This past summer I read Les Miserables . I loved it! I always heard the hype surrounding the book, how it had been made into a Broadway play, and I thought what is the big deal? Well first I thought, why do so many Americans like this book that is obviously written in French. It isn't.
The novel is broken up into several books each detailing the life of different characters. However two books have the same title- Jean Valjean- in the beginning and the end, probably the author's intent was to tie the end to the beginning and make sense of everything. I was confused for a greater portion of that book, but when I finally understood it I couldn't put it down.
Ultimately the story is about a man Jean Valjean who is extremely poor. His poverty leads him to steal but it's not so much for himself as it is for his sister's kids. To me there is a quality of unselfishness there. He goes through a difficult adult life(jail) and becomes very bitter, but when he finally catches a break, he completely changes his character. To me this book is the ultimate rebirth story of how any person can overcome their past and build a greater future. Unfortuneately it doesn't end well for him and people die in the book....but I'll let you read that for yourself...or you can listen to it since there are so many books in audio format now.
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