Friday, December 5, 2014

Book Review: 52 Little Lessons from Les Miserables

 

Book Jacket:   Gold Medallion Award-winner Bob Welch crafts 52 nuggets of Bible-based wisdom from one of the most popular novels, musicals, and films of all time: "Les Miserables."

     In "52 Little Lessons from Les Miserables," Bob Welch walks readers through Hugo's masterpiece, extracting dozens of uniquely spiritual reflections from this enduring portrait of poverty, social injustice, mercy, and redemption. Welch reminds us that Jean Valjean's life provides the truest example of why real love is found in the grittiest places, and that hearts are made whole beneath the crush of mercy. Most important, though, Welch keeps returning to the intersections of faith and reality throughout Hugo's writing--those places where mercy becomes an inroad to the heart, and where love is only truly received when it is given without condition.

     Discover again why life's purpose is found not in attending to personal needs and desires, but in responding to the hearts of others.



Book Review:   Les Mis, as it's commonly referred to in our home, is one of my top musical performances of all time so when I heard of this book, I jumped at the chance to review it!
And Bob Welch did not disappoint!

     As the book description states, 52 little lessons from Les Miserables is a wonderful collection of snippets and words of wisdom that relate to you - to me - to situations at hand to give a perspective that you might not have grasped the first time around.  Sometimes we need that little self-thump upside the head!  All the uniqueness of the 52 chapters lends expertise to Victor Hugo's book and writings, breaking down the structure of it's meaning, breathing new life into how it relates to
daily life.  Those struggles, of course, would be the obvious ones that many may have, such as doubt, confusion, pain and anger.  There is a pseudo Cosette and Marius in all of us in some way.

     If you haven't seen the movie, or the musical, or youtube versions of clips or just generally are not familiar with the original author (Victor Hugo), this book will still work for you.
It helps, it makes a little more sense, but it's not a necessity. 
 
Disclaimer:  BookLook Bloggers has provided me with a complimentary copy/advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.