Les Miserables

I am currently reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, the unabridged version. It is not for the faint of heart! 1463 pages long, whew! It is incredibly long and I am loving it. I grew up loving the play that is based on this book, I loved the music before I even understood what it was really about. I loved the love story when I was young, but as I have grown older I have found myself pondering the other characters in the book that I didn't have much of a care about before. Jean Valjean, the former convict turned honest and charitable. Why would he do that, then take on some woman's kid and raise it as his own? Fantine, a poor woman with a baby girl. Until I had my baby I could not comprehend the love this woman had for her child. How did she come to leave her child in the care of terrible people? The play tells you of these stories a little, but it doesn't show you the why's and the how's. I started pondering this fictional story a lot, so I decided to read it. What an adventure it has been! I have loved finding out the whole story behind the story, even if the characters are completely fictional. The emotions portrayed speak right to my heart. I happily anticipate my reading time every day.

One of the other things I love about this book is that Victor Hugo wrote what he wanted. He was not afraid to openly express and publish his views on politics and religion, and he winds them into his characters and his scenes. He was a very faithful man who included religion in his book. Indeed, the first 70 or so pages are all about a bishop in the catholic church. These days it seems like there is always somebody willing to scream at you for expressing any kind of religious view at all, so I have rarely ever ventured such views aloud, even to close friends who are of the same religion as me. I felt like it would be rude to talk about our faith and beliefs, since there was a chance that maybe we would not completely agree on every little point in life. Victor Hugo has inspired me to be different. I don't feel like I need to proselytize and preach to everyone about my faith, but I am not afraid to be open about it in my conversations and life. I will quite happily talk about it and give my views based on it, and I will stand up for what I know is correct.