90 pages • 3 hours read
Leo TolstoyA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Iosif Alexeevich Bazdeev dies and leaves Pierre without a mentor. The loss takes a heavy toll on Pierre, particularly coupled with the news of Andrei and Natasha’s engagement. Pierre’s grief prompts him to lose interest in the Freemasons and return to his bad habits. He drinks, gambles, and spends his nights with the nefarious bachelors at a gentlemen’s club. Pierre embraces this debauchery to drown out his grief and his nagging fear that life is meaningless. Realizing that he has acted wrongly, he leaves Saint Petersburg and returns to his father’s house in Moscow. Though he retains a belief in the existence of goodness and truth, he cannot help but see evil and falseness in every facet of humanity. He remembers hearing that soldiers who come under fire try to occupy their minds with strange, random thoughts to comfort themselves. He pictures all of humanity in a similar way: People drink, gamble, engage with politics, and pursue other ventures as they try to ignore the fleeting, empty nature of existence and seek “refuge from life” (578).
Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky and his daughter Marya move to Moscow. The old prince is sick, and his increasing frailty makes him angry, forgetful, and vindictive.
By Leo Tolstoy
A Confession
Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
God Sees the Truth, but Waits
Leo Tolstoy
Hadji Murat
Leo Tolstoy
How Much Land Does a Man Need
Leo Tolstoy
Master and Man
Leo Tolstoy
The Cossacks
Leo Tolstoy
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Leo Tolstoy
The Kreutzer Sonata
Leo Tolstoy
What Men Live By
Leo Tolstoy
Books About Leadership
View Collection
Books Made into Movies
View Collection
European History
View Collection
Historical Fiction
View Collection
Marriage
View Collection
Memorial Day Reads
View Collection
Military Reads
View Collection
Order & Chaos
View Collection
Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics
View Collection
Realism
View Collection
School Book List Titles
View Collection
War
View Collection