Et bien, mes readers-along, si vous n’avez rien de mieux à faire, go to the master post for the read-along schedule and more.

I’d vaguely heard of the musical “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812”, but I’d no idea that it was currently running AND that it is based on just one chapter of War and Peace, my favourite so far, good ol’ Vol. II Part V.

The musical summarizes this chapter better than I ever could:

 

I am so delighted that Natasha gets to be a real, flesh and blood, flawed, teenage girl, rather than merely the Madonna to Helene’s whore.

I’ve read a few accounts from readers who were shocked and appalled that Natasha “cheats” on Andrei (she doesn’t, really, she was always free to change her mind) and to those readers I say: were you never 16? Natasha is engaged to a 31 year old widower, who is being bossed around by his daddy and writes boring letters. I’d be up for coat room shenanigans too.

As I’m on the road, I’m going to leave it there for now.  The other chapter is a war one, and I’ll let better bloggers than I recap it! Tell me how you reacted to Natasha and Anatole, and Natasha’s “fall”. And if you’re in NYC, go check out the show, it sounds amazing.  It’s ending its run soon, in a blaze of controversy and scandal, much like Natasha and Andrei’s engagement!