Les Misérables: The Novel

The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.

It will always be Belmondo when I think of Jean Valjean in that wonky adaptation I saw at the Vogue back in the 90s. The film affected me deeply, thinking about the Occupation and questions of race and justice; the Willa Cather quote which surfaces a number of times. Beyond all that, the smoldering desire to read the novel was forged and eventually realized. I read Les Miserables here and there, with airports occupying a great deal of the effort. One drunken night in New Orleans the following year I spied someone in a pub reading the novel with obvious pleasure. I wished the man well and tripped out into the balmy night.

Triumph of the human spirit!

Phew - this was a long one. I downloaded a French edition to an e-reader and read it on the T. Hugo loves to digress and I found myself zoning out on the long descriptions of Waterloo and such. The man did love his language though and there are some great passages and lots of interesting words that the weak French/English dictionary installed on the reader couldn't handle. Who knew there were so many French words for hovel? The best parts of course were the adventures of Jean Valjean, the badass ex-prisoner who knew how to escape and be a loving father to the orphan Cosette.

One volume beautiful edition. Original translation authorized by Victor Hugo himself.

Wow, I knew going in that this was a beast of a book. I knew the basic plot from the movies and the musical, but I was not prepared in the least for the political and social commentary about the dregs of French society.

The story of Jean Valjean, Fantine, and Cosette, is the heart of the book. If this is the story you are looking for, I'd recommend finding a good abridged version. If you want to know about the innumerable details of Waterloo (skewed toward the French viewpoint, of course), French monasteries and convents, the treatment of galley slaves, the lives of the thousands of homeless children in and around Paris... I could go on, but you get the point. This book is more of a treatise on the downtrodden and how the more-fortunate need to turn their attention and wealth to helping them.

I do love this story, which is a perfect analogy of redemption and salvation. Jean Valjean, the galley slave turned mayor turned fugitive. Cosette, the young girl saved out the pit of despair and pain. It's a wonderful story, if you can get through many, many tangents that push and pull the characters.

Les Misérables was one of the first full-length (very full length!) books I managed to read in French. I can still remember the Friday afternoon, all those years ago, when I began to read it. I didn't look up from its pages until the following Sunday evening. A truly magnificent book.

I've never been married, but reading Les Miserables is what I imagine marriage would be like. I started out so excited to get into the the book, knowing that it was going to be a doozy, but knowing that it was a classic and that I liked the overall story and characters. Then around page 500, Hugo starts going on and on about nunneries and I think, "I did not sign up for this!"

This indignant thought leads to temptation; after all, why bother time with this long-winded book when there are so many other, shorter, newer books out there? Everywhere I turn, a temptation. Every time, though, I always refrain and turn back to good ol' Les Miserables, because every time I pick it up again and become engrossed with the intricate thought processes and descriptions, I would remember why I was reading it in the first place.

Sure, there are (as in marriage), times when I wanted to rip my hair out, and other times when things got so syrupy that I wanted to puke, but as a whole, looking back over all those pages, all that time I spent with this book...it really is stunning. Just know that if you're picking up this book with the intention of finishing it, you're entering a pretty hefty commitment. For richer or poorer, better or worse...

Beautifully written, long-winded but informative. I read the Denny translation and listened to the Hopwood translation read by Homewood. Jean Valjean forever!

Although there were several times I was tempted to throw this book across the room in frustration, particularly in the interminable scene of Marius watching through the hole in the wall and "agonizing" what he should do, this was a satisfying read. I did find the repeated intersections of the characters far-fetched in a city the size of Paris (e.g. Valjean and Marius' encounter with Thenadier at the Seine with Javert lying in wait) but Hugo wouldn't have a story with these encounters. And until the very end I was uncertain whether this was a story of redemption or a tragedy. At 800+ pages in the abridged edition, you have to be invested in the story and characters to get past Hugo's ambling detours but it's well worth the effort.

I read the abridged version when I was in 9th grade and I absolutely fell into the story - I loved it! I want to revisit this one again soon, but go for the unabridged version (which will be a bit of a challenge but I'm up for it). I have yet to see the adaptation and would like to read it before I do watch it.

I read this book during my sophomore year of high school. I think that its when we had the KBAR (kick back and read) period. This allowed me to read the novel bit by bit at a leisurely pace.

What I remember most is how Hugo chose to write this work. Some areas of the novel followed a pattern of one chapter of details and "setting the scene" followed by one chapter of story action.

I enjoyed reading it, although this book requires patience. You might not finish if you aren't a patient person or create a schedule to help see you though.

Other than the pages-long lists of mythological and literary analogies, I really enjoyed Les Miserables. Yes, even the 60 pages devoted to play-by-play action at Waterloo, and the complete history of the Paris sewers were interesting. Jean Valjean is without question a rousing and sympathetic hero, and Javert and Thenardier interesting and well-developed foils. Good stuff.

As messy and extravagant as humanism this enormous book holds nothing back. Why one adjective when six, no twelve would be better? And while it can feel hopelessly outdated because the author is so unbelievably intrusive it still holds up as a magnificent, if not indulgent, portrait of a passionate belief. At one point, I was astonished to find Hugo regaling us with a compressed (really?) and very coherent analysis of the same financial idiocy which plagues us today - the concentration of wealth in the hands of the very few. So over a 150 years, still working. There are wonderful set pieces, and probably the best was the description of Valjean and Cosette watching the prisoners being transported. Others like the description of nature in one chapter were also stunning, but then he can apply the same ungoverned excess to a silly section on the lovers or even more on the role of shit and how it has been underappreciated. Then there is his defense of Louise-Phillipe who apparently he got along well with. The author intrudes constantly sometimes wrenching the mic away and holding for at great length on a topic of interest. He also commits what was supposed to be a mortal sin and actively judges characters and yet, to my surprise, this did not in the least bit diminish my pleasure. Has the 19th century fault of relying on outrageous coincidences such as when Valjean scales a wall only to land in a nunnery where someone he has saved works as a gardener. Same as Jane Eyre. Time and again he breaks the rules and yet by sheer force of will and passion makes us stay. You can feel manipulated and hauranged (sP) but it's still well worth it. No history could or does - to my knowledge - give us France during this period in the same way. I only wish I knew my history better.

One of those classics that everyone should have read, so I finally sat down and did it. While the story is interesting and makes you want to turn the pages, and Jean Valjean is such an admirable character, the stilted language of translation and Hugo's own lengthy digressions (such as the 20-page chapter about Paris sewers that added nothing to plot nor character) combine to make this book a slogging read. Aside from the fact that I hate the idea of anyone other than the author cutting parts from his own book, I think that this might work better as an abridgment.It reminded me a lot of The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Both are moody stories, with romance a large part of the plot, taking place in Labyrinthine European cities.All in all I would recommend based on its stature in literature, but it's difficult to recommend on its own merits.

I started this book with a little trepidation, I have to admit, as it is such an enormous book in every sense of the word! It was quite daunting knowing this is one of those great classics written so long ago, in such an old, fashioned style, that I wasn't sure what to expect!And I have to say I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the story. There was a huge amount of french historical information and at times I did find this quite hard going as the author went off in a tangent at some length, but once I got used to that I found the actual story really good, miserable though it was!! The traumers and misery that the characters encountered were at times unbelievably heartbreaking, but I really did enjoy it.I can see quite easily why it has been such a successful film and musical.As I said before not an easy book to get through but well worth the effort.

Les Miserables is one of those books that is perpetually on the shelf of books that should be read when you have spare time. At 1300 pages - that's a LOT of spare time. Is it worth picking up? If you've seen the amazing Broadway musical, then you already know the story of Jean Valjean, a convict who seeks redemption through good acts during his life. Does the book really add more? Yes! Les Miserables is more than the story of a single man. It is a social commentary about class structure in 19th century France and the inability of the poor to receive justice. It is a story about how a person can change - starting as a convict and ending as a saint. It is the story of heroism - people giving their lives for a cause. It is a story about love and the sacrifices people make for love. It is an amazing masterpiece worth every one of those pages.

A masterpiece of realism and humanity, like only a French author could have ever written. The scope is huge, the story incredibly powerful and beautiful.

Read this is high school. Made quite an impression, as I still remember it as a true classic.

This isn't in the least bit a quick read. The version I have is in 2 volumes, each of which is a big tome it its own right.
The other thing that's rather long are the sentences. I'm fairly sure that I saw a sentence that stretched over a whole page - Mr Hugo is in love with all punctuation - except the full stop. It was an object lesson in how to use colons & semi colons. >:-) It does digress somewhat - at one point there's a fairly long description of the Battle of Waterloo that does little to advance the story, but does provide the back story between two characters in fulsome detail. If you've seen the musical that is, trust me, merely the bare bones of what's in here.
Having said that, it was a read that felt worthwhile. Some epic tomes just feel like you're wading through treacle, whereas this was a descriptive treat.

Les Mis is, to me, the best book I've ever read. It's full of the very best, and worst, of humanity. I can think of no other book that shows the whole range of mankind. The length may be a put off to some, but anyone who perseveres will be well rewarded and emerge better for having read this.

Am currently re-reading with my wife because we both loved it so much; Truly the best written novel of all time; Characters; story lines; heart ache; triumph and the use of the written word are beyond anything you can find from ANT writer today; truly the masterpiece by which all other writing should be measured against

It is many years ago now that I read this book. So it is getting time to re-read it. The book impressed me very much. It has many themes (mystery, adventure, romance, social themes and more) and although it has many pages it never lets your attention drift away. I have given it five stars, because af5er all these years it still impresses me!

Les MiserablesVictor HugoSunday, September 15, 2013 This was a long reading project, more than one month. It was 1100 pages in the older Folio Society edition I read, in two volumes. The history of Jean Valjean, starving thief, then galley slave and convict, then a convert when he encountered the holy Bishop of Digne, is told with numerous digressions, observations, and social comments by Victor Hugo. The story spans the early 1800s in France, ending just after the 1830 insurrections in Paris. Valjean becomes a successful entrepreneur under an assumed identity, but reveals himself to save another man from the galleys, escapes and spends the rest of his life caring for a young girl, Cosette, the daughter of a woman he had befriended. He is pursued by the rigid and self-righteous policeman, Javert, until Javert's life is saved by Valjean, and Javert is forced to confront the conflict between civic and moral duty. Cosette will marry, a prig named Marius, who is also idealistic and self righteous, and Valjean will die happy, with his Cosette and Marius with him. Valjean rescues Marius from the doomed barricade of the insurrection by carrying him through the sewers of Paris. There are close escapes, vivid characters, (particularly Gavroche, the bold street urchin) war and revolution, and criminals, in a tremendous yarn, although coincidence often drives the plot. The translation by Norman Denny was commissioned by the Folio Society in 1976, and he freely admits to occasional condensation and has produced many lyrical and pithy comments. The lithographic illustrations, in purple and black, were not to my taste. Some quotes: Volume 1 Page 44: "They confound the brilliance of the firmament with the star-shaped footprints of a duck in the mud"Volume 1 Page 336: "Nothing chills the heart like symmetry, for symmetry is ennui and ennui is the heart of grief"Volume 1 Page 426: "It is a charming quality of the happiness we inspire in others that, far from being diminished like a reflection, it comes back to us enhanced"Volume 1 Page 455: "It is the quality of prudishness that the less the fortress is threatened the more the garrison is strengthened"Volume 1 ends with an entire appendix on the Convent, and Hugo's condemnation of the practice, noting the mysticism of prayer but the abasement of the inmates.Volume 2 Page 180: "He will hastily shut up his shop and don his uniform, that is, safeguard his merchandise and risk his life"Volume 2 Page 262: "What good does it do to bombard chaos?"

This is one of my all time favorite books. I read it at least once a year and it breaks my heart every time. It's beautiful and tragic and wonderfully written.

It literally took me three years to finish this book--I would get distracted by some other smaller, more manageable book, and then completely forget who was doing what, or even who they all were, and have to start over. When I was finally able to work through it in a single reading (of a couple of months), I felt rewarded for my effort.

I'm finished. I actually finished.
Oh my lord this book is amazing and I am so grateful I decided to read it even though I nearly threw up when I saw the pages.
It was wonderful. Such a mix of emotions. I wish all my friends could read it just so they could understand how I'm feeling right now. I cried but I was happy. The ending was beautiful, especially that passage written on the tomb.
I think I may have highlighted this book to death but that's okay.
Hugo is a genius. This is a literary masterpiece. I fell in love with every word.
It may have been a big book to read but finishing it just feels amazing. It probably isn't a book I'm going to reread often but sometime in my life I want to read this again.
I am in love and to finish this book and to not be reading it anymore is almost sad.
I can't say enough for les Miserables just that if you can read it, READ IT.

A work of pure genius. I recommend it to only the most passionate readers. It is not for the faint of heart. It took me nearly six months to power through the 1400+ pages, however the feeling I got upon actually finishing it was well worth it.

You thought I'd given up. You thought I'd forgotten.

Nope. I pushed my way through this beast and now it's done. Another book checked off the bucket list. I -hated- most of this book. The only interesting characters were Jean val Jean and Eponnie. (I don't even care enough to check the spelling of the character's names.)

It goes on and on and on. Hugo forever pontificates on undoubtedly important and interesting subjects -- but he goes on so long and gets so abstract that it renders his points moot.

It only gets the second star because of the successful and awesome film and stage adaptations.

Does anyone know who's the translator of this excellent version? Appears to be a reproduction of an early British or American edition - how annoying that the publisher tells us nothing!

This is the biggest book I've ever read and one of the best. I like how it goes through Jean Valjean's entire life, from being a prisoner, to a good man, to his death. I like how everything worked together in the end, and how Marius realized Valjean wasn't bad after all. I also liked the digressions that Victor Hugo goes into. They were all very interesting.