2 x 12.2 x 2.4 cm
  

 

War and Peace (Classic Fiction) [Abridged, Audiobook, Classical] [Audio CD]

 

Costumer Reviews

Getting not read War and Peace just before, and being fluent in neither Russian nor French, I am not qualified to compare and contrast this translation with other translations. But coming to this fantastic novel for the very first time I found this version to be an immensely readable book and it was with great sadness that I completed it. Though other individuals could concentrate on the pros and cons of this version against other individuals, for those who have never ever read War and Peace before it is the story itself that is so incredible. I was entirely transported to Napoleonic occasions.

1 comment on the translation itself though - in a large number of locations I located it mellifluous. 'Kapli kapali. Shyol tikhii govor. Loshadi zarzhali i podralis. Khrapel kto-to.' - 'Drops dripped. Quiet talk went on. Horses neighed and scuffed. Somebody snored.' Superb.

And as other individuals have noted the hardback is a wonderfully tactile object. Nicely carried out Clays and thank you Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.

Tolstoy supplied his personal answer to this question, in "Some Words About War And Peace," but his answer is not really illuminating. Let me try to answer the question in the simplest way feasible:

It is very first and foremost the story of a handful of characters: the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, Pierre. It is not a book about war or peace in the grand, overarching sense, but about people and how they cope with such occasions. Tolstoy's view was that there is no point in writing only about the common course of the war - it's the persons that matter.

But, in contrast to most other novelists, Tolstoy takes you into the lives of his characters by presenting their stories within a historical context presented with an extraordinary level of detail. From this, the common misconception arises that War and Peace is the story of the Napoleonic Wars, as thought it were some kind of 19th Century Tom Clancy novel. It is not.

As the book goes on and the ongoing war becomes much more intense, a fantastic deal of space is devoted to descriptions of the progress of the war and evaluation of its causes and effects. It can seem as though Tolstoy has forgetten his characters and readers naturally come to be confused and wonder what the book is all about.

But when that takes place to you, persevere. It is worth it. At the end of the First Epilogue anything falls into spot and the immense value of all that historical detail will develop into obvious by means of the way you empathise with the characters.

 

War and Peace (Classic Fiction) [Abridged, Audiobook, Classical] [Audio CD]