War and Peace readalong thread 2022 - thread 3

[VikingNorthUtsire]

Welcome to the third thread. Please see the OP in threads 1 or 2 for the full info.on the readalong, links to different editions and translations, blog posts, etc.

I think most of us are established now so for this post I'll just re-shsre the reading schedule

Different editions name and number their chapters differently - some refer to four books divided into parts (as below), others refer to fifteen books although it's essentially the same structure just with different numbering. Hopefully there's enough info below to keep us all in sync, and always happy to let anyone know via PM what's happening in today's chapter so we can keep together.

Book 1: 1805
Book 1 Part One (25 chapters): 1/1 - 25/1
Book 1 Part Two (21 chapters): 26/1 - 15/2
Book 1 Part Three (19 chapters): 16/2 - 6/3
DAY OFF: 7/3
Book 2: 1806-1812
Book 2 Part One (16 chapters): 8/3 - 23/3
Book 2 Part Two (21 chapters): 24/3 - 13/4
Book 2 Part Three (26 chapters): 14/4 - 9/5
Book 2 Part Four (13 chapters): 10/5 - 22/5
Book 2 Part Five (22 chapters): 23/5 - 13/6
DAY OFF: 14/6
Book 3: 1812
Book Three Part One (23 chapters): 15/6 - 7/7
Book Three Part Two (39 chapters): 8/7 - 15/8
Book Three Part Three (34 chapters): 16/8 - 18/9
DAY OFF: 19/9
Book 4: 1812-13
Book Four Part One (16 chapters): 20/9 - 5/10
Book Four Part Two (19 chapters): 6/10 - 24/10
Book Four Part Three (19 chapters): 25/10 - 12/11
Book Four Part Four (20 chapters): 13/11 - 2/12
DAY OFF: 3/12
Epilogue One 1812-20 (16 chapters): 3/12 - 19/12
Epilogue Two (12 chapters): 20/12 - 31/12

Finally caught up! And yes @SanFranBear, I was thinking along similar lines, re the lessons of history that are never learned.

29/10/22

Volume IV, Part 3, Chapter 5

Denisov sends Tikhonn_, a peasant partisan, to capture a French soldier so they can find out how many guards are protecting the transport. The French see Tikhon and begin shooting at him.

I'm enjoying this again now there's actual story to the chapters again - I like the personal touch and hearing from those we've been following since the off is very satisfying. I love Tikhon although he sounds off his head 😄

But annoyed as the only Shamshevo I can find on my map looks to be far too south. The French are headed for Smolensk so presume sort of going out the way they came in and 'my' Shamshevo is nowhere near the logical route! Booo

Tikhon sounds like a loon. A useful loon, though :)

29 - 31 /10/22

Volume IV, Part 3, Chapter 5 - 7

Chapter 5
Denisov sends Tikhonn_, a peasant partisan, to capture a French soldier so they can find out how many guards are protecting the transport. The French see Tikhon and begin shooting at him.

Chapter 6
Tikhon manages to escape the French and to return to Denisov’s camp. Although he failed to bring a prisoner back, he discovered that the French troops surrounding the transport are in poor health.

Chapter 7
Pyotr Rostov’s general has forbidden him from participating in Denisov’s attack because of his reckless conduct in an earlier battle. However, Pyotr decides to ignore the order. He intercedes to make sure the French drummer boy who has been taken prisoner is treated especially well.

01/11/22

Volume IV, Part 3, Chapter 8
Dolokhovv_ arrives to assist with the attack on the transport. He openly mocks Denisov and Pyotr. Nevertheless, Pyotr insists on accompanying Dolokhov to sneak into the French camp to do reconnaissance.

Pyotr is a bit dim, isn't he? Well - read that as young, I guess..

He is very young and eager to please. He would be better off going back to his regiment for order and discipline.

02/11/22

Volume IV, Part 3, Chapter 9

Dolokhov and Pyotr enter the French camp by pretending to be officers. Speaking in excellent French, they question the officers about the state of their company. The officers seem suspicious, and Pyotr is terrified. Nevertheless, Dolokhov gets information from them and even gets them to give him some horses.

Oooof that was a tense one!

And Gradesaver is quite wrong the French didn't 'give' them horses, Dolokhov and Pyotr rode into the French camp, Dolokhov handed the horses reins to one of the French soldiers, and Pyotr panicked that he wouldn't give them back, but he did and after Dolokhov taking what seemed like an age to remount, they both rode out on the same horses they'd come in on.
I sometimes wonder if the people who do the summaries have actually read the book!

Yes, that's correct, Desdamona.
I was holding my breath for all of that chapter! * *

I was holding my breath for all of that chapter!

Me too! When Petya is talking in Russian I literally wanted to put my hand over his mouth! (He's Petya rather than Pyotr in this version). I did wonder whether the Russians all spoke French with a perfect French accent?

Yes. Petya in the Briggs. Exactly, rifling.
No matter if they spoke French fluently, they would have had a Russian accent, I would have thought. The French came across as not being very sharp at all!

I guess the Napoleonic troops were from all over the place but I would still think a Russian accent could stand out.

I keep forgetting that the troops aren't all necessarily French, but yes, I would have thought so too.

03/11/22

Volume IV, Part 3, Chapter 10

Pyotr stays up the night before the attack, talking with Cossacks and watching the beautiful clouds.

Petya doesn't seem to be with the programme. Now is not the time to be in the 'land of magic'!

I've got a bad feeling about Petya!

Yes I was thinking that!

I feel like with Petya and the French drummer boy, we’re seeing the other side of the scenario when Pierre watched the murders as a prisoner. Petya’s instinct is to be kind and considerate, childlike, natural and human; but he fights against it to seem grown up and play with the big boys and impress Dolokhov.

Dolokhov is so sinister.

Good observations, BakeOff.
Dolokhov* *and Denisov are like chalk and cheese!

I rather liked Dolokhov's daring... he's shown himself to be quite a cold-hearted fellow before but also very brave. I'm surprised he allowed Petya to go with him as he's a complete liability... what was all that dreaming about the 'magic'.

I too have a bad feeling about Petya - sorry, I said Pyotr earlier but I'm reading Briggs too!

04/11/22

Volume IV, Part 3, Chapter 11

Pyotr behaves recklessly in the attack and is shot in the head. Denisov is devastated, although Dolokhov does not seem to care. The partisans rescue some Russian prisoners, including Pierre.

Such a sad chapter and really shows the difference between Denisov and Dolokhov.
Both proposed and were turned down by women in Pyotr's family but whilst Denisov continues to love the Rostov's, Dolokhov seems to revel in their misfortunes..

I was very upset with today's chapter, I had read it at lunch yesterday and was overcome with tears. It was so senseless and pointless. And Dolokhov took such pleasure in saying he’s finished. Tolstoy really captured the pointlessness but also raw picture of dying in “battle”, no such thing as a heroic beautiful death. Petya hadn’t learned yet like his brother that those are bravado half lies soldiers tell themselves and others to make sense of the chaos of battle, he always thought he was in the wrong place but he was in the thick of it - you just don’t know until after. His poor mother.

The lead up to it made it much worse, he was so childlike, eager to impress, desperate to grow up, a dreamer who loved music, and so generous too. He should not have been there.