War and Peace, Volume 2

I love listening to audiobooks as I make my commute through LA traffic. It makes the time pass and eases the anxiety of people who shouldn't have a license.

Tolstoy's War & Peace gives a fairly accurate portrayal of life among the upper class Russian society during the Napoleonic Wars. It gives a historical account of the war between Napolean and Alexander, all the while set behind the facade of several interwoven upper class Russian families. It's a very entertaining, and classic work, from one of Russia's greatest novelists. It doesn't however touch upon the poverty stricken serfs who made up the majority of the population of Russia at the time. In this case, I've always felt Dostoyevsky does a much better job in capturing a more realistic portrayal of Russian society. Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamozov both give you a better look at the social climate of the period, if that's what you're looking for.

In other words. It's kind of a cool story about rich people during a war. It can be a little boring in places, but if you like history, you'll probably like the book. And it takes a good chunk of time out of a commute of a long car trip!!! LOL

Neville Jason does a good (but not great) job reading this longest of long books. The dialogue, as read, is more dynamic than the narration; and the men are voiced more effectively than the women. (Unfortunately, given the amount of time she spends "onscreen," I found Jason's reading of Natasha to be somewhat shrill.) The Frederick Davidson recording is more dynamic, but Davidson's voice seems to rub a lot of people the wrong way. Jason at least has a smooth and mellow voice, and his reading is clear and unhurried.

This is the Maude translation, and Naxos (and Audible) get five stars for making it available in an attractive and accessible format. There are fourteen books in "War and Peace," plus an epilogue, and the recording is divided by book, with a chapter mark for each chapter: so it's very easy to find your way around and know exactly where you are in the story. The idea that you can get the whole thing for only two credits is amazing.

The book is long, some 70 hours or more, but most of the chapters are short and full of absorbing detail. The chapters that aren't -- where Tolstoy lays out his philosophy of history, or summarizes some of the larger historical context from 50,000 feet -- can probably be skipped without great loss. (To oversimplify, Tolstoy basically seems to be saying that while individuals think they have free will in an individual sense, when you step back and look at events from a larger perspective you see that reality is overdetermined and that what happened was inevitable. He also suggests that the "great man" theory of history is seriously flawed, because all the kings of the earth can't do squat without the individual acts of every single pawn.)

I realize that's heresy, but it would be better to get the story and skip the philosophy than to skip the book altogether. The story itself is incredible.

This is the Leo Wiener translation from 1904 if anyone is interested. There are nine other english editions. I have not read the other editions, but this one was an incredible read/listen, and I highly recommend it :)

Impossible to categorize this huge work. A beautifully written historical novel of the Russian aristocracy, woven together with a carefully detailed examination of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, battle by battle, and lastly Tolstoy's theories on how and why these events occurred.

The scope of this book is stunning, the characters unforgettable. Although more approachable than I anticipated, the exhaustive historical detail and Tolstoy's emphatic philosophical discourses make this more than a little challenging.

That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, absolutely recommend it, and will probably revisit it sometime in the future. Right now, however, I'm ready for some mindless escapism!!

I really enjoyed the first volume of this book. Neville Jason is a tallented narrator and makes the story easy to follow with identifiable and unannoying voices. I highly recommend this audiobook.

If you are like me and have tried to read this book and given up , then this is the way to go. Neville Jason does read well.
The names both familiar and formal are accepted by the English speakers' ear and are recognized......Phew....... And it is possible to relax and enjoy this great book. History unfolds as the narrative progresses. Some books lead me to research more than the story tells.....and....................
Apart from learning more about Napoleon, I became very curious about when and how slavery come to Russia.
A great book and a journey into the past too.

It' really worth the effort. Great to get 61 hours of supurb word litrature for jutst two credits.

Fabulous. A wonderful reader.

This book is super good and completely entertaining. Also very well read. It's cool to hear all of those Russian and French names sais aloud.

Prince Andrea destroyed himself on stubbornness and his refusal to forgive until it was too late.
The worst decisions made in life are usually overreactions to things that you have no control of anyway. To love life is to love god. And in order to love life you must love the inevitability of your own suffering and happiness.