Which of these books is the best?

Question

Been interested in russian literature and was wondering if you could tell me which book is the best of the three?

War and Peace

Anna karenina

Crime and Punishment

Answer 1

My personal opinion - Anna Karinina. But I must warn you that I adore sad endings and that my favourite ballet play is Anna Karenina =]

Objectively it is Crime and Punishment, though you might like to try The Idiot or The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, in my opinion they are much better than Crime and Punishment. Though Raskolnikov's portray should not be missed by any literature lover :)

Answer 2

I would vote for Anna Karenina.  I just finished it, and I loved it.  I picked it up not knowing much about it and got totally engrossed in the story.

I just started War and Peace, an so far I am enjoying that too.

If you decide to get either of these, I recommend the translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky.  They are fairly easy to read and supposedly the closest you can get to Tolstoy's tone and meaning.

Good luck!

Answer 3

ive only read crime and punishment, but i found it really interesting, and psychological.. the characters are really interesting

Answer 4

Crime and Punishment and War and Peace are both really good, but the process of reading them is really tedious (i.e. they're way too long for their own good). But Anna Karenina is very rewarding with regards to how much effort you put into reading it and how good it is.

However, all 3 are worth reading.

Answer 5

I didn't manage to finish Crime and Punishment, took a while to get into Anna Karenina, but loved War and Peace. Anna Karenina is probably best appreciated by the more mature (meaning 30+ y.o.)

Since I presume you're not planning to read the original, you might check out reviews of different translations, once you've picked the book.