War and Peace

By: Leo Tolstoy

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 61 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Often called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is at once an epic of the Napoleonic wars, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the Russian spirit. Tolstoy's genius is clearly seen in the multitude of characters in this massive chronicle, all of them fully realized and equally memorable. Out of this complex narrative emerges a profound examination of the individual's place in the historical process, one that makes it clear why Thomas Mann praised Tolstoy for his Homeric powers and placed War and Peace in the same category as The Iliad.

War and Peace was translated by Constance Garnett.

Public Domain (P)2009 Blackstone Audio

A Must Read

It took me quite some time to settle into the narrator's voice. I found his voice acting to be annoying at times. But seeing as this is a personal preference I do not hold it against him. Overall I thought the narration was very excellent and I enjoyed every minute of this read. Highly recommend it to anyone.

Epic

The blending of the wars with France and Russia into an epic fictional master piece.

What a book!

performance was amazing. absolutely zero complaints!

Well well... A book I never thought about reading. I had heard this was set during the napolianic wars. After reading Tale of Two Cities the time period interested me. I had originally thought this book would be about a commentary about wars and peace (yeah I didn't have a clue other than the title). After finding out it followed people around and had a story to it I thought I would give it a go. I loved the book! The story was perfect to follow through what was happening at the time. The characters were interesting and I hope it gave me a perspective into the Russian minds at the time.

One small thing (nothing really small in this book) was the author's commentary of history. Obviously felt a bit dated. Some of the conclusions he made were based off of, seemingly, flakey examples but this could be due to the times it was written. Not knowing much about Napoleon I did feel the author had a different perspective than his "so called historians".

Outside that this was an excellent read.

The fake British accent of the narrator is appalling

The fake British accent of the narrator is appalling. Though his female voices are nicely done. It was so annoying to methat I stopped listening.

Kept getting interrupted. Took forever. I will listen to it again in order to capture nuances not heard because of inunot heard

Overall a disappointment for the amount of time spent listening. Must try again to see what I missed.

A Different age

Fascinating, such historical, personal and philosophical story. Very well performed.I would highly recommend this book.

Very good performance

Good performance, if a female reads the females' part, it would be even better. The reader is pretty good and sounds like he is fluent in French, Russian, and English.

Epic

I enjoyed the story as well as the philosophy. I’ll need to read more by Tolstoy.

It’s a long but very enjoyable story

Well worth your time. The story is an interesting look back at history told mainly from the Russian point of view.

Ends with an essay on free will

Great story, well told. I found it strange that Tolstoy appended an essay on free will, which essay convinced me of nothing and was besides difficult to follow. I loved it all except for that part.