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Les Misérables
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Volume 4 - Saint-Denis
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Mod
This book did not start out matching my excitement at the title. In fact….
”…even more terrible than the wicked rich man, the wicked poor man.” Booooo!!!!!! Classist. Is that a word? What word do I really mean?
Wait…what? What???? Are you telling me that Javert…JAVERT??? Who knew Marius’ name and occupation, could not find Marius? Ja-vert? Who managed to track down a dead man with almost nothing to go on? I don’t believe it. Once again, the character of Javert makes me scoff and shake my head, and think Hugo is really sloppy…and then I quake with fear – what is Hugo up to? What horrors await us at this flimsy character’s hands?
And then we just run into a road block of heart ache….
~ Marius' heart gives up trying to find Cosette again ”…he still aspired to this, but he no longer expected it.” We have all been there, the end of expectation, and it is sad.
~ “Happy, even in the midst of anguish, is he to whom God has given a soul worthy of love and of unhappiness!” Heart goes ouch. I tear up every time I read that. I originally read it on the bus, and started crying. Like the kind of crying that requires tissues. Again, weirdly, no one seemed to notice.
~ I just hate that Mabeuf is having such a hard time. Sweet baby Jesus, can’t anyone get a break in this book?
~ I both love and hate that Mabeuf, at age 80, is planning how to make his fortune so that he can buy himself a fancy book with lots of pretty maps. More heart ouches.
I had a brief and wonderful sensation that Mabeuf and Eponine might be the new Valjean and Cosette, and find a way to heal each other. And then she left, and all was dark again.
Mod
This was a nice book. The house and the description were lovely, Valjean was making some good choices. Overall it was very enjoyable. And I am resolute in my decision to not talk about sexist stuff anymore, so I’ll let that go. And some of the odd stuff around the “triangle”....blah. Whatever, I don’t even feel like questioning Valjean’s weirdness in that area. Honestly, it’s a miracle he can love anyone at all, after the life he has led, so let him be a weirdo.
The chain gang incident causes me unease…what will it lead to? Besides misery, of course. *Worry*
Saint-Denis – Book 4 – Succor from Below….
I love Lil G so much I almost can’t stand it. When he swiped Montparnasse’s stolen purse and tossed it to Mabeuf I just about jumped up cheering. And then had another stupid and idiotic vision - Mabeuf and Gavroche becoming the new Valjean and Cosette. It won’t happen, I know it, but I can’t not hope for it.
Mod
Had a bit of a swoon over Hugo when the narrator said ”We have already noted once for all the fact that Toussaint stuttered. May we be permitted to dispense with it for the future. The musical notation of an infirmity is repugnant to us.”
OMG, when Toussaint scared the shit out of Cosette by describing all the possible horrors that could befall two women alone in a house…I just about bust a gut laughing. It is standard sitcom fare, but so much funnier than the typical attempt.
The love poems. Holy crap that was endless. For the first time in this colossal book I actually had to start skimming. Also, it made me laugh. I wonder if Hugo meant it to be funny, because it was hysterical.
I liked how quickly Cosette was right back in love with Marius, and now shunned Theodule.
Saint-Denis – Book 6 – Wind Awesome title
Wtf?? The Thenardiers had MORE children? That can’t be good.
”Besides, no one has any interest in looking closely after children who have not a sou.” Thenardier says this as he sells his 2 youngest. He is relentlessly awful and disgusting. I am beginning to believe he is not going to die, but will probably get rewarded with some windfall.
I was really relieved to hear that the two littlest Thenardiers were getting treated better at their new house. Gods, I have so much fear for those two. Maybe they will escape all this horror, and have decent lives. I mean, someone has to, right?
And almost immediately, this ”The Thenardier catastrophe involved the catastrophe of Magnon.” Great. So the little ones are gonna be taken down anyway. Just great. I guess you can’t accuse Hugo of straying from his theme.
And again, almost immediately, the little ones are kicked out and wandering the streets of Paris. The youngest is FIVE. FIVE!!!! Goddammit.
”The two children resumed their march in tears.” I guess I have fodder for unending sobbing for the rest of my life. Can someone tell me – is this in the movie? If so I will never ever watch it. I can’t take much more.
Gavroche saves them!! I love him so much!! And he doesn’t even know they are his brothers. I wonder if they will discover this somehow. But that means they would probably have to interact with Thenardier to find out. I’m torn.
Look…G gives the street girl his woolen shawl. This kid is clearly the heart and soul of all that is good in humans. And he got there all on his own. Please, please Mr. Hugo, can he please survive this book and have something good happen to him? I am just going to be crushed beyond belief if he starves to death or winds up in the galleys.
I just loved G’s lessons in proper street jargon. Again, standard sitcom fare, and once again so much funnier than most attempts I’ve seen. Plus (I’m not sure I’ve made this clear), I LOVE Gavroche. He is my favorite character. I wonder if everyone feels that way.
”The Emperor had had the dream of a genius; in that Titanic elephant, armed, prodigious, with trunk uplifted, bearing its tower and scattering on all sides its merry and vivifying water, he wished to incarnate the people. God had done a grander thing with it, he had lodged a child there.” Another fit of crying on the bus. So beautiful.
I hate that during his escape, Thenardier appropriates a bayonet. What is he gonna do with that? And why is Hugo making sure we know he has it? Ugh.
”’One doesn’t desert one’s friends in a scrape,’ grumbled Montparnasse.” What? Is one of these ruffians going to turn out to be an okay guy? I don’t know…Montparnasse gives me the heebie jeebies, so it doesn’t seem likely. But still, I don’t think this comment means nothing.
Mod
This was pretty interesting. Some of it seems a bit obsolete, given the “smallness” and accessibility of the world nowadays. But it got me thinking about how different we all are in terms of how we use slang, what we consider slang, and which bits are offensive etc. But then it got kinda repetitive, and it was hard for me to relate to all the horrors around slang degrading the fantastic French culture and all that. Meh.
For some reason, at this point I made a list of the characters in order of how much I cared about them, starting with my favorite:
Gavroche
Eponine
Mabeuf
Cosette/Marius/Valjean – all on a par
The Dudes – you know, all the ABC guys who Hugo told us are all marked for a grisly death.
And there are others I care about, but I’m not really sure they will be much in the story any more. Like the little ones, and the grandfather, and Toussaint, and Mabeuf’s housekeeper.
Saint-Denis – Book 8 – Enchantments and Desolations
”…divers complications were approaching.” You don’t really need to say it anymore. We know.
Eponine just breaks my heart. She couldn’t have had worse parents. And yet she tries to be a regular person. She won’t get rewarded for that…but how badly will she be punished? Yuck, I’m just worried for her.
Finally!!! Marius is going to see his Grandfather. I just feel so bad for Gramps…he doesn’t have the smarts or …what? empathy? to make good decisions about Marius. I hope they can at least have a conversation. Is it possible they could work through their issues of pride and resentment? Even as I write it I realize how stupid I sound….
”It was not death that was insupportable to him; it was the idea that perhaps he should never see Marius again.” Lord a mighty.
”M. Gillenormand, without however acknowledging it to himself, for it would have rendered him furious and ashamed, had never loved a mistress as he loved Marius.” I actually started to kinda sob on the bus, and had to put the book away. I had not tissues, and was basically ruined for a bit. That is just so heartbreaking and pointless…and so real.
The end result of this visit…just…just fuck you, Hugo. I am actually getting mad at him now. How does he keep getting me to hope for the completely implausible in this miserable world of his? And then the obvious and only outcome is so much worse as the hope is not only dashed, but trampled and obliterated and spat upon. Aagghhhhh.
Mod
AAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whither are you going Hugo? What is wrong with you????? I cannot express in words how upset I was with the outcome of Valjean’s purse. FUCK. It’s like a double punishment for all my favorites. Gavroche risks his life to steal the purse away from that psychopathic motherfucker and give it to M. Mabeuf….and then M. Mabeuf, bless his crazy old heart, never considers keeping it, but turns it in to the corrupt police, who keep it themselves. God. Dam. It. Which leads to probably the most upsetting passage of the book so far….
”M. Mabeuf opened his bookcase, took a long look at all his books, one after another, as a father obliged to decimate his children would gaze upon them before making a choice, then seized one hastily, put it in under his arm and went out.” I cried so hard when I read that. I had to put the book down and cover my face with my hands. Luckily I wasn’t on the bus. M. Mabeuf has so little, and now he must give that up, too. And I just love him so much. Yuck yuck yuck.
And also, I wonder if the dude who wrote Sophie’s Choice was inspired by this. More yuck.
Saint-Denis – Book 10 – The 5th of June, 1832
I’m really starting to get scared of Volume 5.
”However, we reject these figures, which appear to be reasons and which are only words.” I hope that makes it into a line of one of the songs in the musical. Which I probably won’t watch. Because I am mad at Victor Hugo for being so mean.
Crap. The ABC dudes are going to the general’s funeral. They won’t come back alive, will they? Will there be any characters left to torture us in Volume 5? My god, what will it be about?
Mod
Right after the narrator is talking about how Gavroche saved his brothers in the evening, and his father the next morning, I just had this terrible feeling that we were being set up for his demise. And while it did not happen in Book 11, I am worried. I just can’t believe that VH is going to kill Gavroche, or otherwise ruin him…and yet I think that is exactly what he is going to do. I think everyone is going to die. I just don’t believe it.
And the little ones disappeared. Simply disappeared. Gavroche never sees them again. Even if we do see them again, he never does. Never learns they were his brothers. If VH can do that…well, Gavroche is clearly not safe. Gads. It’s just so dismal. And by the way, I don’t think we are ever going to see the little ones again, either.
”All four of them seemed to be standing at the four corners of old age, which are decrepitude, decay, ruin, and sadness.” My notes say: Jesus Christ, man, lighten up.
I don’t think I need to add anything.
I loved it when Gavroche developed an immediate crush on Bahorel because he tore down the poster about eating eggs. I loved that whole bit.
Saint-Denis – Book 12 – Corinthe
I am really enjoying Grantaire. He is funny. I don’t want him to die.”Bouh! I’ve just swallowed a bad oyster. Now hypochondria is taking possession of me again. The oysters are spoiled, the servants are ugly. I hate the human race.”
This is a great monologue. Funny and also filled with lots of torturous foreshadowing.
Gavroche is just the funniest character ever. I cracked up when he was arguing with Enjolras about getting a gun, and told him ”If you are killed before me, I shall take yours.” Did anyone else think that was funny?
And then he catches Javert!! Yay!! I just don’t see how there is another volume after this. Maybe it will be all about the wonderful turn of events when Gavroche receives an invitation to wizarding school. Fingers crossed.
Saint-Denis – Book 13 – Marius Enters the Shadow .... that doesn’t sound good.
This did a good job of letting us in to Marius’ head. He is so young and short sited, he just hasn’t lived long enough to realize there can be a long term goal.
Saint-Denis – Book 14 – The Grandeurs of Despair
So VH is teasing the shit out of us about Gavroche. The chapter titles are mean. Perhaps he will let lil G live, since he is constantly threatening to kill him. He is perverse that way.
This book was relentless. Jean Prouvaire. The first ABC dude is fallen. And then…then Eponine. I can’t even talk about it. The chapter title says it all: The Agony of Death After the Agony of Life. Yuck.
I do love Marius for feeling it is his duty to save Gavroche. And I realize that VH is probably just teasing us some more about the fate of lil G. But I will fall for it every time, because I am invested in his survival.
Saint-Denis – Book 15 – The Rue de L’Homme Arme
”…it is cowardly to come and make eyes at young girls who have beside them a father who loves them.” Nice mix of humor and anger and oddness to describe how Valjean is feeling about Marius. VH does a good job selling the idea that Valjean’s feelings are both understandable and weird. Poor guy. And also, eww.
In my book there was a really nice illustration of Valjean seething outside his door - very atmospheric and evocative...but I can't find it anywhere. But while looking I found this:
Gavroche is funny with Valjean. Little fellow yourself. Ha.
”…the man who is kindly almost takes precedence of the man who is great.” It is so nice to see this written down in a famous novel. I have always felt this to be true, at least on a personal level – in fact, it is usually in my top 3 characteristics of what I like in people. Yay, Hugo.
”Revolutions spring not from an accident, but from necessity. A revolution is a return from the fictitious to the real. It is because it must be that it is.” This post might just be a list of great quotes from this book 1…it was filled with them. Hugo is seeming super smart and thoughtful to me right now. I wonder what he was like as a person. And, of course, I’m assuming that all this intro stuff is what Hugo really believes, not just setting up for the events and characters who will scrabble around in Volume 4…but I can’t be sure.
”For our part, if we were forced to make a choice between the barbarians of civilization and the civilized men of barbarism, we should choose the barbarians. But, thank Heaven, still another choice is possible.” We never say it this well, but this sentiment has been expressed many times in my small circle of friends who like to talk politics. I am going to try to memorize it, and spring it on them next time we are talking of this.
Grantaire says ”I can talk the most superb twaddle for six hours by the clock, watch in hand.” I laughed out loud on the bus at this. Interestingly, no one even noticed.