So, Molly and I have finished 1125 pages of War & Peace.  The only thing left is the Epilogue and we’ll tackle that and our wrap-up next week.  This week saw an end to the French occupation of Russia and my guy Vaska Denisov had a little to do with that.  So, I guess I’ll start with him.

One of the more palpable and advantageous deviations from the so-called rules of war is the action of scattered people against people pressed together in a mass.  This kind of action always emerges in a war that acquires a national character.  These actions consist in the fact that, instead of a crowd opposing a crowd, people scatter, attack singly, and flee as soon as large forces attack them, then attack as soon as the opportunity arises.

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Vaska Denisov had his own band of merry men and was very successful at this kind of partisan warfare.  It was because of him and others like him that worked independently and together that the Russians got their country back. 

Prince Andrei is dead, but his death has brought his sister and ex-fiance together as BFF’s.

Princess Maria Bolonsky was the first of the two women to be called out of her grief for her brother and forced to take part in the real world of being in charge of her family’s wealth and responsible for the welfare of her nephew.  As she prepares to go back to Moscow the Rostov’s are dealt a blow and she sticks around to provide her support for Natasha and the family. 

From that day on, a passionate and tender friendship was established between Princess Maria and Natasha such as occurs only between women.

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Maria takes Natasha  to Moscow and encourages her to live life and accept love when she finds it.  Maria shines in her role as best friend.  I’ve never liked her more.  Still waiting to see what the future holds for her in the Epilogue.

Natasha Rostov watched Andrei die, knowing she had wronged him and yet he had forgiven her.  While she was still grieving for Andrei the family received the news that her youngest brother had died in battle.  Natasha was devastated.  Her health became so weak that her family encouraged her to travel to Moscow with Maria to consult doctors there.  In Moscow, the young women grow even closer and it is Maria who is encouraging when Pierre shows up with his heart on his sleeve.  Natasha’s old spark returns when Pierre looks at her with love in his eyes and she is giddy when he expresses a desire to marry her.  It was nice to see the progression in Natasha and although I don’t get the Pierre attraction I’m guessing it has something to do with the way he feels about her.

So, check out Molly’s take on the week and see her cat Tedy with the book.  And thanks for reading along each week!  Are you excited for the finale next Thursday?

This week Molly and I read Part One of Volume 4.  It was only 50 pages and yet we both lost one of our characters!  So, Moscow is burning as the French invade, but in the high circles of society of Petersburg, life goes on as usual, with the requisite balls and social obligations.

The majority of the people of that time paid no attention to the general course of things, but were guided only by the personal interests of the day.  And these people were the most useful figures of that time.

Those, however, who tried to understand the general course of things and wanted to take part in it with self-sacrifice and heroism, were the most useless members of society; they say everything inside out, and everything they did to be useful turned out to be useless nonsense, like Pierre’s and Mamonov’s regiments, which looted Russian villages, like the lint that young ladies plucked and that never got to the wounded, and so on.

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The three of my characters in this section all came together for the first and last time.  Prince Andrei had been badly injured and was staying the Natasha and the Rostov’s, where his life hung in the balance.  Natasha stayed by his side nursing him back to health, both of them hoping for a future together.  Princess Maria, meanwhile in Voronezh, saw her true love Nikolai again and learned from him where her brother was.  She and Andrei’s 7 year-old son went to him immediately (or as fast as they could which was 2 weeks).  When they arrived at the monastery where the family was staying it was obvious from Natasha’s face that Andrei was not well.  As the two women, past enemies, bonded over their love for Andrei they kept vigil.  Andrei himself was prepared for death.  By the end he had lost real meaning with his current world.

“Love? What is love?” he thought.  “Love hinders death.  Love is life.  Everything, everything I understand, I understand only because I love.  Everything is, everything exists, only because I love.  Everything is connected only by that.  Love is God, and to die-means that I, a part of love, return to the common and eternal source.”  These thoughts seemed comforting to him.  But they were only thoughts.  Something was lacking in them, there was something one-sidedly personal, cerebral there was no evidence.  And there was the same uneasiness and vagueness.

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In the end Prince Andrei died and I’m sad.  I thought he was a wonderful character full of life and troubled by darkness.  He was a man to admire, flaws and all.  So what will become of Natasha and Maria?  I think Maria has a real chance at happiness with Nikolai.  As for Natasha, she continued to grow up this week.  She was able to redeem herself a little of her terrible treatment of Andrei when they were engaged, so maybe she’ll find happiness too.

So who died over at Molly’s?  You’ll have to click on over to find out.

Max was back to reading this week in his favorite spot.  He could keep an eye on the street and read the book too.  

This was an interesting week since it was primarily about Moscow preparing for the French invasion.  Of my four characters only two them showed up this week, so I am also going to include a few quotes from the book so you can get a feel for the wonderful writing. 

The forces of two-and-ten European nations burst into Russia.  The Russian army and populace retreat, avoiding a confrontation as far as Smolensk, and from Smolensk to Borodino.  The French army, with an ever-increasing force of momentum, races on to Moscow, the goal of its movement.  The force of its momentum increases as it nears its goal, just as the velocity of a falling body increases as it nears the earth.  Behind are thousands of miles of famished, hostile country; ahead are a few dozen miles separating it from its goal.  Every soldier of Napoleon’s army feels that, and the invasion pushes on of itself, by the mere force of its momentum. (page 824) 

Prince Andrei was presumed dead AGAIN!  As the wounded are brought to Moscow we find out that he is one of them and that the doctors have little hope of him living.  As luck would have it he is evacuated from Moscow with the Rostov family and when Natasha found him the connection between the two was renewed.  The doctors still don’t believe he’ll recover and seem to be trying to help him stay ill. 

Natasha grew up a little this week.  She successfully took over the packing of their house for evacuation and she opened her heart to the wounded men by telling them they could stay in the Rostov home.  And then she begged her father to let the wounded travel with them after her mother had ordered otherwise… 

“The eggs…the eggs are teaching the hen…” the count said through happy tears.”  (Count Rostov expresses how proud he is of her) 

Before discovering Andrei in their convoy she had a chance encounter with Pierre that led him to wax poetic.  Now that Andrei is back in the picture it’s hard to see where that might lead.  I liked Natasha more this week.  She is still self-involved, but she is coming into her own and has many attractive qualities. 

So Moscow has been left to the  French but Pierre is still there.  Head on over to Molly’s to see what she has to say.  She’s covering Pierre and he was a busy boy this week.  We’re only a few weeks away from the end and I’m looking forward to seeing what becomes of everyone.