Sweet Misery

Not having learned my lesson with Infinite Jest, I have undertaken another literary monstrosity.  A big fan of the music, drama and imbued theology of the stage production of Les Misérables, I've made the singularly unwise decision to tackle the novel.  About a month ago I requested it from the L.A. library and it has been weighing down my nightstand quite effectively since.  Hugo clearly felt no need to summarize briefly.  As I think I've mentioned numerous times, I'm a pretty slow reader.  Having had the book for this long, I'm only on page 111.  That's out of 1330.  This one's gonna take a while.  What I've read so far barely covers the first scene of the stage play.

But my first prognostication is that, if I can stick it out, I will be richly rewarded.  It is indeed dense; no denying it, and Monsieur Hugo does take close to a dozen chapters to paint the detailed portrait of a character who is so minor in the stage play as to be essentially nameless. (Mais oui!) But the writing is in many places stunning and evocative.  I don't know if the sheer beauty of some of the language is due to Hugo or the new translator, Julie Rose, but it is captivating.  And there are quotes liberally scattered about that I've vowed to keep always on the tip of my tongue.  (But don't ask me to recite them here right now...)

It's going to be a tough  undertaking - the book is a hardcover and weighs a ton and doesn't make for an easy read in bed.  I tried taking it with me on a recent Washington trip, but it literally wouldn't fit in my carry-on bag, so I had to lug it through the airports in hand.  Won't be doing that again.  So I'm not exactly sure how I plan to read the whole thing, given I can only renew it through the library three times, and I've renewed it twice already.  I'll have to have Stacy request it for me, so that she can then renew it three times; then I can request it again for another three rounds, etc., etc.  I expect no one is shocked at the level of inconvenience I will put myself and family through to avoid having to actually shell out the cash and just go buy the book.  There's a Scotsman in my family tree somewhere, and boy are his genes strong.

And just in case anyone gets any misplaced ideas of charity and philanthropy  -- you are absolutely forbidden to buy it for me.  I won't mention any names, because, gee willikers, that would be impolite.