Saturday, July 06, 2002


Les Miserables is one of those few novels that inspire a rare self-assessment among its readers. It captures the human condition so well that even after nearly a century and a half the novel can still be related to by the present audience.


I just finished reading a close to unabridged version of Les Miserables and was thrilled by the climax that it builds up from the start. Throughout the novel the reader keeps expecting a kind of response from the characters and each time he/she is presented with a completely different and completely unbelievable event.


One of my favorite sequences is when Jean Valjean helps Cosette bring that bucket of water from the spring to the Thernardier chophouse. That one little scene evokes quite an emotion. Imagine a little girl of 8 yrs carrying a bucket that is about 3/4 of her height and that too it being full of water. Imagine Jean Valjean coming from behind and taking that bucket in his powerful hands. He was an angel to that little girl who became his angel in the latter part of the story.


It is a story that evokes a feeling of pure love and that will always pervade humanity as long as it lives. Love is one of those things that is ingrained in every human that has ever lived. No matter what one thinks about another, everyone has something to love and something that they would gladly have in the place of everything else. I know my sentence structuer isn't as mature as I would like it to be but I hope I'm getting my point across.


That is one great novel. All hats off to Victor Hugo for creating a masterpiece that paints an amazing picture of human suffering, love, courage, sacrifice and principle. I hope to read the unabdridged version in French sometime. Until then have a good day everyone....