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War and Peace

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
By: (1828-1910)

Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace chronicles the lives of five Russian aristocratic families during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Many considered this book to be the best Russian work of literature of all time and it is massive in scale. The book is divided in four volumes and the chapters don't just contain the narrative of the plot to the novel but philosophical discussions as well. This may be intimidating to average book readers but they shouldn't be discouraged to try reading War and Peace. After all, this book was written for all and not just for intellectuals.

The five wealthy families followed are the Bezukhovs, Bolkonskys, Rostovs, Kuragins and the Drubetskoys in the early 19th century especially during the time when Napoleon invaded Russia. Like with Tolstoy's other novels, it also tells about the different social problems in Russian high society like the fathering of illegitimate children of wealthy Russians, financial ruin of some families due to incompetence, their vanity despite the poverty which surrounds them and so on. The lives of the main characters from the different families are intertwined in the novel with friendships and conflicting interests.

War and Peace is also a historical novel. Napoleon himself is one of its main characters and a huge part of the book was about him. It's very impressive that Tolstoy was able to depict him very accurately in this novel. Besides him, Tolstoy was also very accurate about his descriptions of the historical events during that time like the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon's invasion of Moscow and others.

This book doesn't just narrate the trials, problems and conflicts between the different characters in the novel but also provides philosophical insights to historical events. It's always interesting to learn about history from another point of view not just from what was told in history books.


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Reviews (Rated: 3 Stars - 18 reviews)

Reviewer: - May 27, 2020
couldn't understand the reader to well and was spoken differently than written in the book. I was following along with my own copy of the book, and got lost due to the different wording. However, it still has the same general idea that is given in the book.
Reviewer: - July 23, 2019
Couldn’t understand the reader
Reviewer: - July 10, 2017
Subject: PInteresting
Very interesting book. It has a lot of plots and a lot of curious features
Reviewer: - March 9, 2017
Subject: Alirght
Chapter 18 sounds like shes been smoking all her life, not happy reminds me of terry
Reviewer: - November 17, 2016
Subject: Book 10 Chap 25
Really hard to understand the reader
Reviewer: - October 10, 2016
chapter 18 reader sounds really bad.
Reviewer: - October 10, 2016
it was amazing loved it.
Reviewer: - May 3, 2016
The reader in chapter 2 is accurate and audible. Lovely voice too!
Reviewer: - April 12, 2015
I can't understand the reader
Reviewer: - November 19, 2014
Entertaining, and honestly don't mind the differing narrators. However, I can't get past chapter 18's reader. I can appreciate her knowledge of language but it sounds like she has smoked a pack a day since she was an infant. Not pleasant...
Reviewer: - April 18, 2014
Subject: Listening
This is a fine story though the accent is hard to understand.
Reviewer: - November 28, 2013
Subject: Good listening
So far I have listened to 6 chapters with a speaker to enhance volume which makes it easier to listen and follow the story.
Reviewer: - November 9, 2013
I wish the readings were done by people who had good English accents. It's frustrating to listen to these strange accents.
Reviewer: - August 10, 2013
I couldn't get more than a few sentences into this book as the reader's accent was very thick, unclear and a little lispy.
Reviewer: - June 3, 2013
Disappointed. Every chapter is read by a different person. Every now and then you get a good read but most are read by readers with extremely thick accents. I tried 3 times to finish listening but eventually have given up.
Reviewer: - April 13, 2013
Not only is the reader's German accent heavy and difficult, he also has a bit of a speech problem and is a poor reader.
Reviewer: - March 14, 2013
This is read in a thick European accent making it difficult to listen to for the average American listener.
Reviewer: - February 20, 2013
This book is by no means a novel. But a fictional historical account of Russia, its people especially the aristocrats during Napoleon era.


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