I finished! I finished! Did you? If not, feel free to join in anyway. I think that there is so much in the first half of the book, and so I would love to hear your incomplete thoughts if you want to share them.
I am glad that I had the accountability of this bookclub to finish, because while I was captivated by the first third of the book, I might have given up when it began to flag (the political/war storylines made me glaze over every time). I was most interested in the Javert versus Jean Valjean storyline. I would be reading along, caught up in the human drama of the latest storyline, and when I had almost forgotten about him, Javert would appear from the shadows. Lisa, Dawn and I plan to record a podcast this afternoon focusing specifically on this relationship, so stay tuned. Are you looking forward to “meeting” (voice wise) two other contributors?
I loved how the other characters personified so much more — Thernadier as pure evil. Cosette as pure good, Fantine perhaps as naive determination (she never gave up, and didn’t let her circumstances defeat her). Marius perhaps represents change?
I think that this is an allegory — with so many characters representing greater themes — and that theme of redemption or defeat so strong throughout, but I also think that it reads like a simple human drama as well as we get caught up in the stories of Marius and Cosette, and Marius and Eponine, and the quiet torment of Jean Valjean (or whatever he happens to be calling himself in each section).
As far as “the experience” (question 5 in the preview), I read the Pocket Books Enriched Classics. It was “only” 595 pages long. This is the second time I’ve read it. The first was at least twelve years ago. I was going to be joining Terry on a business trip to NYC and we were going to see Les Miserables on Broadway. So I decided to read the book. I do remember loving it, and I also remember racing to finish it before we saw the show. My next experience was a few years after that. We had done a study of Romans in a Moms Bible study I was in, and at the end of the study, we did a weekend retreat looking at the notion of grace versus the law, as we studied in Romans. They used the movie version of Les Miserables starring Liam Neeson and Claire Danes to illustrate these themes (which I will be featuring Thursday in Books on Screen). It brought a whole new dimension to this beloved story.
I love this story. I don’t know if I’ll read it again, but I know I’ll watch the movie again and again (I own it), as well as listening to the musical score from the musical, as a way to keep this story and these themes in the forefront of my mind.
Managing Editor Jennifer Donovan also blogs at Snapshot about life with her tween daughter and preschool son.
Now it’s your turn. If you’d like to use some questions as a guide, you can find them here in the preview post. Use them as a springboard to your thoughts, or just write up your own review. Either way, add the direct link to your post in the linky below, and take some time to visit others as well.
Related Posts:
Les Miserables Discussion Questions
Les Miserables Podcast
Les Miserables: Books on Screen (and Stage)
Carrie, Reading to Know says
Go you for reading it again! I focused on the character of the Bishop, in part because I was lacking time and in part, honestly, because he’s my favorite character and I just wanted to spend a little time with him.
Amy says
I didn’t finish it, but I wrote up a short post for today and linked my Reflection in Progress from the first section. I WILL finish this book, though, and try to come back and link my final thoughts here!
Tina says
I didn’t read it, but you really inspire me with this club. I’ll try to do the next one.
LuAnn says
I am sad to say that I didn’t have the time to read the book. I will try to read it when I know that I will have the time to devote to it. I am looking forward to next months classic. I love that book.
Saya says
I didn’t read it for this, but given that I have read the entire unabridged once and all of the unabridged (minus the chapters on french slang and convents, and minus the portion of the chapter on Waterloo that didn’t have any plot in it) at least 3 or 4 times since – I just wanted to comment on how glad I was to see you all reading this!
I hate most of the abridged versions because they cut out too much of the plot – so next time you decide to read it – give the unabridged a shot – you don’t HAVE to read every word after all!
(My goal in life is to one day create my own abridged version of Les Miz that actually pleases me – but I certainly don’t have time to do so anytime soon, lol!)
Leya says
I tried! Really, I did try. I read three to four chapters and then I got discouraged. The book is huge!
I watched the musical several times! Does that count?! 😀
Barbara H. says
Late to the party, but I finally finished the unabridged version!