My Book Haul

I discovered this tumblr+books alternative a few months ago and was really excited to transfer everything to this website! I was going to include some of my quotes, pictures of my books, and reviews! But sadly, I decided to be a crazy person and take 4 summer school classes, including Calculus II and Chemistry with Lab, which just takes a lot of my time up. 

Hopefully, in a week or two, I will be able to devote more time to this and finish transferring my posts! 

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 319)

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 287)

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 265)

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 226)

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 193)

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 189)

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 154)

It is 4am and I just finished reading Cosette, the second part of Les Miserables. I liked how this part was paced. It is about half as long as the preceding part, Fantine. There was always something going on that advanced the story and less about building up to the core of the plot.

I like how Hugo writes so effortlessly and seems to have planned out the plot meticulously enough that the there seems to be a lot of “foreshadowing”. I say “foreshadowing” because characters from the past keep coming into the plot and have giant roles in helping Jean Valjean. The commentary Hugo seems to be putting in play here is do good and only good will come to you. Jean Valjean keeps reaping from the good he planted in the first part, Fantine. 

I liked how Hugo brought back Javert and continued his annoying pursuit of justice. He seems to be always paranoid, and it becomes agitating to have Hugo making him right about his suspicions. It would be nice to have his obsession bite him in the ass. Regardless, I enjoyed the chapter that shifts the perspectives to Javert.

The last part I enjoyed in Cosette was the introduction of the convent. I liked how it provided comfort to Jean Valjean in the end. It came out of nowhere, like a miracle! Also there was a section of the book that did an extensive comparison of the convent and the galleys, which I was beginning to think of myself. How Jean Valjean has been to both places, and how in the galleys there were only men and in the convent there were only women. How one was for punishment, and the other for solace. Hugo once again does a wonderful job juxtaposing good and evil. 

This part of the novel has a substantial amount of religious undertones, unlike Fantine which focused more on social and political ideas.

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 333)

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 305)

I just finished the first part of Les Miserables, Fantine. There are 4 more parts: Cosette, Marius, The Epic on the Rue Saint-Denis and the Idyll of the Rue Plumet, and Jean Valjean. 

Thus far, I have enjoyed the book thoroughly. It has captured my attention in a weird way. I sometimes find it overwhelming, due to the fact that there are so many philosophical undertones as well as raw human emotion that I have not experienced in many books before. Hugo does a wonderful job portraying this emotional journey of Fantine, as well as Jean Valjean, into emotions that the reader can comprehend. I don’t have a child, but I can feel the love Fantine had for Cosette, to sacrifice herself for another, one created from her struggle. She does not resent her daughter either, which is more powerful to me than anything else. To love someone through such adversity that is caused by their existence. 

I must admit that because I saw the movie, I know a general outline of the plot. Although the movie was 3 hours long, there is no way that they could fit every single detail of the 900 page abridged version, let alone the lengthier unabridged version. 

All in all, Part I was very interesting and provides various moral and philosophical situations that leaves the reader to ponder on their own existence. 

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 121)

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 115)

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 102)

Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (p. 53)