"There should be a need for books such as this"

Success!!

I finally finished Les Miserables! It took me about a month but I mastered the book and loved every minute of it. If you haven't already, READ IT!

It was amazing for me because I've seen the movie and know how it ends but the ending still takes me by surprise and leaves me on the edge of this huge abyss along with Jean Valjean, only to bring me back to the safety and peace of the beautifully poetic ending. Reading the novel from front to back you can really see the transition or metamorphosis from dark to light, from evil to good. Jean Valjean is a man who made some mistakes in the past, some not-so-small mistakes, that are not readily accepted in the eyes of the law of the land, even after he turns his life around, attempting to be a man of God.

In fact, to me this novel was ALL about the difference of perspective between God and Man and how far apart, sometimes, those perspectives can be.

"A cannonball travels only two thousand miles an hour; light travels two hundred thousand miles a second. Such is the superiority of Jesus Christ over Napoleon."(p. 1197)

What are the convulsions of a city compared to the émeutes [uprising, emotion] of the soul? (p. 1148)

Men do not always see the acts of other men. But the Lord does. He sees everything, down to the deepest desires of our hearts. "With eyes closed is the best way to look at the soul. (p. 1010)" says Hugo. That's is part of the key in becoming more like our Heavenly Father I think, "...Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)"

Though Valjean stole, lied, hurt, and many other things at times, in the end he always came back to the Lord and tried to undo the wrong he had committed. And that's what the Savior wants for us. To come unto Him so that He can heal us.

And I have no doubt that when "[Jean Valjean] was dead," what Hugo said was true-

"The night was starless and extremely dark. No doubt, in the gloom, some immense angel stood erect with wings outspread, awaiting that soul. (Volume V, Book 9, Chapter 5)"