Ryan Loveless's Blog - Posts Tagged "les-miserables"
On reading: more than just a moment
I just finished reading Let the Great World Spin. It took me about six months of coming back to it sporadically. I imagine that some people can't read books like this, that they might think a book that needs to be read like this is a bad book.
I think it's a beautiful book. There's little in the way of plot. This book isn't for getting you hooked into a story. It's a tribute to words, description, moments. Most of those moments are unique unto themselves, but sometimes they connect and you have to think back 100 or so pages to that scene you might remember and...yes! You know the other side of the story and now here's the why, and oh.
It's these moments that I'd like to talk about now. As Sondheim wrote, "Any moment big or small is a moment after all; seize the moment."
I can think of few things more rewarding in reading than the moment of realization that comes when pieces fall together and you understand. It could be figuring out who the killer is in a murder-mystery, but I prefer those more subtle moments, the ones that sneak up on you, but, once grasped, can knock the wind out of you because they mean that a character's life is about to be changed.
For me, the most profound example I can think of is in Les Misérables. This is my favorite book. I've read it several times, each time going slowly and giving myself a year to finish. On the last read, I had an epiphany. I'm going to tell you, even though I feel like I'm giving away a secret that you should discover for yourself. But, we're talking about moments here and this is my big one. The first several times I read the book, I missed it. I was always too anxious to get to the students. But this last time I went slow, I focused, I soaked in every word of seemingly unending introduction about the bishop. I managed not to yawn too much as I read about what a great guy he is, how he gave up his palatial bishop's mansion to serve as a hospital, blah blah he's awesome.
Get to Valjean. Ah! The story has truly begun. Here's our hero!
Except. Valjean is fresh from prison; we read about his despair as no one helps him, his anger and rancor against the world. It's cold; he's freezing. He has no food, no money, no help. He is a man who has nowhere to turn.
And then. Someone points him towards a door.
That's when everything about the bishop matters. Every word. Because that's the bishop's door and because we know exactly who the bishop is, we know that Valjean is about to get help, that it will be more than food and a bed. We know that this man is about to change Valjean's life. We know it before Valjean knows it, and we are overwhelmed with relief on his account.
That is why these moments matter, why the streams of words that lead up to them shouldn't be dismissed as over-descriptive excess. Sometimes it takes a few times to get it; other times you realize on the first reading. Either way, these moments are what make a story for me.
What are some of your favorite moments?
I think it's a beautiful book. There's little in the way of plot. This book isn't for getting you hooked into a story. It's a tribute to words, description, moments. Most of those moments are unique unto themselves, but sometimes they connect and you have to think back 100 or so pages to that scene you might remember and...yes! You know the other side of the story and now here's the why, and oh.
It's these moments that I'd like to talk about now. As Sondheim wrote, "Any moment big or small is a moment after all; seize the moment."
I can think of few things more rewarding in reading than the moment of realization that comes when pieces fall together and you understand. It could be figuring out who the killer is in a murder-mystery, but I prefer those more subtle moments, the ones that sneak up on you, but, once grasped, can knock the wind out of you because they mean that a character's life is about to be changed.
For me, the most profound example I can think of is in Les Misérables. This is my favorite book. I've read it several times, each time going slowly and giving myself a year to finish. On the last read, I had an epiphany. I'm going to tell you, even though I feel like I'm giving away a secret that you should discover for yourself. But, we're talking about moments here and this is my big one. The first several times I read the book, I missed it. I was always too anxious to get to the students. But this last time I went slow, I focused, I soaked in every word of seemingly unending introduction about the bishop. I managed not to yawn too much as I read about what a great guy he is, how he gave up his palatial bishop's mansion to serve as a hospital, blah blah he's awesome.
Get to Valjean. Ah! The story has truly begun. Here's our hero!
Except. Valjean is fresh from prison; we read about his despair as no one helps him, his anger and rancor against the world. It's cold; he's freezing. He has no food, no money, no help. He is a man who has nowhere to turn.
And then. Someone points him towards a door.
That's when everything about the bishop matters. Every word. Because that's the bishop's door and because we know exactly who the bishop is, we know that Valjean is about to get help, that it will be more than food and a bed. We know that this man is about to change Valjean's life. We know it before Valjean knows it, and we are overwhelmed with relief on his account.
That is why these moments matter, why the streams of words that lead up to them shouldn't be dismissed as over-descriptive excess. Sometimes it takes a few times to get it; other times you realize on the first reading. Either way, these moments are what make a story for me.
What are some of your favorite moments?
