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You present such a thoughtful and insightful account, Simon. There is so much to unpack in this novel, all of which is a lesson in writing as much as it is a lesson in reading.

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Thanks Annette.

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Sep 22Liked by Simon Haisell

I get a chill when I read "melancholy facts" and "a certain drug to produce a certain effect." All of this reflects so darkly in the politics in the U.S. today, not only in women's autonomy over their bodies (and unnecessary and tragic deaths resulting from fear of doctors), but also in the gun culture here. "Melancholy facts" brings to mind "thoughts and prayers," as if these are all things that are an "unfortunate fact of life."

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I agree, something really chilling about that expression "melancholy facts" as opposed to "unnecessary deaths". An air of resignation versus a call to action?

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To the Republican party, guns are of greater value than the lives of children. "Medical freedom" is another expression of the devaluation of children's lives. As vaccination rates for all diseases sink, people will die. This is without doubt, and it will fall most heavily on children.

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OMG my favorite chapters are on deck! What will draw the waterworks this time?

It looks like Pierre and Natasha, each in there own way, are up against the absurd reality of the world, where stuff just, well, happens. He's a prisoner of war; she is thrust into the role of caretaker for a dying man who was once her betrothed. Each has no choice but to enter the fire. "The best steel has been through the fire." Will they become worthy of each other?

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Nikolai's off having a 'good war' while Pierre and Natasha have been handed an absurd and cruel war. Testing times ahead.

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founding
Sep 22Liked by Simon Haisell

I felt scattered reading this week’s chapters. As if being blown about by the winds of war, alighting for a short time, here then there. It did make me feel as if Tolstoy was trying to make me, the reader, feel uncertain, like the characters in these chapters. They are happy, sad, confused, convicted, afraid, resolved, and the list goes on. In my mind’s eye, I see leaves swirling in the air, with Moscow burning in the distance. I am unsettled.

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An unsettling picture for an unsettling week.

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My grandfather was adopted & raised by his grandparents after his mother ( my maternal great grandmother) died when he was 2years old. The story in the family was that she died in childbirth. When i was 20 yrs old, i went to visit the cemetery in Michigan where she was buried . The sexton consulted the records to find her grave. The cause of death was listed as “criminal operation”. I had to ask what that was.An abortion.. Why did she seek one? She was married. Her death that way, the loneliness of my grandfather ( his father was largely absent from his life) has always haunted me.

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Hard truth: An abortion is never safe for the new growing human inside the mother's body. 😢

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True, Joanne, but I don't think that is relevant to the health and safety of the woman choosing to end a pregnancy, which I think must always be our first priority.

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