War & Peace Read-a-long: Hanna's Week Nine Check-In

Don't forget, everybody - the prompts this week are hosted by the amazing and supportive Charlotte, over at Lit Addicted Brit.

I was pleasantly surprised by this week's reading - not only was it quite short, but I was actually quite interested in what was going on. That said, I have had four days at home to recharge my batteries which probably helped focus myself on long-winded Russian classics.

1)  With the multiple deaths, this week started to feel a little more like Tolstoy was starting to wrap up some of his characters' stories. How do you feel about the way Helene's death was dealt with compared to Andrew's?

 

Is he? By 'wrapping up,' do you mean 'killing people off?' 

 

I stand by my earlier theory that Tolstoy didn't plan this out before he started writing the damn thing. Hence why the story goes all over the place and why he kills off characters so suddenly - presumably he got sick of them or just didn't want them in the story any more. 

 

It's actually getting quite annoying - at least give them a proper death scene! I was quite shocked when Helene died (I'm not the only one who noticed the implication that she'd gotten pregnant from one of her lovers, right?) because it was only mentioned in bloody passing, just like Princess Lise.

 

Andrey's wasn't much better, but at least he got a whole paragraph. Maybe men dieing is just oh-so-much more important than those silly women and their childbirth? 

2)  I certainly wouldn't go so far as to call myself a Pierre fan but his experiences as a prisoner were quite moving. How do you think Pierre is going to fare as we approach the end of the novel?

 

I stumbled across some spoilers when I was checking whether Helene had been knocked up (she had) so I actually know how Pierre is going to fare.

 

I don't like it.

 

 

3)  Now the competition's opened back up, who are you backing for Nicholas Rostov's future wife, rich heiress Mary or devoted Sonya? 

 

I've always been backing Marya, partly because I like/pity her but also because that's who Nikolay wants to marry and surely he should have a say in this?

 

That said: a) Sonya has turned vaguely psychopathic this week and b) I want Countess Rostov to have her nose rubbed in it. I really hated her attempts to emotionally blackmail Sonya into 'freeing' the man she loved. But then he did want to be free... but then the Countess didn't know that... argh, so complicated!

 

I didn't see any spoilers about this, thankfully, as it's the probably the thing I care most about. 

4)   The Rostovs have always been my favourite family in War and Peace and seeing them from Mary's perspective was a little bit sad.  How is everyone feeling about how things are going for them?

Umm. How are things going for them again? I know Nikolay is in love with Marya and Natasha is sad about Andrey... Sonya was forced to break-up with Nikolay and I assume they're still having financial difficulties, but that particular plot point was disregarded without really being dealt with. Maybe abandoning some of their property helped?

Remember, the prompts are here!