I have finished LES MISERABLES by Victor Hugo. I have read it in two formats, book form and on Kindle, as the library would not let me recheck it out for a fourth time. I am sorry that it has taken me so long to finish and I feel I had abandoned my readers to other pursuits. That being said I decided enough was enough and I will finish it this weekend. I did not realize how far I had come in the book and how little I had put off reading. I also know that reading on a phone such a lengthy book is very tiring on the eyes. I one again apologize.
At the end of the Kindle version there are over 100 questions to review if you read this book for a book club, they are broken down into areas such as characters, settings, history, etc, I have not looked at these questions, but did read the notes that Monsieur Hugo wrote to an Italian publisher about his book. I agree with him that this is not a book for just France but for all mankind. He talks about countries with poverty and wealth, of money going to military and not to education, and I see this in the US currently. Is the book idealistic? Maybe. Is the book concerned about mankind and its search for improvement by any means necessary? Yes, I believe it does address that from one mans struggles to feed his family, to the street poor trying to make something of themselves through thievery. This book carries many of the tones found in Dickens, but it carries the struggle to be a better person, even if in the end you are defeated.
I mentioned I had read this book in high school french class, but we only looked at the Jean Valjean parts. I realize now that we looked at very few passages and a very abridged edition. There is so much more to this book then the validation of an ex-con, there is history, romance, betrayal and a thousand understandings of the human condition. Having said that I still do not understand the concept of rebellions over and over again. The snuffing out of lives that apparently occurred so often in France. I am saddened by all of the men Marius knew dying in such a manner and not changing anything. It was strange to me that these doctors, lawyers, students at a University would willingly die, knowing that they may not produce change, that the same scenario happened over and over again in France. I could imagine that the poor and lower waged workers may have had a rebellion, bit it was not them who started the rebellions. I thought do they really care about their fellow man or are they being romantics. I am still not sure.
Jean Valjean is indeed the hero throughout the book. He rescues so many and in the end though forgiven suffers the most. It is a tragedy, showing that no matter what your circumstances, that you can change for the better, which he showed in so many ways. His counterpoint is Thernadier whose only redeeming quality was at the end of the book when he unwittingly gave Marius information that changed his opinion of Jean Valjean, other then that Thernadier showed the ugly side of man, in all it's forms.
I could go on but this is not a dissertation, nor is it a thesis, a book report, or a news item. I loved this book, though it took me forever to read it. I liked hearing the history, the romance, the subtleties of the characters, the notions of the time period. It was an eye-opening book, a good read, but you must be prepared for the areas of long explanations of wars, Frances architecture, the long windiness of the grandfather, these took pages and chapters in the book. If you have time it is a good book to read.
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