Russian Life & People Digest
Question by Pelagius: ‘War & Peace’ by Tolstoy? Long book; is there a short version?
Without the boring ‘peace’ bits? (posh birds flouncing about in fancy dresses, having affairs and looking out the window and complaining about the weather)?
Answers and Views:
Answer by Libby
LOL…..no, there is not really a short version. The closest would be “Cliff Notes, War and Peace by Tolstoy”
Read all the answers in the comments.
What do you think?
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padma says
No, read the whole darn thing!
Michelle says
let me summarize:
A rich, obese, weak bastard wins the hand of a self-centered little princess while her other suitor perishes from war wounds.
That's the short version 😉
gnothi sauton says
Perhaps you can search on the web for a manga version? A long time ago,we youngsters were subjected to "Classics Comics." I don't recall seeing 'War and Peace' among them, but one never knows. Funny. I never ran across 'The Brothers Karamazov', 'Buddenbrooks',or 'Madame Bovary' either. But maybe they were judged to be over our 12 year old heads.
LJ K says
This question made me laugh… thanks! No, you don't want to read a shorter version. It's the whole book that is the classic, not just parts.
There may be a Reader's Digest abridged version or something, I would think a librarian in particular would know about that, though they may at a bookstore as well– but it wouldn't be Tolstoy. EDIT: And Tolstoy is a great writer, really tops.
It sounds like you really want to read a book about war. I suggest "Black Hawk Down," another long book but all about war and soldiers– a book written well before the movie– that is very good. I can't recall the author's name, but again they will know where books are sold or checked out.
It's in paperback.
Hope you find something you really want to read!
Matthew B says
Yes there are numerous abriged virsons And of course spark notes and things like that but i would really, really recomend reading the long version espicaly if it's for school there are things that you an skip but this is not one of them it is a book that should be read to it's fullest but if you really insist then go to amazon.com and type in War And Peace Abriged you will find shorter ones if there are any