Jonathan Franzen - Freedom (186-187) lyrics

And she became a better reader. At first in desperate escapism, later in search of help. By the time Walter returned from Saskatchewan, she'd dispatched the remainder of War and Peace in three marathon reading days. Natasha had promised herself to Andrei but was then corrupted by the wicked Anatole, and Andrei went off in despair to get himself mortally wounded in battle, surviving only long enough to be nursed by Natasha and forgive her, whereupon excellent old Pierre, who had done some growing up and deep thinking as a prisoner of war, stepped forward to present himself as Natasha's consolation prize; and lots of babies followed. Patty felt she'd lived an entire compressed lifetime in those three days, and when her own Pierre returned from the wilderness, badly sun-burned despite religious slatherings of maximum-strength sunblock, she was ready to try to love him again.