Saturday, June 1, 2013

War and Peace, Volume II, Parts 3 and 4

Hosted by My Friend Amy

It's the first of the month, which means it's time for an update on War and Peace! Per usual, I read this all in about two days because I am bad at planning ahead for these readings. On the bright side, at least I completed it and am still on track. I wrote this ahead of time as I am currently in Hawaii so I don't know if Amy posted any questions but here are my (brief) thoughts on this section.

I was so pleased that we didn't have any "war" sections this time, getting to spend many more pages with our female characters although not really enough for my taste. I really don't like the way Tolstoy has drawn most of the ladies. In fact, I don't think I like the sound of any of these women although I desperately want to like Natasha.

As for other, less satisfactory scenes, there is a fox hunt. Firstly I find fox hunting disgusting so while I know that the aristocracy does it, I loathe it. Secondly I found all the movement very confusing. It reminded me of the war sections and that's another reason for my disliking it.

It has been suggested to sit back and let the story flow over me and I am definitely doing that. I am not stressing about all of the characters and their eventual outcomes but am trying to relish the panoramic story even though it stubbornly resists my efforts to treat it like I'm used to treating a novel.

Next month is the halfway point! We are completing Volume II, Part 5.

4 comments:

  1. You are so impressive! Just thinking about reading War and Peace makes me exhausted.

    I'm going to catch up on your other posts since I've been away from the blog over the last few days… hope you are having a great vacation.

    Jen @ YA Romantics

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    1. It's actually been very manageable, spreading it out over the year and reading it with others. I could never tackle it alone! I think I will always prefer to read classics with others so they can serve as a sounding board and support system for me.

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  2. lol I so agree about the movement in the fox hunting section, you really nailed my issues with that!

    And yeah, I want to like Natasha, I don't dislike her actually, I just don't find her that interesting.

    Hope you enjoyed Hawaii!

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    1. I want to like Natasha so much-I've heard such good things about her but I'm just not feeling her. Hopefully in future sections?

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