a very easy to carry around book of great works by tolstoy

A one in all book to read- I recommend it!!

I first tried to read War and Peace in High School. A teacher, who had carried the book all through the Pacific campaign in WWII recommended it as a book that had changed his life. I tried three times and couldn't get past a few hundred pages because of the numerous characters - each with multiple names. The fourth time I stuck with it and was rewarded with a reading experience that has seldom been equaled. Since that time I have reread the book every two or three years, so I must have been through it 15 or more times, and each time I find things I haven't noticed before.

This is such a grand book in terms of number of characters in all levels of Russian society, historical scope, period detail, philosophical implications, romance, drama, tragedy, action etc, etc, etc. There is just no way to enumerate all that is appealing about Tolstoy's masterpiece. The main characters are as humanly complex and interesting as real people. I feel that I know them like friends. The plot(s) are involving and get more tight and interconnected as the book progresses, so that there is a great satisfaction as various threads come together, and never with the jarring coincidences that propel a typical Dickins novel.

If I had to pick only one novel that I would ever be able to read again, it would have to be War and Peace. There is so much of interest going on in this book that it would be hard to wear it out in a lifetime.

What a tale! Tolstoy's War and Peace has everything - a broad palatte of characters set to the greatest event of the 19th century - with conflict, romance, honor, courage, a beautiful (if initally maddeningly spoiled) heroine and a bookish (but likable) hero. This fabulous book is everything you've heard about it.

To many, the daunting size, scope and scale of War and Peace is a deterrent to reading it. Fear not: the story is so uttery engrossing, you will literally be unable to put the book down. Tolstoy's characters are almost real in their mannerisms, actions, thoughts and relationships - you feel almost kin to the central figures as they mature and change over time. The drama of the Napoleonic Wars, and the vidid descriptions of the life of the Russian aristocracy at its zenith also drew me into the story.

The book truly is a maserpiece of literature, and I highly recommend it. The only criticism I have is that Tolstoy, as usual, uses the book as a bully-pulpit to share his personal views, but unless you are specifically looking for them, they are negligable. (A hint: look for his themes of "fate" and "destiny" - there are others, but those are my favorites.)

There are many great works of literature - War and Peace certainly deserves to be counted among them. Take the time to read this book - you will not be disappointed.

Few novels have the breadth and scope of detail as "War and Peace". This is a novel that took years to write and may take the average reader up to a year to finish. It is well worth the effort.

Tolstoy has successfully mastered the arts of military and romantic literature. Often times when these elements are combined in a novel the author is not particularly strong in both areas. That is certainly not Tolstoy's weakness. Tolstoy's one weakness is his tendency to engage in long-winded narration about his system of philosophy. I've always believed that if the author wants to bring his personal philosophies into a book, they should be woven into the fabric of the work and not kept as separate parts that break up the flow of the story. Fortunately these narrations do little damage to the overall story.

I have read many non-English language books from German, French, Russian, etc. authors that have been translated into English. "War and Peace" was the first and only one of those books which made me want to learn a foreign language. Translated works, no matter how hard the translator tries, can never stay completely true to the original work. Through the translations of Tolstoy's work one gets the sense that he had a command of the Russian language equal to Dickens' or Shakespeare's command of English.

One piece of advice: if you feel that it may take you longer than six months to finish the novel, you may want to keep track of the families on a separate sheet of paper like a family tree. In can get rather confusing with all of the marriages and child births that occur in the course of these family's lives.

I had finally read my 10 year old copy of Anna Karenina to death. Therefore I decided to buy a new one. I was a bit leery about trying a new translation, but this edition pleased me very much.

There are three main reasons that I recommend this book:

1. Great Story
2. Very good Translation
3. Durable Hard Cover

Great Story

In this novel Tolstoy presents marriage and human relationships in a realistic manner. Anna Karenina details a passionate love affair and it's doleful consequences. The reader experiences this tumultuous love from the point of view of the two paramours, as well as the friends and family members whom their lives touch.

Nevertheless, a tale about a cheating wife does not great literature make.

The existential struggle for meaning in life and the nature of God figures strongly as a theme in Anna Karenina. Overshadowing, in my opinion, even the experiences of the book's namesake. Any lover of philosophy will enjoy this book immensely.

The Translation

As I mentioned before, this is a good translation. By good, I mean the following:

1. Russian words are footnoted - Some words lose their meaning and cultural context when translated to English. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky did a wonderful job leaving these terms in tact. There are notes at the back of the book that fully explain each Russian word.

For example, who knew that the "roll" that Stiva eats in my previous translation was actually a "kalatch?"

2. Names of the Characters are Preserved - Princess Darya Alexandrovna Oblonsky is also known as Darya and sometimes as Dolly. The use of names and nicknames is very important in language. I appreciate that the translator preserved the use of the patronymic and various names of each character. Too bad there is not a way to translate the Russian forms of address. Sigh.

3. Foreign Language Passages are Footnoted - Many of the members of the social sphere in which the book is set spoke multiple languages. Thankfully, when Tolstoy wrote a passage in French or German, the translators let it alone and wrote a translation at the bottom of the text.

Hardback

I tend to manhandle my books, so I like hardback. I think I've had this book for about a year. It's held up pretty well.

Unless you're the kind of person who uses bookmarks and doesn't fold pages, I recommend this edition instead of a softback book.

In conclusion, Pevear and Volokhonsky's work stands out as a stellar translation of one of literature's greatest masterpieces. I highly recommend this book!

Anna Karenina Alex Latushkin Leo Tolstoy Entry #4, March 21,1998

Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is a definite masterpiece. I had always thought of the book as a tragic love story in which Anna Karenina falls under a train at the end. After reading the novel I came to conclusion that this aspect is just the basic foundation for the book. Leo Tolstoy conveys philosophy in to life's broadest issues such as love, hate, determination, religion, sin, and most importantly related to the novel, revenge. The novel includes many characters but its nine leading ones are Anna Karenina, Prince Stephan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky, Dolly, Konstantin Levin, Sergey Ivanovitch, Alexey Alexandrovitch, Kitty and of course Count Vronsky. These nine characters lead the novel to its height and Leo Tolstoy tells the story through their beliefs in an overall limited 3rd person point of view based upon each of these characters. The novel includes many stories in it; one is of Anna Karenina's determined passion for Vronsky and her sin of betraying her husband, Alexey Alexandrovitch. The tale slowly grows to a final tragic conclusion with the help of the other six characters. Levin's tale possesses just as such significance towards the overall view of the story as Anna's though. The story involves Levin, a decent man who is madly in love with Kitty and almost loses her to Count Vronsky, who decides to go after Anna instead. Through Levin's worries he finally proposes to Kitty but one problem still aces him; Levin is unsure of God's existence and at the end he comprehends that he is a true believer even though he is unsure of somethings (He is sure that God exists though). Prince Oblonsky and his wife Dolly first introduce Anna to the reader when Anna makes a visit to their home to set things right between her brother and sister-in-law. Their problem is based upon the fact that the Prince had an affair with a French dame and Dolly threatens divorce. After some important advice from Anna, the couple reunites! and continues their relationship with less zest however. I am very glad that Leo Tolstoy (also known as " Count Leo Tolstoy ") kept the reader up with the feelings of all of the main characters, otherwise, the story would have not possessed such a strong value as it did with the limited 3rd person point of view. At first when the reader was introduced to the fact that Anna proposed to run off with Vronsky and demand a divorce from her husband Alexey, I was much disappointed by her unethical actions. However, later in the story Tolstoy explains that Anna first married him from an early-arranged marriage because of Alexey's strong position in the world. Later in the book Anna conveys herself to be a well-sophisticated woman who is deeply in love with Vronsky and is very ill inside from her partings with her son, Seroizha. At that moment I began to see her a more decent person. In the early introduction and biographical profile of Leo Tolstoy the following quote sets the mood and summarizes the main theme of Anna Karenina: " Vengeance is mine and I will repay" (Tolstoy, 1968, p.ii). I think that this quote summarizes the theme because it deals directly with Anna's sins and how she paid with her life for the peccadilloes that she committed. Her sins involve not staying faithful to her husband, desiring a divorce, and when not receiving one begetting another man's child as her own. Anna believes that Vronsky will stay true to her forever but after a few years Anna begins to question his faithfulness. Her jealousy looses Vronsky and the end of part seven Anna purposely jumps under a train believing that this will escape her tragedies. I knew that this was destined to happen because I had quite good background knowledge of the plot before actually reading the book but I found one part of her death to be the saddest; I had not known of this part. After Anna jumps under the train she realizes that she is once again committing another sin and that she more than anything else desire! s to live. In the seconds that she spends before she death under the train, Anna changes her mind. When she decides to live though, her vengeance is repaid. Upon leaping from the train tracks " something huge and merciless struck her..." (Tolstoy, 1968, p.1248). I found this to be a very sad and scary moment; Anna had the chance to live but her decisions of living came too late. In conclusion, I would like to say that there is really original no way to characterize the book, or to make a great analysis of it; Leo Tolstoy already did so. Overall, I really enjoyed the book even though it was well over 1,000 pages and took me all quarter to read. Anna Karenina is well worth the pages that it takes up because every page conveys a new thought and idea while also staying to its main theme. The complexity of the book is not just of the main theme however. It is of the themes and lessons that each of the nine main aristocratic characters learn throughout the book.

This Edition, Pevear and Volokhonsky (Viking 2001), supposedly renders Tolstoy's Russian more faithfully than earlier ones, which attempted to "soften" him a bit for Western sensibilities. I actually bought this for a class, and my teacher, who reads it in the Russian, simply couldn't praise the translation enough, so if you're determined to read Anna Karenina already, you should probably get this edition.

As for the story, I found that the 800 pages just melted away. Long doesn't mean hard, after all, and I was sorry to see it end, to tell the truth.

The story revolves around seven different people in 1870s Russia. Superficially, it tells how Anna Karenina left her husband for another man, destroying her family, how Stiva Oblonsky ruined his family without leaving it, and how Konstantin Levin courted Kitty Shcherbatsky and they built a new family together.

Although it's enjoyable even on the superficial level, Anna Karenina rewards careful study, revealing intricate structure and interlocking symbolism throughout. Tolstoy thought it was his best work; critics have called it one of the best novels ever written; don't miss it.