I will say that I'm enjoying it a little more in this part than the first one. Some of the war scenes weren't as dull as I found the first lot, and there was some interesting stuff on how the army worked, and on the hospitals (blerg!) in wartime.
The random masonry was odd but interesting, Pierre's conversion fervour, marriage issues and duel had a deft touch to it. I'm enjoying the parts with Andrei/Andrew in them, he's an aloof fellow, but I like him! He's one of the few characters that I'm interested in, to be honest. I like Rostov as well, despite the fact he's a bit of an idiot. He's got a kind of charm that is appealing. Boris is a manipulative self-serving bounder, but he's not bad as a character, I feel relatively invested in his success.
The women are not so well drawn. There's not much on them, certainly not as individuals, and what little there is is stereotypical to the extreme. Loyal maidens, cruel heartbreakers, innocent virgins. Sigh. None are as thoughtfully drawn as even the more minor male players. They are ciphers, to be acted upon by the real protagonists of the story. It's kinda irritating, to say the least.
According to my Kindle (oh cruel Kindle, how you constantly let me know how behind I am and how very far I have to go!!) I am 37% of the way through the book. I think I'm several chapters behind the read-a-long, in my edition I'm up to Book 6: 1808-1810, about a third of the way through that "book". Prince Andrew/Andrei is making his way in society and worshipping at the altar of Speranski. Pierre is doing Masonry things.
I'm trying to catch up, but at least the book is passing by. Unless something radical happens, I'm pretty certain it's not going to be one I love, or re-read. But it's on the bloody list, so it will be done, at least!
I love this pic from the classic film - I'm going to have to watch this again when I'm done reading it.
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