War and Peace, still good after all these years

It had been decades since I last read War and Peace and thankfully I upgraded from my old version to a new translation that seemed much easier to read. Maybe it is the passage of time that makes the story resonate a bit more than the first time through and now I find it hard to shake the more memorable characters.

I had forgotten that Pierre was fat. I had forgotten that Nickolai Rostov was a spendthrift. (Did you notice how many horses he bought? And the gambling debts!) Sonia somehow drifted away from my memory of the story, as did the wicked French ladies companion that dogged poor Marya's life. And I forgot this was about Napoleon invading Russia, at least when it wasn't about people trying to find their way in a time of war, social change and spiritual confusion, an irreparable shift in their lives.

All of us commented on the riveting writing. Tolstoy projects his scenes in a way that surrounds and subsumes the reader. The ball seems to be going on around you, the snow crunching underfoot audibly, the hounds chasing the wolves just out of your sight, but you can hear them. The characters, at least when you figure out who is who, are fascinating, their perspectives seamlessly introduced.  It is a wonderful romantic novel, with lots of twists and turns, lots of heartbreak and joy, lots and lots of human nature.

It is also an amazing historical novel, and the history is described beautifully. The battle scenes are carefully wrought. Evidently, Tolstoy went to the battle sites and studied war documents, which led him to much of the commentary he adds to this part of the novel. Once he starts on the philosophical discussions of the war, the book changes its tone much more to a treatise on the futility of war and of the role the leaders play in the outcome of conflicts, which is not much at all.

Tolstoy was only 36 when he started on War and Peace but it oddly foreshadows the course his own life took. He became the most famous Russian in the world because of his role in changing education and then much later creating a religious sect that included travelers like those described in the book. The description of Natasha in her married life was much like his own wife Sonya, and he himself was reflected in Nickolai Rostov.

We did have quibbles about the story, particularly how Tolstoy dispensed with those who no longer served his purpose. Pierre's wife Helena conveniently died right at the time Pierre wanted a different life. Sonia, once Rostov's fiancee, just one day isn't so he can marry Marya and save the family from poverty. (And he has the nerve to say "Sonia was sulking behind the samovar.",  as Ashley pointed out, who wouldn't?") The French companion just disappeared from the story, as did a few others who had done their service to the story.

But who cares? It was a wonderful beautiful read. I for one could skip the 100 pages of description of the Free Masons and the 300 or so pages of war philosophy but that would hollow out what is much more than just a novel.

And so on we go. Feb. 6 is our trip to the Congo Mask exhibit at the VMFA with a reception to follow. Thank you Maggie!!

Our next meeting is March 19 at 6:30 at Julie Weissend's. The book is A Well-Behaved Woman by Theresa Fowler. See you all there!