My grandfather, bless him, had me read a copy he had -- no, not in Russian, but in Ukrainian. Quite a feat! Then I read the novel in English -- a wonderful unabridged version. My feelings are the same--a compelling story of the human condition. Now my granddaughter plans to read the same English translation--all power to her!

Highly recommended novel set in the Napoleonic era. The Author is infamous for his attention to detail and his descriptive language. The book is hard for some people to get into or sometimes to find the flow as it has been translated a bunch of time but if you find the right translation and stick it out it is one of the best classical novels every written. I was fortunately enough to have it assigned reading back in high school and have since then picked up many more of his novels. If you enjoyed War and Peace also try the Idiot.

War and Peace is set in the time of the Napoleonic era. Each character has a theme: political, religion, and deception. Each character is unique and very complex. This book is very long, and very hard. Perhaps it is so hard is because they through in sentences in French every-other page. This book is amazing, and worth the two-weeks of attempting to read it. It is probably one of the best books I have ever read!

I did not like this book. like others have said it everything is discribed in the smallest detail. This book would only benifit humans if a teacher was using it for examples of adjectives. I don't know how people can classify tolstoy as one of the best righters of all time. Yes, I have to admitt that he has said some deep and profound things and that is the only thing that would mae me mark a 1 if zero was possible

This would definitly my favorite book of all time, the detail, the writing, none of the pages is unnecessary. You should read this classic when you have the chance, you won't regret it.

The book War and Peace is as many have said, &quot;The greatest novel ever written.&quot; Tolstoy was, evidently, a remarkable person with the great gift of writing everything to the minutest detail. This book was set during the early 1800's, in a time in which there were many wars in the &#8216;East'. Higher class citizens were known as counts, countesses, princes and princesses and a Tsar still ruled Russia. This is an excellent book and, because of it's fine detail, would be an excellent resource for history.<BR><BR>War and Peace is an excellent read. The author is first rate. I highly recommend that all students who wish to pursue a higher education, read this book.

If Mr. Paul Grimes had taken the time to read a further 398 pages he would have happened across the infamous &quot;Battle of Le Minge&quot; chapter. This fact based expression of one of the greatest episodes in French military history makes the slow-build up seem very worthwhile.

Count Leo Tolstoy's &quot;War and Peace&quot; is probably the best novel ever written. Although the book is VERY long and the first 100 pages are pretty boring, there are 1400 other pages that are excellent and will keep you reading right to the very end.

In answer to Mr Grimes of Brampton's review, I HAVE read the book, 6 times, and although it took me a while to understand it, I thought it was a great read. The overview of Franco-Russo backdrops, and the central characters including the struggling doctor (played in the film I believe by Omar Sharrif), are excellent. I bought it my dad for Christmas I enjoyed it so much.

Has anyone ever read this all the way through? I tried. I got to page 6546 before giving up. It was not detailed enough, there were too many minor characters that failed to stimulate the imagination. A lack of knowledge of Russian/French politics doesn't help either. A disappointment, since I had been told it is the greatest book ever.