On Reading Les Misérables

Summers ago, probably just before my junior year of high school, my brother gave me the 3-volume set of Les Misérables he received on his graduation from a French-English bilingual school. The same night, I opened the first volume, excited about the possibility of reading a full-length novel in another language. However, 5 years of middle school and high school French, in which we spoke simple textbook European French with American accents, did not prepare me for 19th-century sentences made up of several long clauses and the corresponding vocabulary. 

It was somewhat like going from a wading pool to the deep end of an Olympic pool. Within the first few pages, I could tell there was some sort of genealogical history of a Monsignor, and that there were parallels between the Monsignor's charity and the stories of Jesus reaching out to the lepers, the tax collectors and other social outcasts in the Gospels.

After reaching about page 10, I closed the book, telling myself I'd go back to it later. I opened it from time to time during junior and senior year, but never read more than a few pages. Then, last summer, I finally returned to it, with the intention of brushing up on my reading skills before taking French 104 in the fall. By the end of the summer, I made it about halfway through the first volume with some understanding of what was going on and the major characters.

It could have been great if I had managed to finish that first volume by the end of the year, since the thought of one day finishing the whole novel in French seems like a sweet reward for seven secondary school years and a college semester of studying French. For now, taking it in small steps is just fine.