Have you read War and Peace? Would you recommend it?

Not exactly what you’re looking for, but I want to give you my two cents.

Its next on my list after I finish Anna Karenina (more than half way through!). War and Peace is much different, but after reading Anna Karenina, Tolstoy has a new place in my heart. I’ve also read his “The Death of Ivan Illyich”, which I also liked. I only hope to re-learn enough Russian someday to be able to read his work in Russian…I think there is a lot that gets lost in translation. Anna is good, but War and Peace is his crowning glory, so it must be worth a read, especially if you find yourself drawn to Russian lit, right?

War and Peace is a fantastic read! I heartily recommend it; particularly if you enjoy meaty 19th century novels. (Also, if you like Dickens and haven’t read Our Mutual Friend, you should put that on your list too.)

I have read it over and over, in many translations, and while I loved them all, you might want to know that the very best so far in English is this one.

Yes and yes.

I second @pdworkin about that translation. Pevear and Volokhonsky are the best Russian translators at the moment. I’ve only read their translation of Crime and Punishment, but I’ve heard from others that all of their translations of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are particularly good.

That’s because one is a literary artist, and one is a native speaker.

War and Peace is great! It was fun to read, like cotton candy for the brain (though much less so than fantasy/scifi, the true fluff of the fiction world). When I read the Harry Potter series years later, I found the reading experience to be quite similar, in terms of a relaxing, easy-flowing, and highly entertaining novel.

Then again, perhaps it only felt that way because I had just finished Crime and Punishment, which is also a wonderful book but reads like being beaten up by a gorilla if you keep at it for more than 45 minutes or so.

@pdworkin
So far, I’ve only read Pevear and Volokhonsky’s translations of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, but my copy of War and Peace is old and was translated by Ann Dunnigan. Was that any good?

Even Constance Bennet’s translations were tolerable, but I bought the Pevear and Volokhonsky War and Peace when it came out, and I’m really glad I did. It uses language more the way Tolstoy did. Other translations tend to contain elisions of his repetitions, but he intended them.

a great read! dont be afraid to use cliff’s notes to help keep the characters straight.