War and Peace Volume 1, Part 1, Chapter 23 Summary

  • Andrei and Liza pull up to the house, but when they go in they realize that Andrei’s dad, Prince Bolkonsky, is taking his regular nap and won’t interrupt his routine even for them.
  • Instead, they sneak into the room where Marya is practicing the clavichord and surprise her.
  • She is so psyched to see Liza that she starts crying. Which would be fine, except they’ve only met once before. We’re guessing poor little Marya is crazy-lonely.
  • Andrei has a two-sentence catching up conversation with his sister:
  • Andrei: So, same old same old?
  • Marya: Yup. You going to war?
  • Andrei: Yup. Tomorrow.
  • That’s enough talk for him, so he goes off to find his dad.
  • Andrei clearly loves and respects his crazy old dad, but then again, he doesn’t have to live with him.
  • Prince Bolkonsky asks about the war and the strategy the army is going to follow, then he makes fun of modern warfare a little bit.
  • Andrei doesn’t really want to get into it, but then he warms up and starts telling his dad all about the multi-pronged anti-French attack strategy.
  • His dad is all, meh.