War and Peace Readalong: Week Four

I actually can't believe I'm about to say this but I caught up! As of this time last week I was pretty much a week behind and never actually posted on last week's chapters or read any of the other participants' posts due to warnings about spoilers (for which I owe much thanks to Charlotte - I would have been pissed if I'd found out about certain events before they took place!). Because this book is so long and there's already so much going on I'm just going to answer this weeks prompts and let last week go. 

It's only because I had a 5 hour (there and back) coach trip to London on Thursday that I have been able to catch up and I'm so excited that I'm where everyone else is now - I really didn't want to give up on this book as it's really good and I'm still really enjoying it. 

On to this weeks prompts:

1. Do you feel the tone of the novel changed this week? 

Honestly, this week and last week have all blurred into one for me so I don't think I can really answer this question. Was all the stuff about Denisov last week? If so then this week was less military and more of the personal, social, gossipy stuff (which I really like). 

2. Do you think that the story is uniquely Russian, or could it have been set somewhere else?

I feel like a lot of this is possibly down to the translation... My copy feels like it could just as easily have been set in England in the same period, except that there seems to be slightly more going on in Russian society than there would have been in England at this time. 

3. How about Andrey and Natasha's nuptials? Will they ever get married and do you think it will work out?

After my hatred of Andrei (in my edition) for the first two weeks I actually find myself really liking him now. He seems to have grown up quite a bit and thinks a lot less of himself now than he did in the beginning. I think he's had a bit of a shit time of it to be honest and I don't have a great feeling about whether he'll actually make it back to Russia alive, but I hope he does. I want them to get married, I think Natasha will be good for him. And I hope it works out, but so far the track record on marriages in this book isn't great, is it? 

4. Could Rostov have done more to help out his parents with their financial situation?

More than yelling at the steward guy and then getting more dogs? Yep, probably. It's like he did that and then considered his financial duty done and just carried on with his life as it had been up to that point. I totally get wanting to marry who you want to marry rather than some random rich girl, but I do think he could have lived up to his responsibility as a grown up slightly more and been a bit less childish about the whole thing. 

5. How do you feel about the lengthy hunting descriptions? Did you read the whole thing?

I could have done without them in all honesty. I tried very hard to make myself read them but I felt my eyes glazing over a bit during the whole bit with the wolf getting caught and getting away and getting caught again and the discussion about where everybody was standing. Maybe a little unnecessary!

And once again, I can't believe I caught up! And am nearly 50% through War and Peace. Major life achievement I'd say!

If you'd like to read other people's thoughts on the book you can find them here.