Barricades The Journey of Javert by C.A. Shilton Book Review (SPOILER ALERT)

PRODUCT DETAILS
Page count (paperback): 298
Paperback Publisher:
Createspace Independent Publishing  Platform
Edition:  1
Publishing Date:  June 2013
ISBN-10:  1489520104
ISBN-13:  978-1489520104
Paperback Dimensions:
7.6 x 5 x .9 in.
Kindle File Size:  1739 KB
Digital Copy Sold By:
Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Enabled (Digital Copy):  Text-to-speech and Lending
Not enabled (Digital Copy):  X-ray
Available:  Amazon.com
Price:  Paperback starts from $11.37;  Kindle is $2.99  (I bought this on Kindle).  If you do Kindle Unlimited, it is free.
My rating:  4/5 stars
Official Summary:  Can a leopard change its spots? In 18th century France, a storm is brewing. A boy finds the strength to turn his destiny around. But at a price! The son of a convict and a gypsy, Javert is born in a prison cell. He lives his boyhood as a despised and bullied outcast. Overcoming all barriers, he becomes a successful police officer, but his harsh upbringing and the horrors of the French Revolution turn a vulnerable boy into an implacable adult. He is ashamed of his gypsy heritage and unyielding in his belief in right and wrong.  When he is forced to confront both his rigid beliefs and the truth about his background, Javert faces the greatest challenge of his life.
Genre:  Classical...er, it isn't exactly a parody.  This story is loosely based on the characters from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.


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When I am working things out on a psychological level, my mind often will bring up a sudden and often surprising interest.  In some way, it is connected to whatever I'm mulling over...though I don't always recognize how.  A few months ago, my mind said, "Alexei Karenin."  So, I watched Anna Karenina with Jude Law as the character I was focusing on.  I started reading the book.

Apparently, I resolved something, because even before I was halfway through reading Anna Karenina (in fact, I'm still slowly reading it)--even before Anna has left her husband--my mind said, "Inspector Javert."

I have to admit I was rather surprised at this sudden blooming interest.  I've never read Les Miserables, but I did see the musical.  Inspector Javert had hardly been a sympathetic character.  He was fanatical about the law, the sort of person who--had he been born in an earlier time--would have burned witches at the stake.  Even though Jean Valjean did break parole, Javert's relentless pursuit of a man who had only stolen some bread seemed rather difficult to understand.  I mean, certainly there had to be worse criminals around.  It seemed more a personal vendetta than a pursuit of justice.

I was rather curious whether the internet perverts had fan fiction/artwork with their own interpretation of the tense relationship between Inspector Javert and Jean Valjean.  I know they did it with more modern literature like Harry Potter, but did they do it with the classics?  Sure enough! Yes, indeedy! There is even a Facebook page that is titled something like Inspector Javert and Jean Valjean Need to Eff Each Other Already!

Despite my interest, I was not going to read Les Miserables just at the moment.  It is on my to-read list, but not now.  As I've said before, I haven't even finished Anna Karenina--and the idea of starting Les Miserables seems like a good way to definitely ensure that I will need antidepressants in the future.  I can only read one depressing book at a time.

So, I watched the movie with Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert.  I loved the movie.  I didn't even mind the singing of the actors, though I had worried about that--as I wasn't aware that any of them were singers.  Anne Hathaway, who played Fantine, always creeped me out...but she was excellent--very sympathetic.  Hugh Jackman, most famous for his role as Wolverine in X-men, played Jean Valjean.  I always love Helena Bonham Carter, even if she tends to play a crazy woman with wild hair.  It also had that guy that played Borat as her husband.  All the actors, even the lesser known ones, did very well.  Since you saw close-ups of the people, it was more powerful emotionally.  At two and a half hours, though, it was LONG!  Whether you watch the movie or read the book, don't choose to do either on your deathbed.

Russell Crowe is probably one of the more handsome Inspector Javerts

While googling Inspector Javert, I discovered Barricades The Journey of Javert by C.A. Shilton.  I got excited and downloaded it on my tablet via my kindle app.

I immediately fell in love with the book.  I am always excited when I can find a book I can just get into.  As I've gotten older, that feeling is more elusive than it was when I was younger.  I don't know if this is a reflection on modern literature.  I think it is more a reflection of how much I've grown.  When I was a kid, I didn't always pick up many subtleties.  As an adult, I am a more intuitive reader--and I can often glean both what the author intended to communicate and what they unintentionally revealed.  If you read several books of an author, you can usually discover their childhood traumas and mental health issues.  However, though I get more out of reading, I have to admit that I don't enjoy it as much.  It tends to be stressful. For me, it is like being in group therapy with a locked door.

C.A. Shilton did a wonderful job in making Javert a sympathetic character.  She brought up many points I had never considered as to why Javert was what he was.

• Javert was born inside a prison.  How did this warp his view?  His social circle was composed of criminals and the guards that patrolled the prison.  Prisons also are very structured.  The world can go to hell outside the gates, but a prisoner can probably count on breakfast being served at 8 a.m. on the dot.
• Javert felt isolated socially.  To the outside world, he would suffer the stigma of being born to criminals.  However, even when he gains the respectability of a law enforcement officer, the book points out that even those that guard the law are a class unto themselves.
• Javert grew up in tumultuous times.  When he witnesses the horrors of revolts and revolutions, wouldn't that give him a hatred of disorder and discontents?

The book is well written and keeps a basically good pace.  There are some parts that are a little slow, but it picks up after a few pages.  The book starts out when Javert is nine years old, I believe.  It details how he goes from being the child of prisoners to an officer of the law and his gradual promotions.

As I've not read Victor Hugo's version, I don't know how many characters are Shilton's creations.  I do recognize the names from the musical, though I don't know how close they are in depiction to what Hugo made them.  This book will feature most of the characters from the musical:  Jean Valjean, Cosette, Fantine, Eponine, Marius, the Thenadiers, Gavroche, and the gentlemen who formed the barricade.

However, oddly enough, there are other characters that will play a more prominent role.  Even Jean Valjean, worthy enough to be pursued for years, surprisingly did not have as prominent of a role as I expected.  The explanation why is that this book is about the evolution of Javert, and the fact is most of the characters we meet in the musical come across him when he is already what he was.

There are basically three important characters in this book, besides Javert.  One is Monsieur Andre, the man who becomes Javert's guardian and is probably mainly responsible for making Javert what he was through his tough-love parenting that definitely touched the line of being abusive.  The other two characters represent the heart of Javert.  There is Philipe, a young prison guard that was always kind to Javert.  Then there is Philipe's daughter Michelle, whom Javert develops romantic feelings for much later.

Classical literature purists probably don't approve of people like C.A. Shilton who write these branch offs of popular classics.  However, I often enjoy these works.  For one thing, it sometimes encourages me to read the classics when nothing else will.  For instance, reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies  by Seth Grahame-Smith interested me in reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  However, I often enjoy seeing how other people interpret the works and the character motivations--even if I don't always agree with them.  Many times, too, authors create a great supporting character or minor character that never gets developed further.  They play their role for the book, and that is it.  As an example--even though it isn't a classic--I was always disappointed that J.K. Rowling didn't do more with Bellatrix Lestrange...or even Voldemort really.  Here he was the big, bad wizard...but for all that I didn't feel much was done with him.

C.A. Shilton admits she took some artistic license with Barricades, particularly with the end.  Though I loved the ending of her book, since it was satisfying in its own way and very sweet, I admit that I rejected it too.  Victor Hugo had Javert commit suicide in Les Miserables.  Though Javert does jump in Shilton's book too, his story doesn't end there.

Do you remember when you were a kid--or maybe even now as an adult--there is a character that you love in a story?  They die, and you don't want them too.  Your mind tries to rewrite their story so they don't die and can live happily ever after.  That is the feel of Barricades at the end.  Barricades has Javert's crisis becoming a story of enlightenment.

However, as sweet as the ending was, no matter how well it tied up, and no matter how much I wanted it to be...I just could not accept it.  Javert was doomed because of the type of person he was.  He wasn't the sort of person that would live happily ever after.  Committing suicide was actually a very appropriate end.  Javert's weakness was that he was inflexible.  He feared to question things, and when questions arose in his mind, it destroyed him.

However, despite this, this book was filed to my favorites list.  I liked the characters.  Even Monsieur Andre had his moments where you couldn't totally hate him.  Sometimes I was disappointed that things didn't turn out the way I had envisioned them.  However, that the author created characters that I liked thinking about is to her credit, even if she didn't do what I wanted her to do with them.

An interesting footnote here, did you know that the characters Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert were actually based on the same man?

Eugene Francois Vidocq, father of modern criminology, inspired Victor Hugo

Eugene Francois Vidocq is the father of modern criminology and considered the first private detective, but he started out on the wrong side of the law.  He was a real rascal, but later he started helping the police by doing undercover work.  He is credited for introducing the concept of undercover work, ballistics, record keeping for criminal investigation, and making foot casts of footprints.  He created indelible ink and unalterable bond paper.