Hana’s Reviews > War and Peace > Status Update

Tolstoy argues that the fires that burned much of Moscow were not deliberately set but spread accidentally from campfires. He makes a good case. Still, the extent of the damage is shocking. The dark areas are the parts that burned

...to hold on to the brilliant position the French army was in....on needed to do the simplest and easiest thing: to keep the army from looting, to provide a supply of winter clothing, of which there was enough in Moscow for the whole army, and to organize the collection of provisions for the whole army, of which...there was enough...for more than six months. Napoleon, that genius of geniuses...did none of that.

"For the first time, all that pure spiritual inner work, which she had so far lived by, emerged. All her inner work of discontent with herself, her suffering, her yearning for the good, obedience, love, self-sacrifice--all this now shone in those luminous eyes, in her fine smile, in every feature of her tender face." [OK Count Lyov Nikolayevich Tolstoy if you don't give this one a happy ending I give up on you!]

Kurtuzov has now taken full command of the Russian forces. He's the one historical figure who emerges from the shadows of Tolstoy's narrative.

Tolstoy is superb at conveying the fog of war--and the fog of political counsel surrounding war.

He stopped in mid-speech, lowered his eyes, so as not to see her unpleasantly irritated and irresolute face..."It's not to quarrel with you that I come today. On the contrary." All her irritation suddenly vanished, and her and her anxious, pleading eyes were directed at him in eager expectation. "I can always arrange it so that I see her rarely," thought Boris.

Pierre was received in the nice new drawing room, in which it was impossible to sit down anywhere without violating the symmetry, cleanliness and order, and therefore it was quite comprehensible and not strange that Berg magnanimously suggested disturbing the symmetry of an armchair or a sofa for his dear guest, and obviously in a painful dilemma himself in this respect, left the resolving...to his guest's choice.

GR is sure making it hard to add updates. Oh well, so I'm back to being a newbie. Pevear and Volokhonsky are so helpful with lists of historical characters, chapter outlines, subheads with translations, guides to pronunciation, etc. I can't believe I've waited this long to read this classic.