Les Miserables is, in my opinion, the most beautiful book ever written. It is the most beautiful work in which it is explained that goodness can be a return from every darkness and that every person can remain essentially good no matter what evil they experience. It is a work in which we observe that people's selfishness and focus on their individual happiness and blindness to the fact that they can live happier and more humanely together is the real misery. We witness how goodness illuminates one's surroundings and how Jan Valjean, whose heart is full of hatred and hatred, creates a completely different person with a single good deed and this person touches completely different lives and sheds light on their lives.
Jean Valjean: The main character. Javert: The chief of police who pursued Jean Valjean.
Fantine: The woman who became a prostitute when she was fired, the woman Jean Valjean saved from his arrest. Cosette's mother, whom Jean Valjean would later adopt.
Cosette: Fantine's daughter. The girl whom Jean Valjean took into his care.
Marius: The young man Cosette fell in love with. He is saved by Jean Valjean when he joins the uprising.
Thenardier and Madame: The fraudulent duo claiming to be Cosette's so-called family.
Jan Valjean is the main character of our book. When Jan Valjean was a poor peasant, he stole bread just to feed his family. He was caught and sentenced to the galleys. The fact that he was punished by the system that caused him to starve because of the bread he stole just to feed his family was too much for Valjean and he tried to escape many times. Each time he was caught and his sentence was extended to 19 years. When Valjean was released from prison, he took to the road, and in the cold and hunger, he went door to door in search of a sip of water, a morsel of bread and a warm bed. But even if he didn't realize it yet, his fame spread from country to country and all the doors closed in Valjean's face. Unable to take refuge even in a dog kennel, Valjean's anger filled him and the more he thought about the injustices he had suffered, the darker his heart became. When he reached the end of his strength, it was the bishop of the town who opened his door to him. The bishop is a man whose heart is full of light, who tries to understand and help everyone, who trusts the light in people, so much so that he takes everyone who passes by into his house and does not even lock his house at night. They do not tolerate any extra things in the house and distribute everything that is not needed to those in need.
Jan Valjean's luck may have favored him for the first time in his life and his path fell into the house of the bishop. The bishop welcomed him into his home and gave him a warm meal and a place to sleep. Jan Valjean could not stop his impulses and returned the favor by stealing the silver candlestick, perhaps the only valuable thing in the bishop's house. When he was caught, the bishop was approached for information and the bishop, in all magnanimity, stated that he had not stolen the candlestick from him, but had given it to him as a gift to help him in his need. Jan Valjean's heart was so enlightened that he realized that no matter what injustice he suffered in the world, he could be a good person no matter what happened to him. He promised to live his life for this cause from now on.
Years later, in a poor town in the north of France, Jan Valjean lives as a magnanimous and wealthy jewelry maker named Father Madlen. He has improved this poor town so much and helped the poor so much that they call him "Papa" and elect him mayor. A woman named Fantaine works in Papa Madlen's factory and is fired without Papa Madlen's knowledge. Poor Fantaine keeps sending money to an innkeeper family to take care of her daughter whom she left with them. So she starts working as a prostitute. One day in prison, she crosses paths with Father Madlen. Madlen takes pity on this poor sick woman and promises to save his daughter by entrusting her to the nurses. While everything is going well, a man is caught stealing apples in the town of "D". Everyone is sure that he is Jan Valjean who has disappeared. The only person who knows that he is not Jan Valjean is Papa Madlen. Perhaps if he had let this incident go, he would have been rid of the name forever, a name that for the rest of his life, every time he heard it and thought about it, made his brain feel like it was going to come out of his head. Papa Madlen realized that he could not continue the second half of his life, which he had built on an immaculate sense of morality, on such an injustice, and on the day of the trial, he confessed in front of the jury that he was the real Jan Valjean.
When he was about to be arrested and sent to prison, he escaped and rescued little Cosette from the innkeepers who had brutalized her in order to fulfill his promise to Fantaine, who had died while waiting for her daughter. They take refuge with a man who works as a gardener in a convent that had been touched by his kindness years before. Cosette begins to study at the convent.
Cosette falls in love with Marius, raised by her rich grandfather. Marius is on the side of the rebelling republicans. Jan Valjean is on the same side. Paris is a bloodbath and the Republicans are victorious. When Jan Valjean is given the task of killing someone from the opposing side, Jan Valjean sees that it is Javert, who has enmity with him and has committed all kinds of atrocities. He spares Javert's life. When Marius is seriously wounded, Jan Valjean saves his life. Jan Valjean realizes that Cosette is deeply devoted to Marius. He disappears so that it is not known that Cosette is the daughter of a galley convict. Marius realizes that it was Jan Valjean who saved his life. After the two young people are reunited, they go in search of Jan Valjean. When they find Jan Valjean, who is living the last days of his life, they do not leave his side until he breathes his last breath.
The language is quite fluent and understandable. Although it is a thick book, I am sure you will not want to put it down.
I've seen this book countless times, and I still wonder why I haven't started to read it yet, maybe cos of its huge size 😅
Your review might be the nudge u need
I recommend that you read it. If people need to have 100 books in their lives, this book is one of them.
Yessir
Will try to get to it
Thank you