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War & Peace

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  • 22-08-2008 8:52pm
    #1
    theboytaylor
    Closed Accounts Posts: 129 ✭✭


    Simple thread this time guys:

    I'm thinking of giving War & Peace a go.
    Is it worth the time and stopping reading
    everything else?

    Thanks

    Seán


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    #2
    raah!
    Registered Users Posts: 2,629 ✭✭✭raah!


    I would say that it is definitely. It's my favourite book of all time, and actually had an affect on my life. Not reading it is like never learning to ride a bicycle. It was a great experience for me, and I think people who don't read it are missing out. But just look at any review of it ever released if you want to see how great it is.

    So, yes, read it.


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    #3
    Sailormoon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 21 ✭Sailormoon


    It's definitely one of the most meaningful and educational books I've ever read, so definitely- start reading it and don't give up on it just because the first 3/4 don't really make sense!


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    #4
    cailinoBAC
    Registered Users Posts: 1,113 ✭✭✭cailinoBAC


    Yeah, go for it! Though it's been so long since I read it, maybe 11 years....but despite some tough sections, I loved it.


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    #5
    raah!
    Registered Users Posts: 2,629 ✭✭✭raah!


    cailinoBAC wrote: »
    but despite some tough sections, I loved it.


    And if you brush up on your french and your 19th centuary napoleonic warfare those sections will fly by!. You might even enjoy those ones. I read war and peace at a time when I played alot of aoe3 (that's a strategy game based on napoleonic warfare) so I really enjoyed the bits about strategies and all of that.

    There's also a small bit of philosophy in it which he feels the need to reitereate thoroughly, but you don't really need any prior knowledge to understand it.


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    #6
    theboytaylor
    Closed Accounts Posts: 129 ✭✭theboytaylor


    Raah!,

    I have just consulted a drawer beside me and therein
    lies a copy of AoE3 I got from a mate a while back.
    The plot thickens!

    Thanks guys


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    #7
    randomguy
    Registered Users Posts: 285 ✭✭randomguy


    Yeah, well worth reading.

    By the end I found myself skimming the philosophical parts. But if I have understood correctly he pretty much deliberately made them repetitive. The novel was released in 5 separate parts or something so he was writing as if it would have been years since the reader had read his philosophical tracts - they would need to be reminded of it all - for the modern reader taking the book all in one go they are eminently skippable.

    But the rest is great.


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    #8
    studiorat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,408 ✭✭✭studiorat


    Maybe you could warm up with the Cossacks and Anna Karenina first!

    I found it hard to keep track of the characters over the 5 books.

    There is meant to be a different ending to the serialized version than the actual novel as a whole to.


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    #9
    raah!
    Registered Users Posts: 2,629 ✭✭✭raah!


    randomguy wrote: »
    Yeah, well worth reading.

    By the end I found myself skimming the philosophical parts. But if I have understood correctly he pretty much deliberately made them repetitive. The novel was released in 5 separate parts or something so he was writing as if it would have been years since the reader had read his philosophical tracts - they would need to be reminded of it all - for the modern reader taking the book all in one go they are eminently skippable.

    But the rest is great.

    Aaaah, this explains alot actually. I was wondering why such a great author, in such a masterpiece as this would be repeating himself in such a silly fashion.
    studiorat wrote: »
    Maybe you could warm up with the Cossacks and Anna Karenina first!

    I found it hard to keep track of the characters over the 5 books.

    There is meant to be a different ending to the serialized version than the actual novel as a whole to.

    TEH WHAT?!!! what's the different ending? tbh I wasn't quite happy with the ending of the first one.... well with some aspects of it.

    In the version I had there was a list of characters by family with explanations of when they came in and all that, so that was very helpful. And I read it without having read anna karinina either, and it was war and peace that really got me into reading classics, or even just reading. So I'd say teh OP would be ok with just picking it up, I can't imagine anyone not liking it. But then, I was also already interested in napoleonic war fare and the like from playing aoe.

    I am going to buy Anna karenina sometime soon also. How do you think it measured up against W&P?. I put off reading it for so long because it seemed to be a pure romance(as in a love story), and I'm not normally into that (well I have little experience with this genre).

    I suppose you can find the serialized ending somewhere on the internet?

    On a side note, I remember getting a genuine adrenaline shock when reading this and something bad happened to a certain character... it's that good!

    Enjoy reading it O.P :D

    Edit: Actually, don't tell me the extra ending, If you have a link to it though that would be nice :P


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    #10
    studiorat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,408 ✭✭✭studiorat


    raah! wrote: »


    TEH WHAT?!!! what's the different ending? tbh I wasn't quite happy with the ending of the first one.... well with some aspects of it.

    Ok, I'll see if I can get this right, it was originally serialized as many books of the day were, it might have been called 1805 at the time. He came back to it years later and it was published as a novel with a different ending (known ending). Apparently he was never happy with that ending. Anyway the older ending was translated in the 80's, never read it but it's supposed to be a happy ending! Might be what you were looking for.;)

    Anna Karenina is a commentary on the social scene of the times much like most of his work I think, also about the reactions of the people to the affair and the morals of the day I suppose rather than just a love story. It isn't as panoramic and doesn't get into war games and all that, but the characters are unforgetable.

    I think there's something about Tolstoy that gives you a really good picture of the way people think in his books. I like the way you sort of meander through it and the story just unfolds. So they are nice to read.


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    #11
    buck65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,969 ✭✭✭buck65


    Never saw the magic in Tolstoy myself. Anna Karenina is boring. War And Peace is fine.:eek:


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    #12
    Amazotheamazing
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,048 ✭✭✭Amazotheamazing


    It's a great book, the reason for the philosphical tracts is that it's meant to be an anology for the point Russia as a nation was at, and which character would the Russian people emulate. Hence the open ending and the philosphical essay at the end.


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    #13
    studiorat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,408 ✭✭✭studiorat


    buck65 wrote: »
    Never saw the magic in Tolstoy myself. Anna Karenina is boring. War And Peace is fine.:eek:

    Palastine...


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    #14
    raah!
    Registered Users Posts: 2,629 ✭✭✭raah!


    studiorat wrote: »
    never read it but it's supposed to be a happy ending! Might be what you were looking for.;)


    A happy ending? The version I read had an almost text book "happy ending". It would be hard for him to make it much happier, without going millions of pages back....


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    #15
    studiorat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,408 ✭✭✭studiorat


    I think optimistic would be a better description. I dunno the details but the other was described as 'over the top' happy...


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    #16
    buck65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,969 ✭✭✭buck65


    studiorat wrote: »
    Palastine...

    surely you mean philistine

    the irony ooh the irony


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    #17
    studiorat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,408 ✭✭✭studiorat


    buck65 wrote: »
    surely you mean philistine

    the irony ooh the irony

    Don't make me do this again...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malapropism

    The real Buck 65 would have got it.
    Bloody tapestry this literature lark...


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    #18
    DesignLady
    Closed Accounts Posts: 150 ✭✭DesignLady


    I recommend the Anthony Briggs translation from penguin. The first time I tried to read it, I gave up at the start but last year I was in Italy for months and this was the thickest volume in the English language book store (I gave up on the idea of only reading Italian after a few weeks!)

    It turned out to be the Briggs translation and I was sucked in immidiately. The index of characters is really useful and I did have to reference it a lot.

    I hate saying it's one of my favourite books because people assume I'm being pretensious, but it is and that's it.

    The characters are so alive and real. They make mistakes and you hate them and love them and want to shout at the pages. I had a similar reaction to Anna Karenina but not quite as strong.


    It's been almost a year now since I read the book and it's stayed with me more than anything I've read in the meantime. In fact I'm now engrossed in a large factual book on Russian cultural history! ( Natasha's Dance, A Cultural History of Russia author is Oliver someone, I don't have it to hand but will check- it was the War and Peace reference in the title that attracted me!)


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    #19
    Amazotheamazing
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,048 ✭✭✭Amazotheamazing


    DesignLady wrote: »
    It's been almost a year now since I read the book and it's stayed with me more than anything I've read in the meantime. In fact I'm now engrossed in a large factual book on Russian cultural history! ( Natasha's Dance, A Cultural History of Russia author is Oliver someone, I don't have it to hand but will check- it was the War and Peace reference in the title that attracted me!)

    Orlando Figes?

    I'm currently reading his History of the Russian Revolution, The People's Tragedy. great book so far, the scope of it is a little huge though.


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    #20
    DesignLady
    Closed Accounts Posts: 150 ✭✭DesignLady


    Amazotheamazing wrote: »
    Orlando Figes?

    I'm currently reading his History of the Russian Revolution, The People's Tragedy. great book so far, the scope of it is a little huge though.


    Yes that's the author. I didn't have the book beside me when I posted. The scope is similarly huge but it's an enjoyable read with nice little tidbits of information. The early chapers provide a really nice context for War and Peace.
    I definately read the The People's Tragedy at a later stage if it's in the library.


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