Book review: Les Misérables

“He should have effaced from the existence the word which the finger of God has nevertheless inscribed upon the brow of every man-Hope...”
I had lost hope that I was ever going to spend a lazy weekend snuggled with a good book on a rainy day. But with a new kindle, roomies all away over the weekend with the apartment to myself, Les Misérables in hand and the little patter of the intermittent rain outside I just lived 'that day'!
The book is impressive with its detailed research about the French history that forms a strong backdrop of the novel and the emotional poignancy of the inner conflicts of the characters and all the threads that run in parallel and come together in the end.

I was impressed with the depth of research and description and analysis of the battle of Waterloo. To be honest I just skimmed those pages in my haste to finish the novel but i wouldn't call them irrelevant.  Same with convents, we get a glimpse of the history and a slice of philosophy/beliefs/personal convictions as the plot narrated the irony of a character that has lived the life of a convict and then running from his captors’ drops into a convent in the dark night. The characterization of Paris as it plays a confidant, then a hiding place and then the hot bed of the French revolution gives a candid glimpse of the city and Hugo’s relationship with the city. He calls Paris home- a place where you seem to know the most and yet a place that changes so much that you can never really claim to know her.

There are moments of sheer beauty in the book, moments of identification as the characters deal with their inner conflicts and dilemmas; the poignancy of human struggles for the relationships that define our existence. However the poignancy of the moment when Jean returns home after Cossette’s wedding and pulls out the little clothes he had bought for her when he first rescued her as a small child, and weeps into, touches the deepest chord- how do you just let go..?

These are few other quotes that made it to my diary:

"One would have said that he was hesitating between the two abysses-the one is which one loses one's self and that in which one saves one's self. He seemed prepared to crush that skull or to kiss that hand..."

"It’s a terrible thing to be happy! How content one is! How all-sufficient one finds it! How being in possession of the false object of life-happiness, one forgets the true object-duty...”


Then there are those gem of sentences which succinctly say all in the fewest words possible.
"There is a way of avoiding that resembles seeking..." & then I again smiled when I read the following lines:
"The first symptom of true love in a young man is timidity; in a young girl it is boldness. This is surprising, and yet nothing is simpler. It is two sexes tending to approach each other and assuming each of other's qualities", I am not sure if it’s a sign of 'true love' but my two cents would tip in favor of courtship :)

The entire gamut of emotions, the fickle fate alternatively playing the good and bad Samaritan, the historical depth, literary beauty, insightful analysis of human character and the symbolism(the candles) all made me love the book!