# War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/war-and-peace/

8 people recommended War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 12 months, in 6 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a sweeping classic with vivid, chaotic war scenes and prose that many readers find hard to put down. Critics say its slow pace and large cast make it a difficult read.

Summary written by Claude from 15 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Vivid, chaotic depiction of war (2 comments in the sample): "I've just read that section of War and Peace and was blown away by the descriptions of guerrilla tactics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48848556)) "pretty good IMHO and captures many of the essentials of the book" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48667851))
- Gripping and hard to put down (2 comments in the sample): "I'm really enjoying War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46172552)) "I fell into War and Peace and couldn't stop." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48673317))
- Regarded as an excellent classic (2 comments in the sample): "when you  pick up Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina, War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov, or Dead Souls" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48674085)) "which obviously was excellent" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46397641))

## What people warn about

- Slow and hard to follow (3 comments in the sample): "300 characters with names that I’ll never remember, some woman and her son, a general or something" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48667756)) "1200 pages of bad writing where he can't get to the fucking point" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48932315)) "could not get through the first 5% of the book" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48682290))

## Other novels people recommend

- [Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/crime-and-punishment/): 32 recommend, 7 mixed, 9 criticize
- [Moby-Dick by Herman Melville](https://hackerapproved.com/p/moby-dick/): 18 recommend, 3 mixed, 9 criticize
- [The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/brothers-karamazov/): 18 recommend, 9 mixed, 7 criticize
- [Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/blood-meridian/): 16 recommend, 1 mixed, 3 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy", https://hackerapproved.com/p/war-and-peace/ (8 recommend, 3 mixed, 5 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.