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I've been to the country about 5-6 times for work and reading all the cultural and historical references of the P&V translation was fantastic. I've read Dunnigan the first time I read it and I enjoyed that as well, but it was just a great story. The P&V translation is a great story and a learning experience as well.
I do prefer the sparser use of French in the Dunnigan translation. At the start of the novel when Anna Pavlovna talks to Prince Vassily about Bonaparte being the antichrist the P&V translation is all French in the Dunnigan translation it goes "Eh Bien, mon prince,... Dunnigan used just enough French so you knew it was French without having to jump back and forth with French translation footnotes. But apparenlty I've read Tolstoy had a reason for using the French he did (used in upper society) and he also purposely decreases the amount of French as the book goes on indicating a declining Euro influence in Russia. Dunnigan gives you that sense without the translation footnotes.
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