By and large, the Russian writers leave me pretty cold, except for some of Dostoevsky and Gogol, and Tolstoy leaves me colder than most.

Very turgid and stylized, I think Tolstoy is to literature what the fabled Russian Winter is to weather.

I tried, I really did try to get through "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina." I just couldn't do it, I'm only human... Tolstoy is, in terms of tedium, kind of like Russia's answer to the Henry Jameses and Edith Whartons of the world, as well as Dickens at his most ponderous and other English writers of the 1700's and 1800's who like to talk about fine plates of china and etiquette and other shit that I hate. I'm a big fan of the Russian lit that I've read, though in RIA terms that probably means some people are getting a Boris Badunov image- for the record I'm neither Russian nor 'a commie'... I love Gogol and Dostoevsky because they are gritty and uproariously funny, I think that the Russian writers were the best at psychological matters and were darker, probed the human condition deeper, more incisive about good and evil, than many of the great English and American 19th century writers- these guys were into cold hard facts like depression, insanity, absurdity, oppression- this country- generally speaking- isn't the tea and crumpets, picnic by the riverside, let's describe each cord on the baroness' dress sort of place... though that's just my view o' course... I see considerably more affinity with Irish writers, post WW2 black and beat writers, and "Third World" literature than British or French etiquette things... but the Count was kind of a tedious chore.

Tolstoy was great in his time but is a bit dated today. The pages and pages on agricultural reform in Anna Karenina left my eyes glazed over. Give me Dostoevsky every time.

One of my least favorite Russian authors. I have yet to read War And Peace though.

I'm reading Ana Karenina, and I don't care if I must read about a million pages to know the end of this story, or any another wrote by Lev Nicolaievilch Tolstoy (His complete and real name); so, if you, guy, can't read just 1200 pages, then you do not diserve the honor of know him. Please, go. You have nothing to do with culture.

He is not as focused as Dostoevski, and comes across as a bit forceful at times.

I enjoy the richness and complexity of the characters and the times.

Tolstoy: Who wants to read a book thats 1200 pages! Too much time for so little in return.

Without Leo Tolstoy, literature as at type of art and entertainment cannot be defined to its fullest meanings of pleasure,or at least Russians would think so. He is the "Great Authors of Russia," commented by Golo,Dostoevsky and others. Although his novels such as Viona & Mir (War and Peace) and Anna Karenina ranges 1,000 pages or more, the literary values they contain cannot be measured by what critics giving some critique. On the ladder of "Artisticity," they stand at the top of their forms. You just gotta read it.