Les Misérables Chapter-a-Day Read-along: The Beginning

I once read that almost every story begins in either one of two ways: someone goes on a journey, or a stranger comes to town. The journey story is as well known as The Odyssey, Gulliver’s Travels, The Grapes of Wrath, The Lord of the Rings, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. But think about the other type of story, the tale that begins with the arrival of a stranger. For example:

• The events of To Kill a Mockingbird get started “the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.”
• The Hobbit doesn’t get going until, “By some curious chance one morning long ago in the quiet of the world, when there was less noise and more green, and the hobbits were still numerous and prosperous, and Bilbo Baggins was standing at his door after breakfast smoking an enormous long wooden pipe that reached nearly down to his woolly toes (neatly brushed) — Gandalf came by.”
• In Pride and Prejudice, the story begins when we find out that “Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England…”

As we come to week three of the Les Misérables Chapter-a-Day Read-along, after fourteen chapters getting to know the Bishop of Digne, a stranger comes to town:

Early in the month of October 1815, about an hour before sunset, a man traveling on foot entered the little town of Digne.

Who is this man? Why is he traveling on foot? What is his business in Digne? These questions provide the spark that ignites the plot of Les Misérables. At this point in the read-along it may begin to get harder to read only one chapter at a time. But I encourage you to stick to the schedule and let the anticipation of what is to come prolong your enjoyment of the story. As for myself, I’m going to approach it as an exercise in patience and delayed gratification.

Final Thoughts

After I shared some of last week’s tweets in a post yesterday another tweet came out that really struck me. I want to share it with you today rather than waiting until next week because to me it’s what hosting this read-along is all about: bringing people together over literature. Here is the tweet:

https://twitter.com/bronasbooks/status/952783356302774272

I hope more of you get the chance to meet other #LesMisReadalong friends in person. Brona’s tweet makes me think that I should host a get-together here in Spokane, Washington. Hmmm…I wonder if there would be enough interest in gathering on December 31st to read the final chapter together out loud? Perhaps even a Facebook Live broadcast? I’ll have to mull that one over.

In the meantime, happy reading, and enjoy getting to know this stranger with “a huge knotted stick in his hand, hobnailed shoes on his stockingless feet, a shaven head and a long beard.”