Reading it for the first time and it’s a lot more fun to read than I expected it to be.
What sets it above almost any book I can think of is how many passages reflect something real, but in a way that I had never considered. It as if Tolstoy pulls the insight out of my subconscious and it is delightful to read because I’ve never actually thought about it, but I have felt it.
This is one of those passages. In it, Alexey Alexandrovitch is speaking cleverly to a group in front of his wife, to distract himself from thinking about her having an affair. She is frustrated that he appears not to be upset but to be carrying on as usual and showing off his intellect.
*She did not understand that Alexey Alexandrovitch’s peculiar loquacity that day, so exasperating to her, was merely the expression of his inward distress and uneasiness.* ***As a child that has been hurt skips about, putting all his muscles into movement to drown the pain, in the same way Alexey Alexandrovitch needed mental exercise to drown the thoughts of his wife that would force themselves on his attention****. And it was as natural for him to talk well and cleverly as it is natural for a child to skip about.*
This analogy felt so clear and true to me immediately, but I had never thought about it in those terms. Tolstoy illuminates this thing that I knew at some level but had never considered and does it so clearly.
If you’ve read it let me know, would love to hear your thoughts!
by waitingforgoodoh