Josie’s Reviews > War and Peace > Status Update

"Epilogue" must mean something different in Russian because this is simply not one.

I did not realize how much of this book was just going to be Tolstoy dissing Napoleon.

I'm definitely feeling a bit War-and-Peace fatigued. So much has happened, and it keeps throwing more at you, and I'm ready for it to be done. It's still GOOD, it's just a lot. Almost 90% done and still have eight hours, which is about 1.25 Agatha Christie books (maybe not a universal frame of reference, but pretty average for me this summer).
Also, very upset at what happened in the last minute I listened to. Why.

I wanted to be indignant at Tolstoy for describing Maria's viewpoint on the war as "the way most women think about war," but considering that several hours later in the book I, too, do not grasp the full significance of this particular war and am primarily worrying about Maria's brother at the front, I don't think I can.

So much has happened and so little of it good.
Right now, the Rostov family has a lot of the compelling characters for me; I really like the time spent in Nikolai's head (although he definitely has some red flags), it's interesting to see Petya growing up, and Natasha is fascinating if not a bit infuriating (which I think is partially the audiobook reader, though certainly not entirely). And Sonya is amazing.

Both Andrei and Pierre are desperately in need of therapy.

Also, I know what's coming next (due to breaking my moral code and watching the show first) and I'm not sure I'm ready.

Well, we've officially hit the war part.
Today's thoughts, in no particular order:
- What is Andrei's deal?
- Family drama is way more interesting than battle strategy, I'm sorry
- Maria deserves better
- I'm not super engaged in the war scenes, but Nikolai's internal monologue during his first battle is so well done. Poor baby.

I thought I hit the peak of Russian party culture when a random bear was at Anatole's frat party. Did not realize the bear situation would get even more hilarious.