Les Misérables

Les Misérables is a huge, powerful, magnificent, and quirky book.  It is rich in vividly portrayed human emotion: love (Marius and Cosette), pluck and humor (Gavroche), callous villainy (Thénardier) and tragedy (Fantine and Éponine). I thought I knew the main story line from the musical: the relentless pursuit of the still-wanted but reformed criminal Jean Valjean by the obsessive and righteous Javert.  But I was surprised to realize that the novel actually concentrates on the transformation and redemption of Jean Valjean.

The book which the reader has before him at this moment is, from one end to the other, in its entirety and details ... a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life; from bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God. The starting point: matter, destination: the soul. The hydra at the beginning, the angel at the end.

 When Valjean spares Javert’s life, it is but one of several critical steps on his road to salvation and peace, but this act of mercy by a “hardened criminal” disrupts and devastates Javert, who is unable to understand or accept it, and ends his life.  Javert’s story is Valjean’s turned upside down:  Valjean's early encounter with a saintly bishop starts his transformation from a bitter, hate-filled man consumed with revenge, into a humble and loving human being, whereas Javert's late-life encounter with the now merciful and generous Valjean, shatters Javert’s rigid belief in The Right, and destroys his sense of himself.  Are we marked by fate or able to control our destiny?  What are we to make of the superhuman integrity and benevolence that Valjean is able to achieve versus the seemingly inescapable damnation that Javert’s life of stringent rectitude dictated for him? 

A quirky part of the book is the insertion, at intervals, of lengthy discourses on subjects with a glancing relationship, or no relationship whatsoever, to the story: a detailed analysis of the Battle of Waterloo, the different kinds of convents in 18^th century France, the history and meaning of slang, a virtual treatise on the development of the sewer system in Paris.  Some of these were pretty interesting! (But not all). 

A wonderful, compelling story line, tremendous empathy for the downtrodden, and a fiery commitment to human dignity and liberty.  An unforgettable read.

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