War and Peace, Volume 1

This is a superb reading. All too often with very long works read as audiobooks the monotonous, mechanical tone of the reader gives the impression that the words come out of the mouth without ever going anywhere near the mind. But Neville Jason proves to be an ideal reader for such a vast and varied novel. The narration is constantly sensitive to the tone and pace of Tolstoy's writing and he has an impressive skill in differentiating and giving a plausible voice to each of the many characters. Even readers who are very familiar with the text will find this reading illuminates scene after scene.

As for the novel itself recommendation is superfluous for anyone who has once read this marvellous book. I can think of very few other novels that leave the reader with so vivid a sense of lived experience and once read forever haunt the imagination. But if anyone has been deterred from undertaking such a lengthy work this excellent audiobook may well prove the ideal way to get to know one of the supreme(and most enjoyable) masterpieces of world literature.

This is a masterclass in how an audiobook should be read. If you have always promised yourself to read/re-read War & Peace and just haven't got round to it do yourself a favour and download this version, I think you can all imagine the
unremitting tedium of a boringly read W&P - this is anything but.

An astounding achievement. Neville Jason possesses a wealth of voices ranging from a coy 15-year-old girl to a crabby old man with many in between. This enables the listener to identify characters easily (and there are lots of them) and to follow what is a complex plot. I thought listening to this would be a substitute for reading but this is so well brought to life that I want to read it too. And rush off and learn Russian ...

I am a great lover of classics and have read many over the years, This is the most enjoyable piece of literature I have ever encountered.

As long as the narrator is good I find audio books to be a perfect compromise between wanting to read but having too much work to do. Neville Jason reads this book well. His pace is just right, not too fast and with exactly the right intonations for the respective characters. I feel that he puts the right feeling into each sentence and paragraph and as you listen you are not aware of the book being read, so much as feeling yourself melting into the world of War and Peace and feeling a part of it, notwithstanding the fact that this version is an unabridged version and not dramatised..All the better for it I say.

This book is such a well known classic, but I expect many people, myself included, might be put of by the length of the book as well as the complex and detailed battle scenes that are a continuous theme through out the book. The audio version, as narrated by Neville Jason, makes this work very accessible and extremely enjoyable. I am not usually a great lover of war books or films and understand nothing about battles etc. but this audio book awakened in me an interest and enjoyment in this aspect of the work, which I might not have been able to appreciate if I had read this book as written literature.

The combination and depiction of the characters is masterful and the story draws you in. Tolstoy brilliantly moves from battle field to drawing room and back to battle field, keeping the reader eager to discover the outcome of each drama as it unfolds. The reader may find themselves falling in love with more than one character, both romantically and intellectually, that is the magic of Tolstoy’s creations.

The reader will finish this book with a sense of satisfaction and pleasure that Tolstoy did get it right. A very cleaver man.

I've finished volume 1 of this set and am halfway through volume 2. I have to say this is fantastically read - the voices he uses seem to fit perfectly. How he's managed to keep the same pace and clarity throughout this epic is beyond me. This is only the 3rd audiobook I've listened to, but if I can find more of this quality, it won't be the last!

I've never really had the courage to start reading War and Peace so I thought this would be a great way of tackling one of those 'must read before I die' books without causing irrecoverable harm to my writsts. I've survived both part one and part two so the plan worked ! And yes I'm confirmed in my opinion of myself as a lightweight as I found the amount of political exposition somewhat wearisome and I have to admit that the ffwd button got pressed a couple of times on particularly lengthy and repetitive tracts. Having said that there is a reason this book has survived in print for so long and its wealth of characters and bradth of perspective make this an absorbing listen / read. The narrator does a good job, only jarring occasionally on the most annoying of characters!

Whilst I'm not sure I have the mindset I can see why people read and reread the book many times and it's definitely worth a listen.

This is a superb reading. All too often with very long works read as audiobooks the monotonous, mechanical tone of the reader gives the impression that the words come out of the mouth without ever going anywhere near the mind. But Neville Jason proves to be an ideal reader for such a vast and varied novel. The narration is constantly sensitive to the tone and pace of Tolstoy's writing and he has an impressive skill in differentiating and giving a plausible voice to each of the many characters. Even readers who are very familiar with the text will find this reading illuminates scene after scene.

As for the novel itself recommendation is superfluous for anyone who has once read this marvellous book. I can think of very few other novels that leave the reader with so vivid a sense of lived experience and once read forever haunt the imagination. But if anyone has been deterred from undertaking such a lengthy work this excellent audiobook may well prove the ideal way to get to know one of the supreme(and most enjoyable) masterpieces of world literature.

I do wish I could like this better. I've read and reread the novel, and will read it again. I agree that Neville Jason has a wealth of voices for the characters. But his detached, ironic, even effete narrator is just not the right voice for the robust, passionate, opinionated Tolstoy. I won't be getting the second half.

Travel through history and society, through battlefields, through the minds, emotions and dreams of fellow humans: lovers, soldiers, princes, prisoners, even emperors? and with the fine, faithful and eloquent narration of Neville Jason, expect the best delivery of each and every scene, for that is precisely what is on offer.

Loving this more than "Anna Karenina". This is the first half of this epic novel, am waiting for a deal on the second part. Watched the mini series on Napoleon so have this in mind while reading, life was tough on those soldiers. Notwithstanding this, life in the cities (in this part anyway) continued as normal, looking forward to how these self absorbed characters are going to deal with what life will throw at them next...
This book is flowing well, not too many lectures from Tolstoy. Have a go, it is not as daunting a book as we are all lead to believe. The narrator does a good job of enhancing the meaning of the text. Any confusion with characters is solved with a little research on the internet, as are any historical questions you may have. The translation is a good one if you are used to the works of 19th century English authors.