“Les Misérables” by Victor Hugo

It was the first time for me to read such a long book, 1212 pages. I actually have always been scared of long heavy books, so I never read one. In November I met a person, who was talking all the time about Les Miserables, he even gave me the book, and started asking me all time if I had started reading it. He was so pressing I eventually began the lecture. I was immediately shocked by how much the story was taking me, I couldn’t stop reading, I was reading 4/5 hours every day. So I read a book my friend read in 6 months in 12 days. This book is going to change your life. It has so much to teach.. each character taught me something: Monsigneur Bienvenu, Fantine, Cosette, Eponina, Gavroche.. but most of all, him. Jean Valjean. This is a book of hope, of redemption, of salvation. Jean Valjean is the perfect example of a person who finds the strength to rise from the darkness where he’s fallen to the light of the paradise. The message conveyed is great: you may make mistakes, be an horrible selfish immoral person, but there’s always hope, you can rise and become an amazing person. You only need a little help (like Monsigneur Bienvenu for Jean Valjean or the reading of this book for you) and a little bit of strength and desire to change your life situation. All the rest will come by himself. The author of this book is a genius, I think that the existence of such minds as the one of Victor Hugo is a sufficient proof of the existence of God, or at least of the benevolent nature of the world. This book is not only a novel, it’s also an open window on French society from 1817 to 1832. Hugo finds time and way to write his thoughts on many subjects, as the war, the vulgar language, conscience, the sewer system, the conditions of the exploited workers, women and orphans etc. The plot is mesmerising, you never get bored: Les Miserables is a masterpiece absolutely worth reading.