Volume II: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Volume II (315 - 664) of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Penguin, 2005 (1392); FP: 1869) translated by Anthony Briggs concentrates less on the war with France and more with the shenanigans and trickery of the elite and those who pretend to be. There was also a lot marital unrest with, cheating, ranking highest.

In this part, Prince Andrey Bolkonsky comes home the day his wife delivers and dies. This took the Prince into a period of gloom only to fall in love with Natasha Rostov and get his heart broken after she falls in love with the careless Anatole Kuragin. Pierre (Count Bezukhov) hears stories about his cheating wife, Helene, with his friend Dolokhov and challenges him to a duel of which both survives but Dolokhov left with a bullet wound. Pierre could be said to be the most frustrated person in the novel. He is seeking the meaning of life but finds that even for those who claim they have found the way, their lives is antithetical to what they preach and unable to reconcile how this could be, Pierre reverts to his earlier life of heavy drinking and gloom. This is after he has been introduced to Freemason and found its teachings lacking in the lives of its adherents. However, Pierre who comes back to live with his wife again after the separation that resulted after the duel, cannot resolve the meaning of his feelings for Natasha and knowing that his Prince Andrey is engaged to her, he left Moscow to Petersburg.

Boris Drubetskoy and Nikolay Rostov are still in the army, finding ways to move up higher the ranks. Boris is determined, like her mother Anna Mikhaylovna, to engineer his way into elitism even if it has to be to marry into riches and this he did by marrying Julie Karagin. In the military he did everything that will see him rise including holding the Russia's enemy, Emperor Bonaparte, in high esteem. For him, not born a count or prince, he must force his way through. Boris is balanced perfectly, or somewhat, by Nikolay Rostov who is extremely patriotic and sought favour in the Tsar and Russia and is prepared to die for both for they are one and the same thing. He is much more open-minded and does not need to do anything extraordinary to be respected. But he will still do anything for his mother, Countess Rostov. However, when it comes to marriage he wants to be his own man and this means marrying Sonya, a woman with no dowry, as the countess describes her. This wouldn't have been a problem but the profligate lifestyle of Count Rostov is sending the family into ruin and unless Nikolay marries into riches the family will fall off the social status and have to live in poverty. Nikolay himself cares less about that but the countess does.

Prince Andrey falls in love with Natasha and is prepared to marry her against his father's wishes. But he wants to travel through Europe to recuperate from depression that came upon him following the death of his wife. And Natasha is flighty. Her decisions are guided by her heart and once if flutters her mind also flutters. She is very much unlike Sonya who was prepared to go through everything, including taunts from her benefactors - the Rostovs, to marry Nikolay. when Anatole promised her love, Natasha was ready to elope.

Tolstoy has a way of writing both at the micro and macro level. He describes both the unit and the heap. However, what is more interesting is his unique understanding of the human condition. He clearly articulates the injustices that abounds in the world; where people who do great things and plays important roles are despised only for those who praises the most but do nothing to be rewarded. He also shows how people are quick to despise you if you fall out of favour and will quickly come around to support you, pretending that they never despised you, if you once again finds favour with authority. Suddenly, Helene's relationship with his brother Anatole is forgotten and is rather regarded as the most intelligent person one could meet. She who cheated on his husband Pierre was rather pitied and Pierre was lambasted and had it not been his riches, something he really don't care about, he would have become an outcast. Kutuzov was respected until Tsar Alexander showed no favour in him; there and then he became the enemy until he once again found favour. This is what makes this book worth the read: Tolstoy's understanding of the world and the way it works.

Volume II ends on a new preparation for war against France, as Napoleon's determination to invade Russia takes on a whole new meaning. This leads to the call-up of Russia's old Generals. This is not just a novel. It is a thesis of life.

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See also: Volume I, Volume III, & Volume IV

Volume I: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

I'm toddling my way through Tolstoy's tome, War and Peace (Penguin, 2005; FP: 1869; 1392). If I complete it, which I will, it'll be the longest book I've read. Because this book, and another, are perhaps going to be the only two books I'll read this month, I will have to update my reading progress to create blog content.

Reading at a rate of at least 50 pages a day, it took me some five days (from March 2 to March 6) to complete Volume I of the four-volumed work (at a staggering 1392 pages and small font). This 313-page volume introduces the reader to the Bolkonskys - Prince Nikolay Bolkonsky, the father; Prince Andrey, the son married to little princess Liza, and Princess Marya, the daughter; the Rostovs - Natasha, the daughter; Nikolay, the son; Petya, the younger son, Vera, the eldest daughter; the Kuragins - the scheming Prince Vasily Kuragin who, unable to outwit Pierre (later Count Bezukhov of his inheritance), married his daughter, Helene, to him and was about to marry his son, the troublesome Anatole to Princess Marya because of Prince Nikolay Bolkonsky's riches but he failed. There was also the scheming Anna Mikhaylovna and his son Boris.

Pierre's father is wealthy and Pierre is his illegitimate son. However, old Count Bezukhov dotes on his son. He has sent him to Moscow to decide on what he wants to be but Pierre, weak in will (though a giant of a man) fell into friendship with the enigmatic Dolokhov and Anatole. Boozing and gambling became their game and a prank on a police officer - tying him to the back of a bear - saw the three separated: Anatole was sent to the military, Dolokhov was reduced in rank and Pierre was banned from Moscow. Not only that; this behaviour of his exacerbated his father's health leading to his death. On his death, both family and non-family members began scheming on how to inherit Count Bezukhov's wealth. Prince Vasily Kuragin's wife is the daughter of Count Bezukhov, Anna Mikhaylovna claims the Count was his son's godfather and therefore was fighting for Pierre.

The only one who seems oblivious of all he scheming going on Pierre himself. In fact, all through the Volume I, he was almost an imbecile. His marriage was forced upon him, his wealth was fought for him (by Anna), and even (eventually) his career was imposed upon him (by Prince Vasily).

After inheriting such wealth from his father - making him one of the wealthiest man in Russia - Pierre's, or Count Bezukhov's, position in society was given a huge boost. Suddenly, even Anna Pavlovna, a woman whose parties seem to be the meeting point for Russia's who's who, now appreciates everything Pierre says. The bootlickers are on the prowl seeking to benefit from Pierre's youthfulness, innocence, ignorance and his I-don't-care attitude. Money was the least of all the things he thought about, even when he had not become wealthy and was dependent on his father. This, coupled with the fact that he wanted people to be happy, led to people surrounding him and milking him at every turn. 

In addition to the scheming life of the socialites, with their arranged and wealth-induced marriages, is the war between the allied forces of Russia, Austria, and Germany against Napoleon's forces. However, Napoleon has entered Russia. Now even the Tsar - Alexander - is scared and presumed wounded. Boris, Nikolay Rostov and Prince Andrey are all eager to achieve something for themselves. But by the end of Volume I, the Russian soldiers, led by Kutuzov, have retreated from the battle at Austerlitz and Prince Andrey - who has left his pregnant wife with his father - has been captured by the French. Rostov is dejected, seeing the defeated troops and knowing that the battle was lost.

From all indications, Tolstoy associates himself with the Russians by his use of the first person possessive plural pronoun 'our' at certain places. Tolstoy examines the thoughts and aspirations of his numerous characters. Though the book is a tome, though some consider it a novella when compared to the longest novels ever written, it reads fast. The war descriptions are lucid.

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See also: Volume II, Volume III, & Volume IV