Read "War and Peace" in a Year - 2022 Group discussion

Discuss this section of the book here.

I have not been a part of the precluding discussions to Volume 1 of W&P, so I will quick put down my summary thoughts having just finished reading Volume 1 for the first time. *Spoilers included*

Style: I am amazed at Tolstoy's cinematic mind in this book! It's as if he had a TV series playing out in his head. Some of the details may seem exhausting, but I find it paints the scenes even more vividly. Also, the conversations are so fluid that you feel like you're listening into a real conversation between the characters (I'm using the Briggs translation that does this especially well, I think.)

Characters: I find Bolkonsky to be the most alluring character of the story so far. His journey from essentially being a replica of his father to sympathizing with Maria by the end of V1 was captivating. As a Christian, I find his near-conversion in the French field hospital fascinating. Tolstoy seemed to get into the psyche of the person who comes to the end of all natural things and inevitably bumps into the supernatural, but internally talks their way out of submission to God. I love how Andrei doesn't even really care about Napoleon when he meets him at that point - sees him as just another man.

I find Tolstoy's portrayal of women underwhelming at this point. They seem weepy, shallow, and (hope it's not too strong) dumb. I hope that subsequent sections of the book provide more depth in the female characters. Only Maria, in my mind, seems to be a believable female character.

One last observation: the characters of Emperor Alexander and Napoleon are done so well in the last few chapters. Alexander's weeping and distress in the lost battle was a great insight into the earthiness of the Russian empire, that at the end of the day the Emperor is just another man overwhelmed by war - something that even Rostov did not seem to appreciate in that scene.

Napoleon's warmth and compassion for the Russian prisoners was surprising, and Tolstoy does great work of making the reader sympathetic with him. I finished chapter 18 thinking to myself, "That is what made him great - he was both bold and gentle." Yet, I find it interesting that Tolstoy ended by describing his face as self-satisfied and proud - adding just a sour note in there to make you doubt what this conqueror's heart was really like.

Can't wait to dive into Volume 2!