In Which We Discuss War and Peace, Part 15, Chapters 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20

 Chapter 16

We're still with Pierre, Natasha, and Mary, who are talking about the deaths of Andrew and Petya.  Mostly exchanging details, since none of them were present for both.  Natasha leaves the room in tears when Young Nikolai arrives, and, after a break, they move the conversation to the dining room.

Chapter 17

Mary, Natasha, and Pierre continue catching up.  We already know of these events, so this is more about how they share and communicate with one another, and what's changed.  Apparently, the big change for Natasha and Pierre is that Natasha now listens to him with childlike wonder (my words) like a real woman (Tolstoy's words) without trying to learn from his stories or trying to build on the conversation herself.  So now they can get married I guess.   Really, Tolstoy was doing quite well for someone who died in 1910.  I suppose we can make some allowances, considering how old the book is.  And maybe it lost something in translation.

Meanwhile, Mary realises that Natasha and Pierre might be in love and is very happy for them both.  It's now 3am.  Natasha and Pierre agree that, given their time again, they would make the same choices and relive it all, which reminds me a lot of Shadow Hearts and makes me wonder if that reference is intentional, since the main character is supposed to be half-Russian.

Anyway, realising the time, Pierre leaves while Mary and Natasha talk a little longer.  Natasha confirms that it was okay to talk of Andrew's death, since Pierre loved him and Mary reassures her.  I love Mary now, I don't care what I said about her at the beginning, she is a precious baby angel who deserves better.  I want her to show up in a gooey romance novel where she is swept off her feet by someone who adores her.

Chapter 18

While Natasha and Mary talking, Pierre is pacing up and down and feeling jealous of the relationship Andrew had with Natasha.  He decides he and Natasha must be married as soon as possible.  The next day, he talks to Savelich - who I think is some kind of representative of his peasants, who we might have met before though google won't tell me - about the possibility that he might get married soon and also tries to hint to his cousin the Princess.  The Princess has heard rumours of Mary marrying Nikolai Rostov, who I hope will be as worthy of her as any romantic hero (modern day romance, not, like, Byronic or Heathcliff-esque).  Pierre is very happy with everyone and everything today, and goes to Mary's for dinner.  He experiences a brief moment of doubt and fear before he goes in, but he gets over that and Natasha appears to have recovered her former light.  He goes round for dinner every night that week, but they soon run out of things to say and it gets a little bit awkward.  Eventually, the night before he heads to St Petersburg, after promising that he'll call again before he goes, he confesses his feelings about Natasha to Mary and asks for her advice.  He doesn't want to step over Andrew's still-warm body to propose but he also doesn't want to leave it too late and miss his chance.  Mary says she's confident Natasha does/will return his feelings and offers to take care of everything if Pierre writes to the Rostov parents.

Chapter 19

Pierre's feelings towards Natasha are- favourably - compared with his feelings about Helene at the same place in their courtship.  He's feeling a lot less anxious about having said or done the wrong thing, for a start.  He's very happy, except for when he doubts himself and sometimes wonders if he made the whole thing up.

Chapter 20

We now go back a little in time to see how Natasha's been feeling.  She does love Pierre, and Mary's a little troubled about what that implies about Natasha's feelings for Andrew but is glad to see Natasha happy again.  Mary tells Natasha exactly what Pierre has said before heading to St Petersburg, and can't quite hide her own sadness over Andrew but forgives Natasha.  Natasha is a little upset and baffled that Pierre has confessed all this and then immediately left for St Petersburg.

...and that's the end of book 15!  Books 16 and 17 are sometimes referred to as epilogues 1 and 2, so I think this is the end of the main narrative.  If I recall correctly, book 16 is 16 chapters and book 17 is 12 chapters, so I might be done in a week if I keep reading 5 chapters a night.  On the other hand, my Masters degree begins tomorrow, so we'll see.