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[George]

Les Miserables is my favorite novel. My wife and I have seen the play twice in London and I have read the book one and a half times.<br><br>Hugo tells us the purpose of the book near the end (pg 1042): “This book which the reader has now before his eyes is, from one end to the other, in its whole and in its details, whatever may be the intermissions, the exceptions, or the defaults, the march from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from the false to the true, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from rottenness to life, from brutality to duty, from Hell to Heaven, from nothingness to God. Starting point: matter; goal: the soul. Hydra at the beginning, angel at the end.”<br><br>What does this mean? The book is about unselfish sacraficial love. The love of God for us.<br><br>The play captures the essence of the book and adds a new dimension with the music. Since Hugo states his purpose is to present the journey of every Christian from darkness to light he must and I believe does present the Gospel along the way. The play begins in prison and ends at a marriage feast and along the way the Gospel of unconditional love and forgiveness is displayed in narrative and song again and again.<br><br>The play opens in a prison camp to which Jean Valjean was sent 19 years ago for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s sick boy. Jean Valjean, who represents every Christian begins as we do in prison, the prison of sin.<br><br>Next we meet The Bishop of Digne (deeg-nay’) who is indeed a remarkable man. The book actually begins with him and tells many stories of his living the Gospel in this little village. For example the Bishop of Digne gives up his palace to live in a 5 room hospital building (page 6): He said to the director of the hospital “Listen, Monsieur Director, to what I have to say. There is evidently a mistake here. There are 26 of you in 5 or 6 small rooms; there are only 3 of us and space for sixty. There is a mistake, I tell you. You have my house and I have yours. Restore mine to me; you are at home.”. So the Bishop gave his palace to the suffering and lived in a small 5 room building with no lock on the door, only a latch. Valjean had gone to 2 inns and several houses offering money for food and shelter all refused because he was an ex-convict. Exhausted physically and emotionally he was pointed to the Bishop’s humble residence by an old woman and knocks at the door which has no lock.<br><br>Jean Valjean is taken in by the Bishop of Digne (deeg-nay’) though he is a known convict and when he steals the silver, the Bishop gives him even more and dismisses the charges against him. The bishop is a picture of Christ, who loves us even when we are unlovable and forgives us. After Valjean encounters his forgiveness, he is changed. God has raised him out of darkness & bought his soul, just a Christ raises us by His death and resurrection. Valjran becomes a little Christ, forgiving and saving others. But first there is a struggle presented in his solilique.<br><br>Valjean changed by the power of the Gospel and moved by the Holy Spirit (what Spirit comes to move my life?) decides to take the Bishop's advice and use the silver to begin a new life.<br><br>Though many people die in both the play and the book, they both end with the theme of redemption and resurrection. This is why you felt at ease.<br><br>I hope this is of help.<br><br>Blessings,<br> George

[Brittney]

Hi my name is Brittney, right now i am in 7 th grade and for chorus we are singing alot of the songs in les mis like: bring him home,do you hear the people sing,at the end of the day,castle on a cloud (my fav.),and i dreamed a dream!!!! well i just wanted to say that i've heared the story behind the play<br>and music pieces and it's really cool.I really enjoy singing the songs and it seemed like you were really interested in les mis so i'm writting you.<br><br> well bye,<br> Brittney

[Rebecca]

I am an absolute Broadway junkie. I heard that next year, my high school is doing LesMis, so I googled it. Wow! I read the libretto and instantly fell in love. To whoever wrote the article entitled, "I wish it were Eponine", I can relate to you exactly. Eponine is my absolute favorite too, and "On My Own" was the first song I learned. (Eponine is my favorite by a hair, Because I also really love Javert.) I dream of being on Broadway someday, and LesMis is my favorite musical in a list of many! <br> "One Day More" is one of my favorite songs. It is so powerful, so hopeful, and so accepting at the same time. LesMis is one of those musicals that you never could forget, even if you tried. I never will!<br><br> "Tomorrow we'll discover what our God in heaven has in store. One more dawn, one more day, one day more!"

[I Wish It Were Eponine]

The first time I ever heard about Les Miserables was in the 5th grade (possibly even younger). I went to a friend's house, and when I arrived I found her sitting on the couch watching TV. There were two scary people in the TV. One was male, one was female, and they were dressed in clownish 1800's clothes. They were singing with an amused but dishonest air, and I'll admit, I was intimidated. She told me she was watching the concert of a play called "Les Miserables" and she turned it off and we went upstairs to her room. Upstairs, she wanted me to listen to a song from it, so I agreed. She put on a song called "Do you hear the people sing?". She also played a version with verses in languages from all over the world. Well, looking back, I don't think I expressed much enthusiasm outwordly. However, I immediately took to the rousing anthem and decided that the play "Les Miserables" might be good. After listening to the song, we went and did who-knows-what forgetting about Les Miserables or whatever it was. <br> That play or whatever it was, the one with the rousing anthem, was quickly buried in my memory. However, it resurfaced when I heard our junior high was going to see the dress rehearsal of the highschool's play, "Les Miserables." Wasn't that the one I heard about a so-and-so's house? The one with that song about the people singing and the angry men, those people who would not be slaves again? Yes, it was. I expected it to be good. Not the best thing under the sun, but good. It was certainly something I should at least see. So, I wasn't too disappointed that even though we got inches of snow there was still school that day. Hey, maybe we didn't get a day off, but hey, at least we didn't have to actually learn something in the afternoon. So, that afternoon, the junior high got on buses and went to the highschool. WE got seated and watched the dress rehearsal begin. By "I Dreamed a Dream" I was falling in love and by "Master of the House" I probably would have stayed in that theater even if someone had shouted "FIRE!" Can you imagine my disappointment when the curtain fell after "One Day More!" and the teachers told us "That's it, we're leaving"? Apparantly, they didn't think the we could handle the second act (Now I don't blame them- they probably would have gotton complaints from some of the idiot parents- but at the time I didn't know that everybody died and was pretty ticked off at them). To add to my frusteration, the rest of the kids were acting like they had been saved. The boys all mused that the best scene was "Lovely Ladies" (not that they had stayed awake for many songs past that). Nobody had a clue what was going on in the play, and nobody cared. Everybody, my boyfriend and best friend included, said that they had slept through the play. Out of all the 80 kids in my grade, two understood that plot (myself and the girl whose house I visited in the fifth grade; the one who asked me to listen to "Do you hear the people sing?"). Kids these days. <br> I went straight home and told my mom all about the first act. I told her we had to see it. I begged her to take me to the performance that evening, even though I had karate class. She, who had heard about it but never actually seen the play herself, gave in. That very same night, I watched the first act for the second time (with absolutely no objections whatsoever) and then watched the second act unfold. When Eponine was singing "On My Own," two things hit me. 1. This is the greatest play in the entire world. 2. This is my favorite song in the play and Eponine is my favorite character (only by a little bit). These revelations were even more solidly confirmed in my mind as I watched the epilogue. I couldn't hold back tears as Fantine, Eponine, and Valjean sang, "To love another person is to see the face of God." And the students singing an even more beautiful and an even more touching version of "Do you hear the people sing?" I was in awe. It amazed me that the ending could be so tragic, beautiful, and a little bit hopeful all at the same time.<br> Needless to say I went home and went on a Les Mis rampage. I bought the Broadway recording, the 10th Anniversary Recording (the one that I had listened to at my friend's house), the 10th Anniversary Video (what I had seen at my friend's house; the two scary people I had seen were Madame and Monsieur Thenardier in "Beggars at the Feast"), am considering buying the Complete Symphonice version, and would not refuse The French Concept CD, should it be given to me. I was satisfied for awhile with obsessing about the musical alone, but after awhile, I realized it was not enough. I began to wonder about the book. The musical was brilliant- the book it originated from couldn't be too bad. This summer, I managed to find this website and began to read the book online. Today I finished it. Though I found myself saying "Whaaaaaaaaaaat?" more often than I'd like to admit (mostly in the references to stuff I was completely unfamiliar with) and though I was a little tired by what I like to refer to as "Victor Hugo's philisophical rantings" (though I shouldn't be one to talk), this novel was phenominal. Completely phenominal. There is so much depth to the characters! They are so real. And in my opinion, the coincidences, make the story somewhat charming (as charming as is possible for a story about "The Miserables"). I cried uncontrollably at the ending, but for whatever reason, I felt very calm afterwards. I had been truly freakin' out about going back to school, what with this being my last year in elementary school and all, but for whatever reason I felt at ease after reading this novel. I don't know why. Perhaps it has something to do with the life about to start when tomorrow comes.