A Book Love Begins in French Class

In my home, Les Miserables was a title spoken about with a sense of respect, awe and admiration. I have seen this musical more than any other on all of Broadway and I have been told many times that Hugo's work was my mother's truest book love. It is for this reason I was overjoyed to see that this week's book love participant, Susan Silver, was sharing her own story of book love about this magnificent work.

A French Student Finds Hugo
 
My mother was introduced to Hugo's masterpiece from a family member, but Susan found Les Miserables in her quest for a deeper understanding of the French culture in high school while taking on the language. It started out as supplementary school materials, but soon enough, "It became a love affair," Susan says,

The opening of the novel was amazing. This may only be true if you read the unabridged version. The book doesn’t start with Jean ValJean’s story. It starts with the Bishop of Digne otherwise known as Monsieur Bienvenue (translation= Mr. Welcome). A whole chapter is dedicated to a man who will be quickly forgotten once the protagonist enters. Yet his kindness to Jean ValJean is the launching point for that character’s redemption. That attention to detail captured my heart and drew me deeper into the story.

Susan's admission here, as well as both book love stories about The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have me wondering how important this level of depth is in captivating readers for a lifetime. We all read books that don't go to this level, but do we only fall in love with books that do?

Reading Before and After Book Love

Susan admits to being quite an avid reader even before Les Miserables, "In fourth grade I was already reading the classics like Orwell’s 1984. I guess it was a form of escapism, but it helped me get through some tough times and gave me an education. I learned a lot about the world through the books that I read and the opinions they introduced me to." However, once she was swept away by Victor Hugo she had a hard time finding books that captured her in the same way, "It did ruin me for other books. I guess you could say that I like a particular style and it is quite old." She recommends it often, and reminds us that there is no shame in reading the abridged version!

The Lesson From Hugo 

If you are wondering what's to be gained from reading this classic, here's what Susan had to say when I asked her what life lesson she learned from her experiences of reading Les Miserables about eleven times:

There are many themes and every year I pick up on new details. I can sum up my main take away in the form of my favorite quote:

"Deep hearts, sage minds, take life as God has made it; it is a long trial, an incomprehensible preparation for an unknown destiny. This destiny, the true one, begins for a man with the first step inside the tomb. Then something appears to him, and he begins to distinguish the definitive. The definitive, meditate upon that word. The living perceive the infinite; the definitive permits itself to be seen only by the dead. In the meanwhile, love and suffer, hope and contemplate. Woe, alas! to him who shall have loved only bodies, forms, appearances! Death will deprive him of all. Try to love souls, you will find them again.”

Essentially here are is what the quote means to me:

We all love and suffer. We may want to cut ourselves from others because of a hatred. Yet  If we can see the larger picture then we can transmute our pain and return to a place of love. In other words, feel compassion for others and forgive.

Recommended Reading 
 
I don't know about you, but I love this. Susan has inspired me to give this book another shot (I tried reading it in middle school, got really overwhelmed, and never looked back)! Susan also has two other book loves that I haven't read and am putting on my to-read list now:

“Cannery Row” by John Steinbeck. I don’t like any of his other books, but I will keep coming back to this one. Perhaps it is because of my familiarity with Monterey Bay.

“The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Sometimes it is nice to see the world through a child’s eyes.

Connecting With Susan Silver
 
If you would like to connect with Susan to talk to her about books or just to see what she's up to these days, I'm happy to tell you she has a fabulous web presence. Susan Silver works as a contract SEO copywriter. She is a weekly contributor to 12most.com in the media category. Her unique writing talent is telling stories that explain mundane topics through the lens of pop culture. Susan currently writes about Word-of-Mouth marketing on her website Cirquedumot.

Twitter: @susan_silver

URL: http://susansilver.info