Wow, we got to the end of the actual book!!! *Is ignoring the fact that there's still 100 pages of epilogues*
Seeing as it wasn't in the questions... The prediction I made about one of the Rostovs dying was right!!!! I WIN!!! (I rarely predict things accurately so I'm happy about it, even though I feel like I probably shouldn't be celebrating Petya's death. After all, he wasn't one of the characters that I particularly disliked, although I feel like his enthusiasm for war was probably not too advisable). I found it weird that there was no mention of him for ages and then he showed up and was the centre of the narrative for a few chapters and then just died. But, that seems to be how this book goes!
1) Do you think the book ended in a funny place or did it seem like a logical place for the story to end?
I think actually I would be okay with it ending without any epilogues or anything, because I think there was enough to go on to guess what would happen afterwards. In other ways though, the novel kind of jumps around in time a bit anyway and glosses over important things that happened, so I'm interested in seeing what makes the epilogues different from the main text. If anything.
2) How do you see the characters five years on from now? Will everybody get a happy ever after?
I... am no good at doing 5 years in the future things, so I'm just going to skip to the next part of the question! Hmm, it seems that Natasha and Pierre will (if getting married is a happy ending - I'm not entirely sure that any marriage with Natasha in is going to end happily, but in the book the definition of a happy marriage seems to be being able to put up with each other and not being openly mean about or to the other person, so they might manage that?
I'm trying to think who else apart from Pierre I actually care about... It seems like Marya and elder Rostov boy will end up being married, which I think would be good and a happy ending for Marya if Rostov stops being an idiot and grows up!
I'm worried about Sonya, but maybe she'll meet someone else or you know.. do something fulfilling with her life! That would be good.
I don't care about anybody else. Hehe.
3) Do you think Tolstoy is a biased narrator? If so, in what way?
Yes. Although I think he is trying to be as fair as he can about the war stuff, he is still obviously supporting the Russian side. I think he does a fairly okay job with not making all Russians out to be heroes or particularly nice people though, all in all. It's the kind of bias that is understandable, and I do like that he does make an effort to see things from the other side some of the time.
4) Are you still enjoying this book or are you honestly just waiting for the damn thing to stop talking?
Hmm, this is sort of difficult to answer. I'm not enjoying it like I enjoy my favourite books, but reading it has been really interesting and I do want to know how everything turns out. I'm not sick of it yet, but I am looking forward to it being over! Hehe. I honestly am very glad that I decided to join in with the readalong, there have been several points along the way when I've considered quitting (including before I started, and any time there were lots of war based chapters) but I am really glad that I stuck with it!
I think it has actually taken me quite a while to get into the rhythm of the book, and I am now finding that the war bits don't bother me so much because I know what to expect.... I think I would actually enjoy the book much more if I re-read it, but the chances of that happening are very very low. If nothing else, now that this week's reading has pretty much confirmed that Tolstoy is a massive misogynist (I was giving him the benefit of the doubt before, but that whole bit about intelligent women made me angry), I think I would be much more annoyed by the sexism if I re-read it.
Only the epilogues to go now! Woohoo!!! I am really looking forward to reading other things. So much so that I'm going to try to get through the epilogues today, yayy!!
Whooo! Only a 100ish pages to go!
返信削除Hahaha I think it's kind of hilarious how we were all like "now where is that other Rostrov kid?" and Tolstoy was like "oh yeah, I totally forgot that I made him up. Oh well, I'll just kill him off like I did with the others, because that's how I deal with loose ends."
I agree that there is enough alluding to a happy ending to leave it at just that, but readers like me WANT a concrete happy ending after all that we read. I want closure and finality and an epilogue to ensure that all of this was worth reading, hahaha!
THIS.
削除It really is just how he deals with loose ends, isn't it?
sigh... I wish I was joking about Tolstoy BUT IT IS TRUE
削除Ahhh, Tolstoy.
削除I think part of me not really minding where it ends is just that I honestly don't care about many of the characters, so I don't feel that much need for everything to be wrapped up and happy, hehe.
I found it weird that there was no mention of him for ages and then he showed up and was the centre of the narrative for a few chapters and then just died.
返信削除Yup. But that's just how we roll. As soon as he showed up and was all hyper, I just KNEW he was going to die. I knew it. Although, I admit I didn't predict it as far back as you did :p
I think Marya might be the ONLY character I care about. Maybe Sonya a little because I feel bad for her, but that's about it.
Ah, but the question is - are you a clever woman or a real woman!? As OBVIOUSLY they cannot be the same thing.
Woohoo I win! :D Hehe.
削除Yeah, I care about Marya too, and Pierre a bit (although I prefer him when he's being ridiculous, not when he's being all... I've seen the light and am going to be more sensible. Start being a weirdo again, Pierre!
Oh Tolstoy. I saw your tweet about that before I got to that point in my book, and was wondering if it was a translation thing, but it was just misogyny. Sigh! Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure that subconsciously the fear of encountering lots of misogyny is what puts me off reading more classics.