I feel like this section touched on a lot of things though it basically falls under two categories: Tolstoy's musings on history and our interpretation of it and the Russians evacuating Moscow in the wake of the French invasion. There is no real battle waged but the French do end the section in possession of the city. The former is pretty dull and just feels to me like Tolstoy is lecturing his captive audience when what we really want to know is if Natasha and Pierre are going to get together (or is that just me? I know I could read about it online but I'm trying to wait and read through the book like a good girl. Needless to say her reunion with former fiance Prince Andrei was not something I cheered.)
We check in with most of our characters (though sadly no Princess Marya) as they are impacted by the war but just for brief stretches. I was surprised by how much the section skipped around and was glad to see loads of female characters even if they don't have much characterization.
Someone who I can now envision clearly is Pierre's estranged wife Helene who has this excellent description: "Helene, on the contrary, like a truly great person who can do whatever she likes, at once placed herself in the position of being right, in which she sincerely believed, and all the others in the position of being wrong" (Trans. Pevear and Volokhonsky, 833). I've seen these kinds of people and have at times envied them their self-confidence and assurance.
This part ends on a weird note: Pierre had thought he might assassinate Napoleon (!) and ends up under arrest after interfering with some French looters. I'm really curious as to what is going to happen there as this whole decision on Pierre's part was baffling to me.
I hope everyone else is caught up on the reading-looking forward to the finish line :D
Wow. Go you! I've never read W&P and probably won't...but it's definitely an impressive accomplishment!
ReplyDeleteIt's something to keep in mind-very manageable if you divide it into 12 chunks like we're doing!
DeleteI think this is awesome reading through even if parts are dull
ReplyDeleteIt helps knowing that other people are reading it too-we're often bored by the same moments and then we can commiserate together.
DeleteOne reason I have a difficult time reading some classics is because there seem to be stretches of dull moments. That's great you're almost finished!
ReplyDeleteLuckily there are also more interesting moments to balance it out! I'm so close to the end and I'm not giving up now!
DeleteI think spreading it out like this is a great idea, then the dull parts are something you can get over before getting to the next portion. I should do something like this to great through some classics I've been afraid of.
ReplyDeleteLet's talk about that for 2014! I have a long list of classics I want to tackle and would love to have a reading partner :)
Deletelolll Pierre thinking he was going to assassinate Napoleon is so funny to me!
ReplyDeleteIt's so ridiculous-he had a seriously inflated opinion of himself to think that!
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