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War and Peace Volume 2, Part 5, Chapter 5 Summary

  • Hey, what do you know – Boris really is in town to find a rich wife.  He’s been kind of wishy-washy picking between Julie and Marya, but Marya is so beaten down and hard to approach that he’s going with Julie.
  • Julie is 27, kind of old to be getting married at the time. She’s hideous (but convinced that she’s beautiful) and a total fake. Because she’s rich, lots of guys come to hang out at her house. She thinks this is because she’s so desirable.
  • She’s also really emo, acting depressed and talking about death.
  • Boris goes with this, writing poetry about death and gloom in her quote book.
  • Julie is clearly ready to say yes whenever he gets around to asking her. But even though he is courting her, he finds her repellent.
  • Meanwhile, Boris’s mom is putting the screws to him to propose already before somebody else does. He’s not the only man out there willing to sell himself.
  • But Boris won’t pull the trigger.
  • Finally, Julie gets tired of waiting and goes for the oldest trick in the book: she makes Boris feel jealous by pretending to be with someone else.
  • And hey, would you believe it, it works perfectly.
  • He proposes, she accepts, and the wedding plans are under way.