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Apologetics and Catholic Doctrine

by Michael J. Sheehan

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Jun 08, 2026 11:57AM

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War and Peace

by Leo Tolstoy

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Rowan said:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

" This Russian behemoth starts just like any other: an ensemble cast shows up to the residence of one of said cast's residence for a gathering. The gathering is rather based. Pierre walks in, bastard son of the Count, rambles about how badass he thinks This Russian behemoth starts just like any other: an ensemble cast shows up to the residence of one of said cast's residence for a gathering. The gathering is rather based. Pierre walks in, bastard son of the Count, rambles about how badass he thinks Napoleon is right after everyone was just talking about how much they hated him. His friend Prince Andrey sends his pregnant wife to live with his dad so he can fight in the war because he's bored, and tells Pierre to never marry because women are like children and they will never let go of their little parties. Great start.

I must say that this book more than any other Russian piece I've read, is exceptionally difficult for me to keep track of, in so far as the characters and their relationships are concerned. As per usual, the mixture of longwinded names which are unfamiliar to me as an American, coupled with how numerous they are, is quite bad enough. Add on to that the fact that there are multiple characters with the same name. Lord, help us.

In spite of this, I would say it picks up relatively early on. I found myself initially intrigued upon the scene of the count Bezuhov dying, and his favored bastard son Pierre subsequently inheriting his wealth. The count receiving his final rites was a most mystical and solemn scene, that served to bring the religious aspect into this piece, where just before it in the midst of house parties we really only saw the feeling of nobility and uppity-ness. Pierre was a character I initially gravitated towards, and this conflict, if you will, of suddenly inheriting wealth when noone sees you fit to do so, sparked further intrigue. The Princess Marya, too, quickly became a favorite of mine, with her docile nature and Christian simplicity. Her letter to Julie in Part I Chapter XXII was one of the best moments of the book to that point, setting certain themes and ideas in motion for me. In particular, she brings up the teaching of Christ, that it is harder for a rich man to go to Heaven than for a camel to pass through a needle's eye. Obviously, this brings up the question of Pierre's potential corruption at the sudden task of having to tend to such wealth.

I also find interesting the idea of Pierre being this fat, unliked, bastard-child, and then as he gets the money people are suddenly congratulating him or speaking fondly of him. I wonder if this is making a point about people being shallow and only kind to those who can give them something, or if on the flip side it's a comment about inheritance / coming into wealth or power as a total schlub. Or both.

Part II is much more chaotic, and serves as an adequate juxtaposition to the stuffy, quaint, or even flippant nature of the noble life in Part I. There, we see war talked of as this concept of honor and duty, a righteous theater, if you will. In Part II, we are met with none of that. There is a flurry of battle, and not one all too friendly to the Russians. Andrey, who has left his pregnant wife to fight in the war, finds himself in essentially a whole new world. We see the differences in response from Andrey and various others to the breakout of warfare. Nikolai, in particular, foils Andrey well in that Nikolai is very juvenile in his approach, and is momentarily rocked back into the world, reflecting on memories of his family as he sits wounded. As one would expect titularly, Part II does well of distinguishing the two worlds, so to speak, existing simultaneously: one of war and one of peace. One may also find this title to be internal, such as Pierre's internal struggle against the moral pulls of wealth, or perhaps even the "war and peace" of love between multiple characters in this epic.

In Part III, we again revisit Pierre, who, as noted before, is suddenly being cozied up to by many. In Particular, the elder Prince Vasili is trying to "advise" him how to spend his money while siphoning his funds, and also trying to get Pierre to marry his daughter Helene. I feel badly for Pierre, not necessarily for being stolen from or manipulated, but more from the fact that he seems to not have a strong conviction towards how he lives. He feels destined to marry Helene despite not loving her, and it feels like he hardly understands love, and what a man must do or feel, and so just goes with what he believes he's supposed to do.

Something that really sets W&P apart for me from other Russian Literature is that the serialized parts or volumes they were released in really feel separate from each other. Tolstoy invites us into what feels like a very expansive world, whereas at times when reading russian lit in the past, I've felt that serialized installments didn't feel all to distinct to me. If you were to explain Part V to me, where we see the anxious Pierre attempting again to find what it is he must do, now through the freemasons, I would not believe that it was the same book as Part I.

And again we see these intertwining stories that pull us from intrigue to intrigue, character to character, neatly involving them in each other, and yet feeling distinct. There's such a plethora of life being lived in this book. From the brutal excitement of war, to Nikolay and Natasha laughing on the couch together after joining their Uncle for the hunt in Part VII. Or Andrey's call to war and then disillusionment thereof. Or Pierre's pressure from Vasilly into marriage with Helen, and the dual that unfolds afterwards. There's just so much going on, it's hard not to envelop yourself in the story, and to at some point see yourself as a reflection of one of these characters.

It has been pointed out to me that Andrey, just as Pierre, is too a man of anxieties, though we see them approach it differently. Andrey feels a call to become some sort of great man initially, and thrusts himself into potential glory, trying to forge his own path. Pierre, however, at first looks for what he believes he's "supposed" to do. He is kind-hearted, but prideful at times. He doesn't like being made a fool of, which causes him trouble at times, such as the dual in which he shoots Dolokhov, and separates from Helene shortly thereafter. It seems he wants to find a path he can just slink into, rather than necessarily forging his own. He isn't welcomed kindly into noble society, he's a bastard child. He tries to rub elbows with the elites, and it leads him to misery. He seeks out the freemasons, but the haze of the order seeps away within a year, and he finds himself, while verbally committed to this moral order, still debased in drunkenness and debauchery. I think he finds himself taken advantage of often, and at times I see myself in him.

[In Progress] ...more "

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— Jul 06, 2026 08:54PM

Jun 14, 2026 07:59AM · see review

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Jan 01, 2026 02:39PM

Rowan’s Notes & Highlights

Book cover for From Object to Icon: The Struggle for Spiritual Vision in a Pornographic World

From Object to Icon: The Struggle for Spiritual Vision in a Pornographic World by Andrew Williams

3 highlights

Learning how to be in the presence of God in creation and how to be in the presence of any image of God will illuminate the contrast between that and the pornified gaze.

Rowan’s Quotes

“For those with faith, no evidence is necessary; for those without it, no evidence will suffice.”
― St. Thomas Aquinas

85 likes

“He who loved himself became great in himself, and he who loved others became great through his devotion, but he who loved God became greater than all.”
― Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling

tags: god, greatness, love

43 likes

“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

tags: depression, pain

2822 likes

“You can't go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
― C.S. Lewis

tags: inspirational-quotes-of-the-day

166 likes

“I'm frequently in need of consolation, I often feel weak, and more often than not, I fail to meet expectations. I know this, and every day I resolve to do better.”
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

tags: change, consolation, diary-entry, do-better, expectations

2 likes

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