War and Peace Check-In: April

Hey guys!

How are you doing? I'm proud to say that according to goodreads, we're now 33% of the way through the book. That definitely feels like an accomplishment, am I right?

And I liked these sections a lot, VERY LITTLE WAR. Lots of characters acting oddly. It was good times.

Pierre's marriage has already fallen apart! I thought the duel was interesting because I read Anna Karenina last year and Vronsky kept wishing Karenin would just challenge him to a duel but then he never did for reasons. But Pierre had no problems at all convincing himself his wife was cheating and challenging that dude and then he didn't die! Pierre lives to see another day. Of course the idea of a duel is quite old fashioned and ridiculous and I thought it was amusing no one really thought they'd go through with it and they did and of course it wasn't glorious--just like war, it was quick, stupid, and someone got hurt.

We also got to check in with Prince Andrei's family and his wife giving birth. I thought it was a bit too happy storybook for him to come back from the presumed dead just as his wife was giving birth so of course she died. (though all that stuff about how she died looking like "how could you do this to me?" was kinda strange) Pierre comes to his grieving friend with his own newfound way of life--Freemasons! The whole induction to the freemasons went over my head, but I was supposed to feel that they were genuinely looking out for Pierre's interest or his money? In any case, Pierre was quite idealistic about his new life and it seems like despite his good intentions he just made life worse for everyone.

I think Sonya and Natasha are quite unlucky in love at the moment, their men seem uninterested in committing to them and they are turning down others for them.

Rostov remains completely fascinating while at the same time kind of horrid, lol. The whole scene where he lost all his money to a vindictive Dolohov rang so true, in particular the way he suddenly found himself so much in debt and had no idea how he'd gotten there and how he wished he'd stayed home with his family. And he knew it was a lot of money but did his best to make it seem completely natural that he's lose all that money to his father. And then, upon returning to the battle--he continues to act impetuously when he tries to appeal on Denisov's behalf. It's like he never learns. But...I really liked the scene where he's seeing the emperor and all the finery and the peace agreement or whatever's going on and thinking about the hospital and smell of death and all that's been lost and for what? Because of course you'd feel that when you're the one who's been fighting the ugliest parts of the war.

So...I liked the sections quite a bit! I'm sure I forgot something but you can fill me in. Next month we tackle Book II parts 3 & 4. What do you think is going to happen?

What did you like best out of this section? Did anything surprise you? Do you feel like you're one third of the way through? Feeling better about the book?

Feel free to discuss in comments or drop a link to your post in the mister linky.