Was War and Peace worth the listening time?Ħ0 hours is a lot of time for anyone, but if it makes the difference between reading the story and not, it's worth the investment.
I was very tempted to switch versions due to the narrator, but doing so would have been ridiculously expensive! Other readings of war and peace are available and the most notable version (and the most expensive) is by Naxos. It took some time to get used to the narrator's implausibly upper-class accent and he sounded like a stereotypical 'thespian', but you've certainly got time to get used to it given the length of the book so after a while you can tune out the dodgy accents and stop laughing at his impression of the female characters and just concentrate on the text. The narrator definitely did detract from the book. How did the narrator detract from the book? We get it Leo, history is written by the victors, let it go man!! It is without doubt the driest part of the novel as Tolstoy makes his thoughts clear very quickly (and to an extent has already expostulated on them throughout the main story), and then repeats and labours and repeats his point over and over again. The end of the book is an epilogue in which Tolstoy talks (at great length) about the philosophy of written history and the futility of trying to distinguish between fact and fiction.
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!) That and the huge attention to detail made the book quite a plod at times, retaining my concentration and not 'tuning out' was really hard at times. It is definitely a story worth knowing and not just for the kudos of being able to say you’ve read it! BUT, Tolstoy likes making sure his reader has understood the main points he is trying to get across, so he repeats them A LOT.
So many people know about War and Peace and yet so few have read it, largely put off by its length and complexity of characters so having the book read to you is a happy compromise. Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
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