"Paris Studied in its Atom"
This story is about a class of destitute kids who live on the streets of Paris and how they kind of represent everything that's wrong, and everything that's wonderful, about the city.
These kids come from horrible backgrounds and broken families, none the less they are pretty happy. Because they are so young (between the ages of 7-14) people go easier on them when they do something wrong. Even the police sometimes keep an eye on them to make sure they're safe. The kids are pretty much left to explore their city and do what they want.
They are free...at least for a couple of years. Then they usually end up in the prison system.
Towards the end, we're introduced to one of these gamin, and we learn about his family life. He's not an orphan, but his parents are so totally indifferent to him that they just stopped providing for him until he ran away. (He still even goes to visit them when he's bored, which is just sad to me.)
"The Great Bourgeois"
This one is about the life of this legendary old womanizer guy and his family.
It's not that exciting, its basically a build up to introduce this guy's grandson: Marius. It kind of lets us know the kind of family this kid came from.
So basically Marius has got a horny grandpa, a prudish aunt, and various illegitimate uncles and aunts (some of whom are quite a bit younger than he is himself). His mom was, apparently, pretty normal but she died early. And his dad? We don't know much about him except he was at the battle of waterloo...and Grandpa doesn't get along with him (hm...).
Family drama...
"The Grandfather and the Grandson"
This one is about Marius' coming of age and realizing that the people who raised you aren't right all of the time. As a young kid he was taken away from his dad and raised by his grandfather because his dad and grandpa didn't agree politically. He just believed everything his grandpa told him: including "your dad is a loser and doesn't care about you" and "Bonaparte is totes evil"
But it's a lie...
(We've met his dad briefly in the Waterloo; in that intense scene where his seemingly lifeless body was pulled out of 'The Hollow Road' booby-trap by Thenardier.)
Unfortunately, Marius doesn't find out the real story until after his dad's death. He actually starts reading history books and not just listening to what his grandpa's been telling him and he kind of has this "my life is a lie" vibe. He falls in love with his dad (Victor Hugo is king of the passionate platonic type love), but because he can't have a relationship with him, he directs all of his feelings towards supporting his dad's political views.
"The Friends of the ABC"
This book is about how Marius fell in, and out again, with a group of social justice advocates.
They're a really a colorful group of people. The way these people are described kind of reminds me of Peter Pan. Like, Peter is a jerk kid...but because JM Barrie loves him so much he tells us all the things about him that make him a precious little boy and then we start to love him to.
The one he still hasn't convinced me on is Marius. Like I think he's supposed to be the "every-man" in this story, but so far it's hard for me to root for him. (He only supports Bonapartesque regime because Napoleon made his dad a Baron imho....).
He doesn't really have any opinion on anything other than what other people have told him; and he's prideful in the same way Jean and Fantine were (this does not bode well...). It looks like he's the main protagonist for this volume, bleh...
"The Excellence of Misfortune"
This one was actually pretty funny. Marius is probably better off living by his own initiative, even if it means living in poverty, because he's such an airhead he really wouldn't be motivated to make something of his life if every thing had been handed to him. (So thanks, Aunt Gillenormand...but no thanks...)
Marius has been unsettled by the opinions of the Friends of the ABC but instead of changing his opinions, he decides to have no opinions at all...only sympathies. I think there are a lot of benefits to this, but he's never going to be the force of nature like Jean and Javert are.
An undercurrent to this story is that even though they are fighting and don't agree, his grandpa and aunt really do still care about him a lot. The last chapter, where his grandpa reads about a student protest...and just assumes his grandson is going to be there and then just projects all of his feelings in a little tirade with his nephew Theodule...that was kind of cute.
"The Conjunction of Two Stars"
Marius does everything in his power to find out more about his crush (except introduce himself...lets not get crazy here!). Marius and his friends even come up with fake names and backstories for her and her dad. He ends up creeping out the girl and her dad so bad that they move.
"Patron Minette"
This one is about a small gang of ruffians, the most notable of whom is named Montparnasse. These guys are presented as, like, the lowest depths of humanity. However, Victor still thinks that they're victims of their own ignorance...which ultimately makes society at fault for their crimes for not educating them.
(I think this is a bit overkill, Victor. We get it...society=bad, people=stupid.)
"The Wicked Poor Man"
Marius starts to befriend his neighbors, the Jondrettes, and finds documents that incriminate them in a fraud scheme and DOESN'T turn this information over to the police until his crush and her dad are taken in by the scheme.
His crush's dad gets taken hostage by the Jondrettes and Montparnasse's gang and they interrogate him. M. Jondrette tells his sob-story and Marius realizes that this horrible person is the same guy who saved his Dad's life on the battle field. Marius decides to NOT signal the police, but fortunately Inspector Javert's not a complete moron and didn't count on the signal anyway...
The best part about this book was seeing my favorite characters through a fresh set of eyes. Sometimes it was annoying, ("OK, Marius. I get she's cute...but could you please pay a bit more attention to her dad? I wanna see what he's up to!") but it also brought attention to how larger than life these three guys are. Marius is uber impressed with Javert because he's scary/intimidating, but he also inspires bravery in other people. He watches his crush's dad keep his cool all through Jondrette's intense soliliquy interrogation, and then make his escape while the police lockdown the apartment (sneaky guy!).
Conclusion:
I think that Marius is probably the most realistic character in this book, and its probably for that reason that I just don't believe in him.
Every other character is an individual in characature: Marius is "the real". No animal analogies, no moralizing. Marius is intellectual, but thoughtless. Passionate, but passive and indecisive. M. Hugo paints him with a complexity he denies his other characters despite the fact that his motivations and drives are actually quite simple.
I feel that if Marius' story was told independently...if he didn't exist in the world of Thenardier, Valjean, Javert, Cosette...he would be a really likable and endearing guy. But stylistically he just doesn't fit in their world. It really takes you out of the story, and its a lot harder to suspend your disbelief when he's around.
My favorite parts of this volume where when Marius is not around, or at least when his perspective is not the focus of the story: Gavroche, Marius' grandpa, the ABC gang, and (finally) seeing our familiar characters again. That was a breath of fresh air.