The end of Les Miserables

In March of 2009, Justin and I set out to conquer our own Mt. Everest. We wanted to read the complete, unabridged 1463 pages of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

(Note: NOT our table cloth/pet hair. Only a depiction of how big this book is.)

Fastforward 9 months to December 30th and 31st, and we completed the book (Justin - 30th, Erin - 31st).

We could not complete such a life-changing, MARATHON of a book without expressing our love and gratitude for Victor Hugo and for the amazing spiritual upliftment that is Les Miserables.

I received my copy of the book in high school when my parents gave Katie and I the book for Christmas (with 2 tickets to see the broadway show tucked inside). The show was AMAZING. I really can't describe how touching it is. To me, when discussing Broadway shows, there are the fun ones like Mary Poppins or Lion King (ground level), and then there's a step up to Beauty and the Beast or Aida (top of Empire State Building), and then there's a step up to Wicked (top of the Burj Khalifa). And then there's a giant leap learger than the distance from the Sun to Pluto, and that's where Les Mis is sitting.

I always wanted to read it, but never did. When Justin first started with Delta Oct '09, he was throwing bags and had a LOT of down time. He read several books and then decided he wanted to read Les Mis. So he goes out and buys the book, brings it home, and then I remembered that I had a copy too. So I dig around a bit and find it, and we decide to start it out together and that when we finish we'll go see it on Broadway in Europe (the only place it was playing at the time).

Now, word to the wise: choosing to read Les Mis is like committing to run a marathon. Not kidding. 1463 pages is a LOT of pages, especially when the print is not very big. But I promise that if you will stick it out, it will be worth EVERY minute. I'll definitely read it again in the future.

I'd heard that Victor Hugo can be wordy at times, or describe things that are seemingly unimportant for pages upon pages... Rather than be annoyed with this, I let myself be submerged completely and in the process found out what it really means to be a hopeless romantic. Stop and smell the roses doesn't begin to express the love affair Mr. Hugo had with his characters. By spending so much time in every detail of his story, I felt like I really got to know these people (plus I had the songs they sing in my head). By the middle/end of the story when people start dying, it was tragic and sad and I cried like my own friend had died. At the very very end when our giant angel dies I wept.

If you would like to immerse yourself in a book that will literally change your life, that will touch the spiritual and human side of you, that will teach you how to be better than you ever thought possible, how much you could do for someone you truly love, that people are human and can be cruel and unforgiving, that God is merciful and kind and full of grace and truth, that there really are angels in human form among us, or that God's love and forgiveness apply to ALL of us, then I recommend you read Les Miserables.

In Victor Hugo's own words (p.1242):

"The book the reader has now before his eyes - from one end to the other, in its whole and in its details, whatever the omissions, the exceptions, or the faults - is the march from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from the false to the true, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from rottenness to life, from brutality to duty, from Hell to Heaven, from nothingness to God. Starting point: matter; goal: the soul. Hydra at the beginning, angel at the end."

Amen.