Books!

Let’s talk books. The options for entertainment here in TZ are fairly limited, at least where I am in Monduli. Some of the more obvious options for leisure-based fun include walking/hiking/running, watching Netflix at the top of the hill in the office, going into town via daladala OR reading. I read a lot. Since the last newsletter went out (Jan. 15^th), I’ve finished a fully complete, unabridged edition of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy and War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Les Mis was a 1,450 page mammoth. War and Peace came in at ~950 pages. I read Les Mis in six weeks, War & Peace in four. Tess of the D’Ubervilles is significantly shorter than both and was subsequently consumed in two weeks.

Quickly touching on the value, worth and merit of each of these peerless books (aside from Tess. I did not much care for Tess. Too sad. V depressing), we’ll begin with Les Mis. Earlier in this YAGM experience, I read Hunchback of Notre Dame for the second time, also by Victor Hugo. I’m fairly certain that Hugo wrote Les Mis after the Hunchback and it shows. The writing is better, the dialogue is less formal and stiff and the general tenor of the book carries and resonates better. It is easily one of the best books I’ve ever read. The ending is a bit dour, with Jean Valjean sacrificing himself as perusal, but wow. Me oh my is this a book worth reading! Cosette is delightful. Marius is a bit moody and commits an egregious mistake towards the end of the novel that will forever cloud my opinion of him. Little Gavroche, the Parisian street child provides humor and steady comedic fodder in the drama. Inspector Javert’s relentless, obsessive pursuit of Jean Valjean and the general enforcement of the law is fascinating. His dogged chase of Valjean throughout helps to move the plot along in the novel and is heart-pounding at-times i.e. his pursuit of Valjean through the streets in Paris, before Valjean loses him when he climbs a wall and escapes into a cloister.

The heroine in Tess of the D’Ubervilles, Tess Derbyfield, is extremely admirable and praiseworthy, but her allotment in life is brutal. Hardy does Tess poor turn after poor turn. It’s tough to read, because Tess is so blameless and good, but the plot in the story continually showers Tess with deprivation, shame and misery. Yikes. I read Jude the Obscure the end of 2018 here, and the protagonist in that novel too, Jude, is consistently dealt bad turn after bad turn. Hardy comes across as a bit of a pessimist in his novels. I haven’t read his poetry, of which he is better known. Perhaps it’s of better quality. His dialogue in Tess, Jude and The Return of the Native (read that two falls ago in Winston as a Fellow) is all a bit forced and awkward.

Finally, War and Peace was fantastic. This was my first-time reading Tolstoy and I now understand why he is widely considered and regarded as an all-time great, classic author. Can confirm, I will be reading his other iconic work Anna Karenina, before too long. The curious thing about the setting for W & P too was that it is set in the early-19^th century i.e. Napoleonic Europe & similar to Les Mis, Napoleon is running around, doing his thing, causing mischief and stirring up trouble. There’s a fifty-page scene in Les Mis on the Battle of Waterloo, as well as a significant chunk of text in War & Peace, dedicated to another important battle of that time in Europe called the Battle of Borodino, where the Russians retreat, but the French spirit is broken. I feel somewhat intimate and acquainted with that time period now, after perusing the pages of these two books.

Tolstoy creates a rich world using Russian bourgeoisie and their affairs with one another and their relationship with the various different conflicts between Alexander the Great and Napoleon in 1807 and 1812. The spirited Natasha Rostov, world-weary Andrew Bolkonsky and idealistic Pierre Bezukhov form the nexus of the story. Pierre was my favorite character from this work of fiction. It is not quite a novel or an epic, but something in-between. Fabulous book 😊

In closing, the written word is one of the most dependable, wholesome and fulfilling form of entertainment that I have access to here. Consequently, I read for at least an hour a day, on average. I started Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray earlier this week. It will be read over the course of the next few weeks. Stay tuned for another book update down-the-road. HA!