One BIG Value of Long Novels

Many times when a long novel like War and Peace, Don Quixote, or Les Miserables is brought up, the first response is something like "Wow; long book!" or "Way too long for me!" But once you've read and enjoyed a long novel, I think that you're less likely to respond that way. One reason why is that long novels inherently give you a better chance to know the characters deeply. While that's possible, say, in shorter works like Of Mice and Men and The Death of Ivan Ilyich, it's even more likely in a long novel. By the time one finishes Les Miserables, s/he has gazed long and deep into the soul of Jean Valjean, Cosette, Marius, and even Javert. Yes, these big books demand more of your time, but a carefully selected long novel can yield big dividends to your soul and even your spirit. I'm on the last stretch of Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov, and this novel has not only educated me about Russian life in the late 1800's, but it's also stirred my soul and given me some spiritual insight and refreshment through its theological content (thank God for Alyosha--what a balance he provides to the carnal Dimitri and skeptical Ivan!).

I hope that this note is an encouragement for you to tackle some long, wholesome novel you've been thinking about reading. Allegories like Pilgrim's Progress and epic poems like Paradise Lost and The Divine Comedy count too! If you'd like some recommendations, please let me know, though I've dropped several hints already :).

Disclaimer: Since novels are books of the world, there may be parts that are unsavory. I was horrified by one chapter in Brothers Karamazov, for example ("Rebellion"), and although that was the author's intent--to show how warped Ivan's skepticism could be--one could skip several pages of lurid material and not "miss" anything.