War & Peace Update: Part II

OK, so in actuality, I am well into Part III of War & Peace but since this is my second post on the matter, it seemed an apt title. Presently, Pierre and Ellen are married and the rather beguiling Prince Vasily is attempting to arrange the marriage of his spoiled and irresponsible son to the rather likable and intelligent Princess Marya. My appreciation for the deeper understanding I am gaining about the conflict with Napoleon (I never had a decent European history course, so forgive my ignorance) greatly overshadows how exhausting I continue to find the social manipulation and portraits of strained relationships. However, I recognize this feeling of exhaustion means I am invested in the story and likely seeing these interactions the way Tolstoy felt about them. The difficulty here is that unlike Anna Karenina where I had Levin, the constant voice of sanity and goodness to fall back on, here I must say there are just not that many characters I truly like. Princess Marya is just about the only one and she is so beaten down by her father I do not know if she will have the chance to find happiness. Prince Andrei is a respectable individual in ways, but seems to give very little thought to his responsibilities as a father nor care much for anyone besides himself. Anyway, I continue to make progress, and with a greater appreciation than I could have had earlier in life, but I do long for someone I can really get behind. They need not be perfect, just to present something besides the basest tendencies of human beings to either be selfish, frivolous, harsh, greedy or weak.