Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
This classic is well worth the extensive amount of time it takes to read it (especially if you read the unabridged version). On the one hand, the book is so very long because Victor Hugo takes extreme liberties with his writing and with the reader’s patience by fully exploring long tangents of his personal opinion. For example, Hugo uses nineteen chapters describing the Battle of Waterloo and numerous chapters describing the lifestyle in a particular convent. This is not important to his story in the least bit, but if you are interested in the historical background, this is a great place to find that. Hugo is notorious for doing this in his other books as well, and I think he got to do it, simply because he was Victor Freaking Hugo.
Les Miserables is one of the most beautiful, poetic stories ever written. There are so many passages that I highlighted on my tablet because they were some of the most lovely words I have ever read. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"To love another person is to see the face of God."
"It is nothing to die; it is frightful not to live."
"Not being heard is no reason for silence."
"He is fond of books, for they are cool and sure friends."
On love: “When love has fused and mingled two beings in a sacred and angelic unity, the secret of life has been discovered so far as they are concerned; they are no longer anything more than the two boundaries of the same destiny; they are no longer anything but the two wings of the same spirit. Love, soar.”
On Javert: "Before him he saw two roads, both equally straight; but he did see two; and that terrified him--he who had never in his life known anything but one straight line. And, bitter anguish, these two roads were contradictory.”
You could write an entirely separate book on his passages on the subject of love. All in all, it is a magical masterpiece with a satisfying plot line, vivid and lovable characters, and the best love story of all: that of Jean for his dear Cozette, a father and his daughter. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to cry uncontrollably after reading a book for a few months.
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