Les Miserables at 10:58 AM

Ok, I'm trying to find a way to convey how I feel right now without typing in all caps because I'm so excited. I just finished Les Miserables and it's easily (Setting aside the standard works) the best book I've ever read. Granted it's huge, but it had to be that way. To convey the ideas that he did about the world and about virtue, I just don't think anyone could have done it in a smaller book. Even the Bible and the Book of Mormon aren't really appreciated until time, reflection, and experience have been paid by the reader. I'm going to jump around a fair bit, but bear with me.

This is a spoiler, so if you hate knowing endings you can stop now. Victor Hugo creates this character who is literally beaten down over and over again through life and yet buds and blossoms into one of the clearest pictures of virtue I have ever seen. I saw the musical as a kid and again about a year and a half ago, but it's not the same. It's still great, but the power of the main character isn't explored as deeply due to time constraints. The Character of Jean Valjean wasn't just a great guy. He was consistently stretched through out the story. Given choices between doing what was right or doing what was selfish. Not only did these choices present themselves to him consistently, but they increased in difficulty with time. The fact that the story is fiction is no subtraction from it's power. I feel the same way about Job. I don't know if he was a real guy or not, I think he was. However, he reminds me that I awe at people who were dealt horribly their hand at life and still stood for what was right and true, people who underwent any pain necessary to stand at the end of the day validated by their conscience, free of rebuke from God, and deserving of every respect from man. Obviously the foremost of these being our Saviour. The other thing that basically thrills my soul is that I see this man as an archetype for our lives. He starts out as a common thief, despised by man and rejected from society. Basically a common sinner. Sound familiar? (You and me). Then at a pivotal moment, the Lord stepped in and showed him a better way, challenged him to live it and helped him see life more clearly for what it really is. This process that Jean Valjean goes through of consistent challenges interspersed with moments of happiness is a key characteristic of life. Being single I can't help but notice that single people have this idea that the end of trouble comes at finding that 'special person.' I think I remember feeling this same way (the end of trouble) about graduating high school and coming home from my mission. A sort of "everything is easy from this point on". Needless to say that idea is totally wrong. I don't think there is a point in life where suddenly it's smooth sailing till the end. Here are some examples that things don't get easier. I stayed with some friends in Hong kong who were devastated when they learned they couldn't have kids. I've stayed with other friends who both came from abusive homes and literally took 20 years to get to a healthy point in their marriage. I've seen people in retirement homes who no longer have purpose and are simply trying to not let their spirits whither away with their bodies. I've watched a grown man who I respected all my life cry before my father because he didn't have enough money to buy food for his family. I learn two big things from these experiences that stand out to me now and that I see clearly in this book.

1.No matter how far we've come in life, we are usually presented challenges that push us out of our comfort zone and challenge us to be more than we were before. Intense challenges. It seems to always be the case. It's not that we're doomed to always be going through greater sorrow, so much as that we are constantly presented with greater struggles that can uncover more of what we can become. I think this is the pathway to ultimate happiness. Jeffrey R. Holland once said that our experiencing greater sorrow creates a greater ability to experience and understand joy. It's part of life. It's the path that leads to us attaining the farthest reaches of our potential. These challenges aren't a curse, even though they usually feel that way, but they're the hacksaw cutting at our chains that hold us down to a lower plane. The fact that these trials often approach us even as we approach the dusk of our lives leads me to the next point.

2.This life is not the end. If these trials kept coming through our entire lives and we only met a cold dark grave at it's end, then our existence would be something to mourn about. But I can feel it. I know there is more after this life. I know that great joy is waiting for those who fight through hard trials. I don't understand why those trials are so severe sometimes, but I do know that all things will be mended and all wrongs will be set right at some point in the future. In this life there are days where the only reward is standing clean before your conscience. This is an amazing thing, but sadly not always paired with happiness in this life. The happy ending is not fully present until later. We catch glimpses of it, and we experience parts of it, but the full reward comes after this life. I'm sure there is a supreme happiness that awaits those who have spent their time loving others. I wish I could explain that joy, but I don't even fully understand it, and even if I did I don't think the power to explain it would be given to me.

I see these things in this story. It's kind of amazing. Victor Hugo walks us through the entire lifetime of Jean Valjean who faces problem, after problem, with happiness almost always followed by more struggles and more danger. These things plague Jean and follow him all the way to his death. It sounds tragic, but his death was painted as something beautiful. We often shrink a little at the idea of death, but I think that's mostly because we haven't died before. I think for people who have tried to live their lives in line with their conscience, it's an amazing and happy thing.
Anyways, Really good book. I think this counts as one of the 'best books' we're counseled to study from in Doctrine and Covenants 88.