Ron’s Reviews > Les Misérables > Status Update

Through Part V, Book V. Just 16 chapters to go.

Through Part 4, Book 11, where forces are gathering for revolution. (Though this is a French revolution, it is not The French Revolution. That was nearly forty years ago.)

End of part Three. The last section (chapter 20 in particular) was really long but captivating, which gives me hope that I'll finish in time. I believe we're also through most of the long digressions; the Waterloo section back in Part II really wore me out.

Describing a hovel on the outskirts of Paris: "An interesting and picturesque feature of this type of residence is the enormous size of the spiders."

(⊙△⊙✿)

Through Part 2 (Cosette), Book III.

Fantine, Book VII, ch. 8-11: This is a key point in the story, so I won't even summarize. Spoilers to come in the comment below.

Fantine, Book VII, ch. 5-7: Mr. Madeline, still not sure what he intends to do, presses on with his trip making every attempt to overcome the obstacles thrown his way. Whatever happens to him and those around him in the next few days, it won't be because he quit. If something proves to be truly insurmountable, then we can call it Providence.

Fantine, Book VI: As stern and inflexible as Javert is, he's consistently so. He insists on holding himself to the same rigid standards as he would hold anybody else.

Fantine Book V, ch. 5-8: We meet Inspector Javert, one of the most unpleasant men in France. Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious, and callous. He wouldn't lift a finger to save his grandmother from the gallows without orders signed in triplicate.

Fantine, Book V, ch. 1-4: We go ahead of Fantine to the town where she grew up, which has itself grown quite wealthy thanks to the ideas and the generosity of a drifter who decided to stay, a kind but odd and private man named Mr. Madeline.