Les Misérables (Signet Classics) by Victor Hugo
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Book Reviews of Les Misérables (Signet Classics)
Book Review: Simple Story wrapped in a Monumental Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Those familiar with European literature know the story of Jean Valjean, Victor Hugo's noble character in LES MISERABLE. For those who don't, Jean Valjean is a peasant who is arrested for stealing a loaf of bread and is sentenced to prison; his term is increased due to his unsuccessful escape attempts. The Jean Valjean that is finally released is not the Valjean who entered; prison has taken its toll. But a kernel of goodness exists in him; a chance encounter and an act of kindness by a local bishop becomes the turning point of his life. Through the next forty or so years Jean Valjean lives up to the promise he made the bishop, and is a genuinely good man. Unfortunately, being an ex-convict in 19th century France is a stain that isn't removed. Living under various aliases, he escapes the single-minded Detective Javert, one of the most persistent characters in all of literature, who's determined to return him to prison on a petty charge. There is also Cosette, a child he rescues and raises, fulfilling the promise he made to her dying mother. Valjean's story is the thread that Hugo uses to create this tapestry of salvation and damnation, courage and weakness, perseverance, love, loss and a France that no longer exists.
LES MISERABLE is a simple story but a monumental novel. Hugo writes of kings and emperors, the influential and the inconsequential. He expresses his political views making little effort to conceal them, as he was in exile in England while writing the book. His characters seem unrelated, a collection of thieves, royalists, revolutionaries, students, bureaucrats and an oppressive poverty; but eventually all are intertwined in Jean Valjean's story. The book is an unabridged translation, the writing is superb and it's long. But to not read LES MISERABLE is to deny oneself a masterpiece of Western Literature and the life and times of Jean Valjean.
Book Review: A titanic piece of work
Summary: 5 Stars
Victor Hugo, the great Romantic, creates a whole world in this supreme novel. You can not enjoy it if you don't plunge into it and live inside for several (quite) days. I join the club of "don't read abridged versions": if you're not willing to savor the book, read something you are able to eat and digest. The story is well known, if only for the musical, which I don't want to see. Jean Valjean is a poor guy who is imprisoned for stealing a piece of bread. 20 years after, he gets out of prison and steals from a priest who has been good to him. The rest is the epic of the permanent reinvention of an essentially good man who is haunted by his past, incarnated in Javert, the relentless policeman. This epic book confronts many issues, the main one being the judicial law vs. moral law. Or "good" versus "right". But it is not a treatise, it's a novel which situates the action in a broad, wide context. For example, in the episode where Valjean takes refuge in a convent, Hugo depicts the situation, characteristics and life in French convents. When Valjean rescues Mario from death in the barricades, and travel along the Paris sewer system, Hugo tells us the story of this system of sewers. For impatient and light readers, these are boring and unnecessary digressions. For the good reader, they put the whole story in its environment, which is precisely why the book leaps from tender and moving to epic and historical. It is full of adventures, moral dilemmas, difficult situations for the characters, and a tragical mood. The action moves from one place to another, spanning many years and focusing alternatively on the many characters, so it is constantly on the move. The characters are not simple stereotype: they are human beings with understandable, if questionable, motivations for what they do, and become almost real as you read. Highly recommended.
Book Review: A Life-Changing Book that is worth the effort
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved the musical of Les Miserables and immediately bought the book by Hugo. It sat on my shelf for about 3 years before I finally became motivated to read it.
I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It is like no other book I have read, except maybe a Dickens novel. Hugo indulges in such in depth character development that I felt like I personally knew all the characters involved.
This is a story of grace, mercy, redemption, virture and vanity. Hugo leads the reader on a spiritual journey of self-discovery. The journey includes illustrations of the best of humanity and the worst. You see the image of how you want to live your life and also of those people you want to be nothing like and want to avoid at all costs.
The only downside to the book was the extensive cultural and geographical descriptions that Hugo provides, but though they are strenuous when reading them, they make the action that follows more understandable and meaningful.
This is an entertaining and moving story built on moving and meaningful plots and themes.
To me, while on the shelf, it was large and intimidating, but as soon as I started page one, I felt like I was coming home to a significant awakening.
I think every book lover should commit to reading this. I bought the paperback and the Modern Libray hardcover of the Wilbour translation and reviewed both, and I chose to read the more classic Wilbour translation which I thought captured the traditional language better. I think it is just a personal preference which version one likes--both tell the same story and are verbatim translations.
Craig Stephans, author of Shakespeare On Spirituality: Life-Changing Wisdom from Shakespeare's Plays
Book Review: Ooh la la la, Les Miserables
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the greatest book ever. I know everyone is saying that, and it gets kind of hard to believe, especially when there are such books out there as The Purple Crayon and Goodnight, Moon. However, as much as I love a good bedtime story, Les Miserables far surpasses even Goodnight,Moon in poetry and depth. Seriously, though, it's a really great book. I read it because I loved the musical, which I think is the case with a lot of people, and, I'll admit, there were times during the Waterloo and convent chapters when I wanted to break something, but my IQ has been raised nearly 700 points for having read them. But I'm not going to lie like some other people and say that they were good, because, in all honesty,they weren't. But it's worth it, to read them, because I know so much more about the Paris sewer system than I'll ever be able to use. However, regarding the part of the story with an actual plot, it's wonderful. I don't think anything better was ever written. You've got every type of character you could possibly want: prostitute with a heart of gold, righteous, wealthy man on the lamb, the obsessed policeman, the swindling, pirate-like guy and his poor, grungy family, the pretty, spoiled adopted daughter whom everyones hates (but I don't, I think Cosette is cool), and lovesick boyfriend whom everyone loves (Including, and especially, me), the unrequitted lover, and the revolutionists. There are all the themes of life today: love, war, obsession, organized crime....It's a good book. Do yourself a favor and read this book. Also, then you'll know what everyone's talking about when they say to you "Who am I? 24601!" Because I am well aware that everyone says that, all the time.
PS- That's no ordinary rabbit.
Book Review: INCROYABLE
Summary: 5 Stars
Without a doubt the best book written by anybody with two arms and two legs since the Big Bang. Admittedly, as is the case with most, I was indeed daunted by the sheer size of the book, but after reading a few of these reviews it seemed it would be worth it. How right I was. Never have 1000+ pages passed so quickly, I was convinced my cover had been smothered in superglue. From the incident with Bishop Myriel to Valjean's death, this book captivated my mind for three months. For me, the most moving part was the death of Jean Valjean. Hugo has this genius that makes your heart miss a beat at certain points, for example when the third spadeful of earth fell on the coffin in which Valjean was hiding, and when Javert first met Valjean as M. Madeleine, and when Valjean finds himself trapped in the sewer during the fighting on the streets. A valuable piece of advice I'd like to offer readers of the book is to avoid the film(1998). Liam Neeson's acting is absolutely superb but the film misses out huge, important chunks of the story and misses out crucial bits. When Valjean is in the sewer during the fighting, he simply undoes the lock and steps out, without any sign of Thenardier. Gavroche does not sing his song as he is getting shot at. But the most blatant execution of them all, which completely ruins the film for anyone who has read the book, is that the film ends when Javert commits suicide. - Valjean is still alive, and Marius and Cosette have not been reunited and therefore not married. Valjean's death is the most gripping part of the story, and the reunion and subsequent marriage of Cosette and Marius is also pivotal. To sum up, an immortal book, timeless and simply wonderful. I am now reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame.