# War & Peace? Or The Brothers Karamazov? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140 "2011-12-05T17:02:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![luvtinayothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@luvtinayothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luvtinayothers)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/1 "2011-12-05T17:02:27Z")
I’m in the mood for a giant Russian novel. Which one should I read next? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/2 "2011-12-05T17:14:49Z")
War & Peace. The Brothers Karamazov has more humor, but War & Peace has the better storylines. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/3 "2011-12-05T17:24:17Z")
I haven’t read Karamazov, but I have read _War and Peace_. Great book, I’d recommend it. And it’s longer than Karamazov. Get an unabridged translation, by all means. The Louis and Aylmer Maude is the recommended one, but i read a Penguiin translation by someone else. ---
**Author:** ![luvtinayothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@luvtinayothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luvtinayothers)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/4 "2011-12-05T17:27:44Z")
Length doesn’t matter, I’m in the mood for a looong book 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/5 "2011-12-05T20:24:48Z")
Personally, I liked _Brothers Karamazov_ better. While the historical aspects of _W&P_ are probably superior (OK, they are), I prefer the _Brothers_ because I didn’t have to keep a notebook to track the various story lines. Besides, there is a more “mental” aspect to _Brothers_ that I did not find in _W&P_. But if you are just going by length…it’s _W&P_. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/6 "2011-12-05T20:57:00Z")
None of the above. Go Soviet with The Master and Margarita. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/7 "2011-12-06T02:22:16Z")
The Brothers Karamazov. That reminds me, I need to finish it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/8 "2011-12-06T02:47:29Z")
The Brothers Karamazov Way better and I have read them both. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/9 "2011-12-06T05:48:33Z")
War & Peace. It will be easier to read The Brothers K afterward than the reverse order. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/10 "2011-12-06T05:54:55Z")
The Brothers Karamazov is a force of nature, and a profound book in ways War and Peace is not (IMO – I know that’s certainly not everyone’s judgment). War and Peace isn’t really that long, though, before anyone starts complaining. Aren’t all those Tom Clancy novels long too? I did skip the past few hundred pages out of boredom – I should give it another read sometime. I like that guy who chained himself to the bear, though – that’s entertainment. But the Tolstoy I like are in short form, and his Confessions. I had great responses from undergrad comp students reading “Hadji Murad” and “The Devil” various semesters, which was good. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/11 "2011-12-06T13:13:09Z")
I think people are misunderstandi ng me. I was observing that it was long as a positive selling point. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/12 "2011-12-06T13:19:28Z")
Karamazov - but I’m generally more partial to Dostoyevskiy than to Tolstoy, I think. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/13 "2011-12-06T14:30:55Z")
War and Peace and then the Bros. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/14 "2011-12-06T14:54:07Z")
Flip a coin- they’re BOTH great. And be sure to read the “loser” after you finish the winner. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/15 "2011-12-06T17:34:48Z")
FYI War and Peace is FREE to download to ibooks in the iTunes Store ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-peace-or-the-brothers-karamazov/605140/16 "2011-12-06T20:56:01Z")
I wasn’t able to finish _Karamazov_ (which probably says more about when I was trying to read it than anything), but _War and Peace_ is definitely worth the read. And it may be long, but it’s mostly small words. 🙂 As for Bulgakov…read _Heart of a Dog_ first, says I.