The main story was really lovely. I especially love Jean Valjean who because of a bishop's kindness became a changed man who was determined to do everything right by God. I was rather sad at the beginning that Valjean was sentenced so heavily for stealing a loaf of bread out of necessity. I also loved the part where the bishop took him in, and not only didn't incriminate Valjean when he stole the bishop's silverware but gave him the precious candleholders as well. The Thernadiers angered me with their conniving greedy ways and the way they treated Fantine and Cosette. I didn't quite like the way Cosette was portrayed.. Hugo wanted to paint the image of a pure, angelic girl but I thought it was a little too much that it made Cosette seem like a dimwit. This was especially true at the end of the story when she married Marius. The way she sulked and the things she said when Valjean didn't want to stay with them and kept his distance had me feeling that there couldn't really be such a woman alive in this world. And of course there was this whole love at first sight issue that made the story just that less "real".
The main themes I felt from the book were love,kindness, and forgiveness. Valjean was filled with so much goodness and love for mankind that he never held grudges against anyone. Not even Javert who had hunted him down for years. He later saved Javert and this caused so much dissonance within Javert that he killed himself.
I'm not sure I liked the ending. I hated that self-condemnation drew Valjean away from Cosette and that things were only resolved at his death bed. I had wished for a more glorious ending for Valjean. He deserved much better.
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