Les Miserables

I've started reading The Miserables by Victor Hugo. As I started I was a little skeptic
but I rapidly turned to enthusiastic.
It is a strange reading, sometimes painful (like some Puccini or Verdi opera's libretto). Most ofter it's a pleasure. I know nothing about Hugo, I don't like reading
critical essays (or simply book introductions) before reading the book itself.
Maybe I'll read after. For now it is amazing how Hugo seems to trying to keep together a strong religiosity with the admiration for the french revolution ... also it is amazing how much mental prejudices he had , unconsciounsly (does this word exist in english ?) ....
a lesson for today and for every time ... we all have mental blindnesses, we simply can't see them, no matter how "open minded" we are (or claim to be) ..