Les Miserables Review/Reflection

     I've never reviewed a book on this blog before. Although I love books I'm not as knowledgeable about literature as I am about film. But I had an experience while reading Les Miserables that I really wanted to right about. This novel touched me emotionally in a way that no book for a long time (or maybe ever) has.

     Before reading this book I had seen the 2012 musical film and really enjoyed it. One scene in particular got me a little choked up. But that was a more superficial emotional response. The book touched me on a much deeper level.

     There is a scene early on in the novel where the ex-convict Jean Valjean is given a meal and a place to sleep by the local bishop, Myriel. Everyone else in the town has denied him food or lodging up to this point because of his status as a convict. Notwithstanding the bishop's act of kindness Valjean steals some of his few valuable possessions, silverware, and flees into the night while the bishop sleeps, only to be caught by the police and brought back to the bishop's house. Valjean claims that the bishop gave him the silverware as a gift. Rather than expose this lie and condemn Jean Valjean back to prison the bishop backs up his story and gives him two silver candlesticks in addition to the silverware. The bishop tells him to see God's will in this act and to reform his life. This scene is very touching but what happens next is what really got to me.

     At this point, Jean Valjean, accustomed to nothing but misery and bad treatment from others, broods over the bishop's words and actions. Should he turn over a new leaf and dedicate his life to God? While this is going on Valjean meets a young urchin called Petit Gervais who is carrying a 40 sous piece which he drops. Out of malicious habit Jean Valjean covers this sous with his foot and, when confronted by Gervais, chases him off. Afterward, realizing what he's done and disgusted with himself he vows to honor Bishop Myriel's wishes and become an honest man,

     Believe it or not, I had an experience many years ago that parallels Jean Valjean's. Having come home from adoration one day I found that mom had made my favorite cookies, oatmeal raisin. My little sister, who often annoyed me decided to try one and, not wanting her to have one before I did I intentionally cut in front of her to try and prevent her from getting one. My dad noticed and scolded me for it. Usually I might have shrugged this off but something really struck me in this instance. Why had I done this? My little sister certainly meant me no harm, she just wanted a cookie like me. Why would I want to deprive her of that? I was coming face to face with my own selfish , malicious human nature. Subsequently I wept, out loud, in front of my father. I also made a kind of resolution never to act in this way again. Of course I have not perfectly lived up to that but I did change toward my sister. Things that would have annoyed me before no longer really bothered me.

     Reading about Jean Valjean's transformation in Les Mis brought me back to that moment. and made me realize, again, how much it had shaped me. There are plenty of books and movies that have moved me emotionally but none have connected with me so much at a personal level.

     I also connected with the character of Marius. His experience of moving away from royalism and toward republicanism and the rift this causes between him and his Grandfather reflects my own shifting political views of late and the inner struggle this has caused me as I've moved away from some of my parents political views. I also appreciate that Hugo's own views are somewhat moderate. While I can't agree with his unquestioning support of the French Revolution, given all the violent turmoil it led to, I was grateful that he did not fall prey to atheistic anti-clerical attitude of many of his peers. On the contrary, despite the fact that it was banned by the Catholic Church at the time of its publication, I was surprised to find Les Miserables to be, generally, a very pious work.

     Finally I would like to briefly address the two biggest potential problems with Les Mis, its astronomical amount of plot contrivances and Hugo's predilection for lengthy digressions from the text.

     Les Miserables is filled with plot contrivances. Characters that have past history with one another keep meeting, by pure chance, at very convenient moments in the story. At one point, for instance, Jean Vlajean is on the run from the police and takes shelter in a convent where a man he was saved just happens to work as a gardener. This man then helps Jean Valjean escape the police. The reason I don't really mind these kind of coincidences, which would usually strike me as lazy writing, is that there is a theme of divine providence which runs through the narrative and these contrivances reinforce this theme.

     Hugo also fills the book with some rather lengthy discussions about the Battle of Waterloo, the argot (jargon) of French criminals, Paris street urchins, and cloistered religious orders. This may be irritating to some but as a student of history I found it really interesting to look at these events and institutions through the eyes of someone who lived through it. It helps to place the reader in the historical period in which the story is set. It also gives the novel an epic feel. This is not just a book about some people living through the tumultuous period of post-Napoleonic France, it's the story of that period itself.

     I don't usually like to say that any piece of art is among my favorites without giving more time for it to really sink in but in this particular case I feel fairly confident in saying that Les Miserables is now one of my favorite novels.