Has anyone out there actually finished "War and Peace"

[tortoise1956]

without threat of bodily harm? I have tried 3 times, and I can't seem to get past about 200 pages. It may be a classic, but then so are medieval torture techniques...

[hlthe2b]

1. Cliff Notes.

:evilgrin:


Seriously, I had trouble too... I got through most of it.

[Hardrada]

2. I have but I am a fast reader.

Have had to be. Napoleon loses.

[JDPriestly]

3. I believe I did, but I was very young. I remember reading it, but

I don't remember much else about it -- too long ago.

I read a lot, really a lot, a lot, a lot.

[Golden Raisin]

4. Yes, but over 40 years ago.

[snot]

5. When I was 12. Didn't understand it; but I read it.

[jobycom]

6. The last person to finish "War and Peace" was Tolstoy. nt

[Demeter]

7. I only read the peace parts

couldn't stand the violence even then....in junior high.

[Davis_X_Machina]

8. Read it any number of times....

...perhaps once every four or five years for the last thirty-five.

The essays on historiography at the end though -- only the first time.

[TheMadMonk]

9. There's an unsubstantiated rumour that Private Manning has had enough time. nt

[Tesha]

10. Once, for school. I have absolutely no memory of the contents. (NT)

[raccoon]

11. Not yet, but I finished ANNA KARENINA over the Xmas holidays.

I think it's worth a read, and I don't think it's as long as W&P.

[WolverineDG]

12. I read an abridged version

it was still quite long though.

dg

[pitohui]

13. yes i have

i like long books, however, as doris lessing says, if you don't like a book, put it down, pick up a different one, read widely and find out what YOU like

are we required to read every classic out there? i think not unless we're english majors, or in your case, russian majors...

[Retrograde]

14. Twice

Had to read it in high school many years ago. My reading group did it a few years back. It helps if you skim over the philosophical parts, but there actually is a lot of plot. Being a Communist Philistine, though, I really couldn't get too worked up when those uppity serfs deserted Marya during the invasion. It was a bit shocking on my last reading to read the parts about the Russian nobility buying serfs.

ETA: The new translation doesn't do a good job with my favorite bit, when Nicholai is being shot at during the battle of Austerlitz: "They're shooting at me, me, who everyone is so fond of!"

[pscot]

15. It's about Russia, right?

It's been a while, but I did read it all.

[LWolf]

16. Thirty years ago. I haven't looked at it since, though. nt

[spin]

17. I just made it though Moby-Dick ...

I need to give the "classics" a rest for a while.

[Cleita]

18. I did back when I was in high school because I was

threatened by a very threatening nun for not doing my homework on Shakespeare. I don't remember much about it today. However, I feel that if I read it today, I would do diagrams on the characters and plots to keep track of it.

[LearnedHand]

19. I did ... the Pevear and spouse translation

But I was lost among the characters most of the time and it took me 8 months to read it. And I'm a very fast reader. I loved the novel and it was well worth it. But keep a printout of the Wikipedia article listing all the characters in your hands at all times.

[krispos42]

20. I believe in the end the ship sinks

after hitting an iceberg.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

21. It was not actually that bad

But much like julia childs coq au vin, it was better in another day.

[AmandaMae]

22. No, but I was only 14 when I tried to read it.

I do want to read the entire thing sometime.