Sometimes i just have no idea what to write about this book, Dammit Peter why did you have to give me the idea to do a blog, now i feel like i have pressure to write! But then again I couldn't pass up the opportunity to taunt a dead guy on the Internet could I? Surely that's what the Internet was created for!
So Jean Valjean is on the run again with Cosette because Javerts found out where they've been living, after nearly being trapped and caught again Valjean climbs a wall of a convent and runs into a gardener who he knew when he was the mayor (Les Coincidence!), Cosette nearly dies from the cold but the gardener gives them shelter and hides them from Javert who gets pissed off that he didn't arrest Valjean when he had the chance.
These pages are really quite interesting because the first half of them is from Valjeans point of view, then it gives you the flipside and tells it from Javerts point of view. It felt really good to have the two sides of the story and knowing that whenever Valjean thought he was safe Javert still had his eyes on him, it added a lot of tension. I wish Victor Hugo would stick to telling us a good story more often, all the good bits of this book are only ever 20 pages or so.
Sometimes this book feels more like it should be called Les Coincidence, i question the reality of Jean Valjean just happening to find his way to a man he knew at least two years ago, especially when he had no idea where he was going when he jumped the wall to the convent, he didn't even know it was a convent, it could have been anyplace he was jumping into! I also sometimes question how strong Valjean is, sometimes he seems to have almost superhuman strength, he can survive falling into a freezing sea, and he can climb a convent wall and pull an eight year old child up it too, is he superman? No really, is Jean Valjean a french superman.......that would actually be awesome.
It's not that i mind these character traits, or the coincidences actually, it just seems sometimes that all these things keep happening too easily.
I still think Javert is a huge idiot for not arresting Valjean when he first recognised him, although these pages do explain why he didn't even though the reasons area bit crap. He didn't arrest him because he wasn't absolutely certain that it was Jean Valjean, Umm, what the hell??? He knows that Valjean is presumed dead, and he also knows that Cosette was the daughter of Fantine and that a man took her from the Thenardiers after Valjean disappeared, it's not that hard to figure out! I suppose that part can be forgiven for being a bit tenuous, but i cant get over how dumb Javert was for not arresting Valjean when he first recognised him. Javert, you are a shit policeman!
In case you're wondering what Cosette's thinking during all this running away, well so am i! This girl is the most trusting child in the world! she doesn't say anything to Valjean in the entire time they're running from the police, how can she not be questioning all this? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU COSETTE!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GIRL LEARN TO ASK QUESTIONS!
Actually to be fair she does ask Valjean at one point who's chasing them, and the way he gets her to stay quiet is to tell her that Madame Thenardier is coming after her...... OH MY GOD, DUDE THAT'S SO CRUEL! You don't tell an abused child that their abuser is coming after them, that's horrible! Shame on you Valjean, SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!!!
I suppose it did work though, she did keep quiet..........good job Valjean!
I think part of the reason the book works is because it's so vast. Most of the main storyline consists of unlikely coincidences, but because there are 6 million other unlikely coinicidences happening in stuff that's not related to the plot, he sort of gets away with it. Like the whole world is just a bunch of stuff that happens for no reason but some of these things happen to come together in ways that create a story.
ReplyDeleteps, I hate the bit in the convent - the most tedius pages of the entire book.