Les Miserables Book 4: The Idyll of the Rue Plumet and the Epic of the Rue Saint-Denis

Book 4 of Les Miserables, The Idyll of the Rue Plumet and the Epic of the Rue Saint-Denis, is the only book that is not named after a main character. Instead of exploring one particular character, everything comes together. First, Marius and Cosette, after weeks and months of batting their eyes at each other, finally meet and fall in love, and second, the barricades rise and the epic battle that is the climax of Les Miserables begins.

Being more familiar with the musical rather than the novel, I was always fairly annoyed with Marius and Cosette's relationship -- they simply bump into each other on a crowded street and fall into insta-love. The story is infinitely better in the book. I had forgotten how lovely Hugo can make a romance. So much of the book is history, and no matter how well that history is written, it can get a little dry after a few hundred pages. The romance is the perfect dessert after a vigorously healthy, multi-course meal. While Marius and Cosette are attracted to each other from a distance for a long time, once they get to know each other, their relationship is sweet and endearing. I loved the description of their first long talk --

"These two hearts poured themselves out to each other and into each other, so that at the end of an hour, the young man had the soul of the young girl and the young girl had the soul of the young man. They entered each other, enchanted each other, dazzled each other."

I also absolutely melted at the letter that Marius wrote to Cosette before their first meeting. If you love a good romantic story, it is worth wading through the history just for this moment alone.

So much for the Idyll of the Rue Plumet. The Epic of the Rue Saint-Denis brings us to the death of General Lamarque and the riots that erupt across Paris as a result. Heading it off, of course, is Enjolras, the man whose only love is France herself. I absolutely love the Friends of the ABC and their various personalities and different ways of relating to the cause. Book 4 generally just builds the tension to a head, bringing in all the main characters -- Eponine, Javert, Jean Valjean, Gavroche, Marius. For the most part the heroic sacrifices are saved for the final book, but we do see Father Mabeuf, old friend of Marius' father, give up his life on the barricade. This second part of Book 4 pales in comparison with the beginning of Book 5, but of course, to have a Book 5 we need a set up.

I've finished the book so I am excited to wrap up my thoughts with my review of book 5 next week and the complete review the week after that. Reading Les Miserables has been an amazing experience!

Les Miserables Book 3: Marius

Ahh, Marius! This has been my favorite section of Les Miserables this time around for so many reasons. One of them: The fact that yes, this section is a lot more plot-based rather than didactic, which is always a winning feature in these big chunksters. (As an aside, do you think big didactic sections would fly in today's writing? I don't think a book would get published these days if it had a Waterloo section. I'm not sure if I think that's a good thing, even though the Waterloo section was killer -- does it mean our society has such a short attention span that we don't have time to learn things? End of brief aside). 

Another thing I love is Marius. I think his character is so wonderful. He is a perfect mix of naivete and passion, first devoting his energies and admiration to his father, a soldier at Waterloo who is estranged from him because Marius's grandfather thinks he is below their family, and later to "his Ursula," a mysterious and beautiful woman he sees every day in Luxembourg Gardens who turns out to be, of course, Cosette. Marius is painted in such realistic colors, but he is never stodgy or boring. He is passionate youth, devoting himself wholeheartedly to every whisper of his heart, paying the rent of his destitute neighbors despite the fact that it only leaves him enough to pay for the next day's dinner, sneaking away from home to weep at his father's grave, following a beautiful girl home without considering how her overly protective father might react to it. Everything about him is fresh and endearing. 

With Marius comes a whole troupe of similarly fresh and endearing young men, idealists that love France and are eager for change. One of my favorite parts of Book 3 was reading the descriptions of each of the young men -- it was absolutely delightful. Of course, the one that stands out in my mind the most is Enjolras, the impassioned young patriot who cares for nothing but his country; his only lover is France. Courfeyrac is another that is particularly significant because it is he that first befriends Marius and introduces him to the others; Courfeyrac is witty and gallant, able to recover from any blow life gives him and abounding in romances. He is an interesting foil to Marius but proves to be one of his best friends.

Action really becomes heated toward the end of Book 3, when Marius discovers several things: First of all, that his neighbors are connected to his father; secondly, that they are also connected to "his Ursula" and her father, and thirdly, that all the parties involved have some serious secrets. I love the way everyone's lives come together again; I don't know if the connectedness is realistic, but it is fascinating.

Today I began Book 4 of Les Miserables, which I think will prove to be climactic for most of the characters despite the fact that one book remains after it. I am looking forward to the adventures -- and Marius and Cosette finally meeting face to face.

Les Miserables -- Book 2: Cosette

This is the my second post on my reading of Julie Rose's translation of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. These posts on each of the five books in the volume will have some discussion points and potentially some spoilers. At the end of the book I will also write a more general review that will not have spoilers.

For me, Book 2 seemed to be divided into four parts. Two were plot-dominated and two were information-dominated. While the information sections were definitely relevant to the story, they made getting through this second part of Les Miserables tedious for me at times. However, the more plot-heavy sections more than made up for it.

The first section is the dreaded Waterloo section. I remember being completely daunted by this section when I was in high school -- I knew absolutely nothing about Napoleon and Waterloo and was completely confused. Now, after several years of French language and culture classes, I have a little more insight into it, although I definitely wouldn't be comfortable saying much more than that it was Napoleon's last and defeating battle. It was interesting to read for me this time around, but I struggled with all of Hugo's geographical descriptions. As far as spatial awareness goes, I actually have an IQ test result that is below average -- I have a really hard time visualizing places in my head. Even with maps, I usually get a headache just trying to follow them. All Hugo's talk of "this river" and "that mound" were tempting for me to skim over, although I managed to read the words even though my brain wasn't making much sense of them.

The second section (remember, these are just arbitrary sections that make sense in my mind) refers to Cosette's life with the Thenardiers and Jean Valjean's rescue of her. The musical, which is the version of Les Miserables I am least familiar with, neglects to mention that Eponine (as well as another girl, Azelma) are the Thenardiers' daughters. I think the most heartbreaking aspect of Cosette's life there is that the Thenardiers did treat their daughters well and with love. Not only did Cosette have to deal with the fact that she alone was rejected among the children in that house (I guess I should amend that to the girls -- Madame Thenardier doesn't really like her son, Gavroche, either), the girls never reach out to Cosette. Hugo excuses it as related to the fact that they just never learn to see her as a person because their parents don't treat her as a person, but I still think it is pretty depressing. While I really feel sorry for Eponine later in the story, in some ways I think she is getting a little bit of karma for not being kind to Cosette in their younger years. I also want to quickly mention that I love how Jean Valjean and Cosette's relationship develops. I love that they both were without someone to love for essentially their entire lives but they are able to instinctually latch on to each other and support each other. I think that is a very moving part of the story.

The third section is about convents. When Cosette and Valjean first leave the Thenardiers, they live in a little slum, but suspicion soon arises around Valjean because he lives and dresses like a poor man but clearly has money. Soon Javert is on their trail and they have to sneak away. The refuge that awaits them is a small, forgotten convent hidden by a high wall, which Jean Valjean naturally is able to climb due to his above-average strength. After they are safely hidden by a man who coincidentally works there and who owes Valjean a favor, Hugo launches into some of the history of convents and why he thinks they are on the decline in his era. It was an interesting discussion, although some of it was difficult for me to follow just because I am not as familiar with Catholic saints and historical figures (and was too lazy to look up all the footnotes -- there were hundreds!) but it was interesting.

The fourth section was my favorite. While Jean Valjean and Cosette are safe in the convent for the night, Fauchevelent knows they can't stay there -- he is the only man (the gardener) and must wear a bell so the pure, celibate women do not have to cross his path. He needs to get Cosette and Valjean out in order to have them legitimately in (by pretending that they are relatives and that the work is too much for Fauchelevent), but Valjean can't just leap back over the wall, because Javert is guarding it night and day. The series of unfortunate (and fortuitous) events that result in Valjean's escape and reentry were hilarious and brilliant. I won't go through the whole process because it is complex, and I don't want to give you the whole plot even though this post is fair game for spoilers. However, suffice it to say that I laughed out loud several times, while also experiencing some tense moments. It is definitely one of the more entertaining parts of the book so far.

I'm about halfway through Book 3: Marius, which is fantastic and not quite so information-heavy. I'll be posting on that one once I finish it.