Les Miserable – finally finished :)

Hey everyone, after about 18 months of reading I finally finished Les Miserable! It is 1220 pages long and he has written in detail about many aspects of France – the revolution, including sewers, slang, social customs, some of this detail I read and some I didn’t read. There was detail about the Napoleonic wars – so much detail – he felt he was a historian as well as telling an amazing story.

Hugo’s characters were very well developed, but also extremely nuanced and complex. I love the story, the characters and how he shows the story of grace, forgiveness and turning the other cheek so beautifully.

I felt a sense of accomplishment after finishing it, because it was written in 1862. Hugo’s sense of social justice, his comment on society, poverty, people from different walks of life I found compassionate and brilliant. His philosophical comments were very interesting – it is truly one of the best stories ever told.

Hugo also, was a campaigner against the death penalty and slavery, he was did more than 4000 drawings, he produced many short stories, poetry, essays and other novels, such as the Hunchback of Notre Dame. His career spanned 60 years. I really enjoyed living in his mind for all of that time and I see the world similarly to Hugo in terms of social justice and spiritual beliefs about God etc. It was a rich blessing to me but I am relieved that I can now read a more modern novel to just cruise through the language etc and plot easier. Haha.

I am now reading Marian Keys, she’s always great to read for a light read.

Thanks for reading! Suz