War and Peace Volume 1, Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary

  • The party is over and everyone is taking off.
  • Andrei is still totally ignoring his wife, Liza.
  • Meanwhile, Liza and Anna Pavlovna have discussed a possible marriage between Prince Vassily’s son Anatole and Liza’s sister-in-law. They decide to talk more later.
  • Ippolit goes off to help Liza with her coat and shawl...or does he? Ooh, looks like there are some shenanigans going on between these two, on the down-low of course.
  • Andrei invites Pierre over to his house for the after party.
  • After Liza, Andrei, and Pierre leave, Ippolit takes the French man home and basically confirms that he's trying to get with Liza behind Andrei’s back.
  • Meanwhile, back at Andrei’s house, we get a little background on Pierre.
  • Just so you guys remember – he’s the illegitimate son of a rich, influential guy.  Well, it turns out that daddy big bucks packed him off to Europe for ten years to get an education, and now that he’s back, daddy big bucks wants Pierre to pick a profession, any profession. (Then pass Go, collect 200 dollars, and live happily ever after.) This is actually a pretty decent way to treat your bastard son back in those days.  Too bad Pierre can’t make up his mind.
  • Andrei is all, man, just go into the army already. Andrei is an officer after all. But Pierre doesn’t want to fight against the awesomeness that is Napoleon.