War and Peace [CAUTION: SPOILERS]

[QuizteamBleakley]

Anyone watching? All British actors appearing here...

does Pierre at some point grow a pair? I'm finding it so frustrating the way he is so easily manipulated by all concerned. I also hate hate hate the evil brother of Pierre's wife! I'm enjoying it - I do think it's P&P meets Tolstoy too but I loved P&P and I'm enjoying the generally great acting.

You'll have to wait and see!

None of the characters really cover themselves in glory, IMO. I love Anatoly and Helene! Evil personified! Natasha is meant to have black curly hair but they have dyed the actress's hair that weird light brown colour.

grrrr...i hope so but i'm not sure people's characters can fundamentally change! Sad the way the unloved and inconvenient wife was bumped off, one minute she was grimacing at the returned husband and the next she was gone in a pool of blood - felt a bit rushed?

The whole thing's a bit rushed, it's a whistle stop tour of W&P's greatest hits.

There is another thread on W&P, which one is the main one?

I toyed with the idea of name changing for this, but cannot be bothered, esp. since plan to change permanently anyway when I do get downtime )) - I am Russian (10+ years in UK), read W&P twice but last time when I was about 23 - ages ago :). Definitely need to re-read but don't have a Russian copy here and have no time to read off the computer.

What I do remember that Helen was a statuesque cold beauty with alabaster skin and luxurious cleavage - so very different from the film in that respect.

Old (dying) Bezukhov was a big fat(very fat?) not very old at all bloke, more like King Henry VIII type of man rather that what they showed?!(why? make him so different?)

Pierre is a very good take on the Pierre in the book.

Maria is supposed to be properly plain! Tall and lanky(or maybe stooping even), but she is supposed to have gorgeous beautiful eyes. She is far prettier in the film, but I don't mind!

What else, desperately trying to remember the incest in the book(which I thought was plausible in the film, it's not like they were into full blown shagging), and all I remember is that there was some hint of it. Maybe societal gossip?

Really loved Jim Broadbent, and he is exactly like the old man in the book :)

Oh yeah, they wouldn't keep the pigs even by the back door in Moscow, they would be in a pig sty ;)

I have an English copy of W&P right here but worried that it might be a terrible translation and would spoil the spirit of the book.

About the intensity of Russians - true, they are far more intense compared to the vibe in the film. Also who said the landscape looked too much like Norfolk? A lot of Russia is EXACTLY like Norfolk :). Lots of wide flat spaces, but trees on average are far taller(than in Norfolk), and lots more conifer(Christmas tree type) forests everywhere.

Obviously the film is very 'soapy', but cannot write it off as nothing to do with the book and Russians! Within its severe limits it does manage to give an idea of what the story is like :). Overall, more of a thumbs up than thumbs down from me, and if it gets anyone reading Tolstoy, it's been worth it.

I have never read the novel but I have noticed an English version on the bookshelf of one of the fledglings who have flown the nest, so the opportunity is there. However, I shall defer reading it until I have seen all of the film episodes as I want to enjoy the TV production at face value (which I am) and I can't help thinking that any translation can never reproduce the nuances of the original language. I am not a Russian speaker, by the way, but having read Madame Bovary in English it certainly lacks something of tbe original.

Just opened the translation I have, cannot find whose it is, just says Penguin Popular Classics. Is it supposed to be a good one, maybe somebody knows?

I noticed names in the catalogue of characters are confusing, some are French-way, as in the original (Helene, pronounced the French way, with silent H and emphasis on the - len), some are anglo-phied, like Andrew and Nicholas(instead of Andrei and Nikolai), but some Russian pet version of the names are given too, which don't go with their full English counterparts.

But these are minor points, it didn't feel like a completely different book from the original after reading the first page (which actually in the Russian version is nearly entirely in French), so will probably be okay for me to refer to if I need to, though might find the original online too.

I'm reading in tandem. There is a thread in adult fiction if you want to join us . My translation has anglicised names which is slightly off putting when reading and watching.

There is a hint of incest in the book. Something like 'People say he was in love with her and she with him' about Anatoly and Helene.

Constance Garnett's translations of Tolstoy are very good. But as I can't read Russian I have no way of comparing it to the original.

I might get it on audiobook, unabridged.. I just love Russian literature.

Has anyone been watching 'Empire of the Tsars'? I found it more informative than I thought it would be.

I've been recommended the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation. I expect I will read whichever is cheapest on kindle though.

I've read it about 20 years ago, without paying much attention to all the battle bits. I have a very old copy picked up in a second hand bookshop in NZ, might get it on my Kindle and reread, I'll spend a lot of time in airports and on trains over the next few weeks.

Just picking up on NoDownTime's comments on Maria which I totally agree with. The 'she's so plain, what the hell are we going to do with her? Stick a ribbon in her hair and hope for the best' business looks crazy when the woman playing her is absolutely lovely.

As an aside was so pleased when she kicked that little shit Anatole into touch - wish she'd said the real reason though (and used the words 'he's a little shit,' )

Pevear and Volokhinsky - looked them up - makes sense that they would translate better, being a Russian-English(American) collaboration (husband and wife).

I don't understand why my Penguin edition doesn't list the translators? I'm sure I can find it online though...

It's 99p on kindle. I'm going in!

Can't cope with American idiom in translations.

I notice they did Dostoyevksy as well - am very loyal to David Margashack for D - he (Margashack) was born in Riga (then in Russia now in Latvia for those unfamiliar).

Maria in the book had beautiful vibrant blue eyes (and fair hair) - she may have been seen as plain at that time when fashion was for bland regular faces, curves and alabaster skin (Helene in the book - though not in film), but now I suspect she would be a model type - tall, lanky and interesting!

As an aside was so pleased when she kicked that little shit Anatole into touch - wish she'd said the real reason though (and used the words 'he's a little shit,' grin)
yep!

having said hat, I do like the actress in the adaptation, she is just so loveable, thoughtful and genuine (and pretty).

Broadbent is amazing and spot on!

I clicked on this because I found the idea of not giving away spoilers on such a well known old classic very amusing Also if you know anything about actual history you'll know how it's going to go.

I'm finding it interesting and comparing it to the Hopkins version, and the book of course. It's not really over 6 hours is it?

Accent maniac here! Paul Dano's British accent is flawless!

He's not British? Must Google..

I was amazed he's not English. Stephen Rea has slipped into Irish a couple of times..

He is very good all round.

He was in the awful Daniel Day Lewis overacting fest There Will be Blood and was quite good in it. He's also the silent older brother in Little Miss Sunshine.

I know, I don't know why I didn't recognise him from LMS - I guess he looks very different.