War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 4, Part III

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War and Peace Group Read 2011 - Vol 4, Part III

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1Deern
Bewerkt: apr 9, 2011, 6:52 am

New thread for volume 4, part III

Next thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/113834

2Deern
Bewerkt: apr 28, 2011, 10:23 am

I read this in quite a rush, just to be finally done with the book. I surely missed some important statements on the psychology of war.

For a short moment I was glad to see Denisov and Petya again (and even Dolokhov). And then happened what I had feared - Petya fulfilled his duty in this novel and became the too young and unnecessary victim of war. And just when I was annoyed because it was so predictable, Tolstoi gave me Denisov's reaction, and that really touched me and made me sad.

Pierre's 'enlightenment' in chapter 12 has been called the most crucial part in the book. I've read similar thoughts in other books, but Tolstoi must have been the first one to express them in a novel.
What I am missing about Pierre throughout the book (I have at this point finished epilogue I and am done with the characters) is some steadiness. It feels like he has those life-changing revelations every second chapter.

3JanetinLondon
mei 11, 2011, 5:16 am

For the first time in the book, I was really bored by this section. I just wasn’t interested in Denisov’s little band of raiders and how they harassed the retreating French. And as for Petya, he was silly and childish, and was doomed to death from the beginning of the book. I just didn’t care about him (except to note that, as a true Rostov, he wanted to help the captured drummer boy). And it was no surprise that they found Pierre in the band they were attacking.

Why didn’t the Russians just smash the French? Or the French turn and try to smash the Russians? Because 100,000+ men were starving, freezing, just wanting to keep going – the French to escape, the Russians to just stay there to make sure they didn’t change their minds. That’s the reality, regardless of what historians might say, and I think we have got it by now.