Les Miserables Part 2: Cosette by Victor Hugo

On a fine May morning last year (that is to say, in the year 1861) a traveller, the author of this tale, walked from Nivelles in the direction of La Hulpe.

So begins part two of Victor Hugo's classic Les Miserables. The author then goes on for some 40 plus pages in a detailed examination of the final days of Napolean's defeat at Waterloo. There is a connection with the plot eventually, but it really didn't require forty pages of history to get to it. Clearly, Les Miserables occupies a unique position in literature; Victor Hugo is allowed to get away with things few other authors would be. Later in part two there is a long history of the convent of Petit Picpus in Paris-- this time a made up history that lasts a mere 25 pages. Very few authors would ever attempt so much back-story.

The remaining 150 pages of part two are about the plot, but even here Victor Hugo gets away with murder. This part of the story concerns Jean Valjean's escape from a prison ship, his attempt to free eight-year-old Cosette from the evil inn-keepers the Threnardiers and to avoid being captured by inspector Javert. One should be embarrased to have written this. Cosette is described as so pathetically helpless she ought to be laughable. When Jean Valjean finds her at work in the Threnardier's tavern she is dressed in rags and barefoot though it is winter. She is forced to fetch water in the dead of night using a pail that is too big for her to reasonable carry. She hides underneath a table and plays with an old lead sword, dressing it up in scraps of cloth, pretending it's a doll. This is simply worse than anything I've ever read, more sentimental than Dickens at his most trite moment.

What can I say...I was moved...I almost cried...I couldn't put it down.

I once read David Copperfield to C.J. while we were driving to Santa Barbara where he had to attend a conference. When we got to the part where David's first wife dies and he goes down stairs only to find that her beloved lap dog has also died we had to pull over and recover ourselves. Fortunately, I was at home while reading Cosette. Every piece of Les Miserables part two is an embarrassement. It's overly sentimental, the chase scene are full of ludicrous twists and turns that have forced me to re-think my criticism of Child 44, the historical sections go on far too long, but the sum is much greater than its parts. It's, frankly a wonderful read. Victor Hugo, like Charles Dickens, can get away with murder.

If you've been intimidated by the size of Les Miserables, and who could blame you at over 1200 pages, consider reading it in montly installments like I am. I'm two parts into it and I can't wait for March to roll around so I can begin part three.