The whole point of reading this book during Christmas time is for the point Tolstoy makes with the Rostov’s during the evacuation of Moscow.

What’s incredible about this scene is that while you could see it as sentimental, patriotic, and full of convenient coincidences (Berg, Andrey), we have lived with the Rostov’s for so long that every emotion here is earned. Tolstoy illustrates the spirit of the event artfully