From the Bookshelf of Reading the Chunksters…

Les Misérables

Victor Hugo

Start date: January 6, 2014

Finish date: June 2, 2014

Discussion: Side-Reads

Discussion leader: Zulfiya

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Side-Reads

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* Catalog for Side Reads
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* Introduction to Side-Reads
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What Members Thought

Jul 02, 2019 Biblio Curious rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-western, in-a-nutshell-plz

Three stars because Hugo needed an editor for this one. He was a brilliant writer in Last Day of a Condemned Man & Hunchback of Notre Dame. Then somewhere along the way he became a lexical packrat, especially in the last couple hundred pages. For a 1300 page book, a few hundred pages are nothing. Keep in mind, in the novel world, a few hundred is another novel. They're basically compiled of off topic political rants or plot points that are never revisited after an entire novel of set up & of cou Three stars because Hugo needed an editor for this one. He was a brilliant writer in Last Day of a Condemned Man & Hunchback of Notre Dame. Then somewhere along the way he became a lexical packrat, especially in the last couple hundred pages. For a 1300 page book, a few hundred pages are nothing. Keep in mind, in the novel world, a few hundred is another novel. They're basically compiled of off topic political rants or plot points that are never revisited after an entire novel of set up & of course Hugo's brilliant descriptions. He certainly figured out how to charge by the word after Notre Dame's success. -.-

And now the good, this would make a seriously brilliant TV Mini Series. Hugo was a popular writer, so this statement can't be shocking to fellow fans of high brow literature! Yes, we can be fans, too! There were some seriously moving scenes, Hugo's 100 page build ups made these scenes all the more powerful. They're natural cliff hangers for a TV show! All the drama & insight in this book can pull any reader into Hugo's world for a good long while. Skip the musical & root for a mini series!

Any book that can convince me to seek out more information on Paris' sewer system or other off the beaten path subjects is always ok by me. The character arcs didn't feel forced but they were a bit unnatural compared to his other works. The ending was awesome after the frustrating moments where I'm wanting Hugo to get on with it, what's going to happen, don't start setting up a new plot line now... gah! Ok, that's better, thank you.

A great book if you're going on an extended vacation without internet access of if you really want to cozy up with a whole world of characters in a fast paced novel. Hugo does write like a popular author but with plenty of non-fiction essays tucked into the story to give us somethings to mull over while we return to see the action play out. At times it works amazingly, is moving, inspiring ... but near the end it started to irk me at times.

I might recommend an abridgement of this novel for the majority of readers so that more people would pick it up. I would shorten the descriptions during the ending & take out some of the non-fiction chatter, perhaps clean up some extra plot lines that were left hanging so the ending would tie in together in a more cohesive way. Probably shorten it by about 200 pages, not much but enough so Hugo's writing takes centre stage. Remember, they wrote everything out by hand back then, I'd love to see what this book would've been like had he used a computer!

For Hugo, always go unabridged for Hunchback of Notre Dame, every word is perfection! If you haven't read anything by Hugo, I'd say start with Hunchback because his style is identical to Les Miserables but is 1/3 the length with much cleaner prose throughout. If you adore Hunchback, dive into Les Miserables for heaps of awesome reading & a more complete intergenerational society. ...more

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Dec 30, 2013 Linda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, boxalls-1001-books-before-death, 2014

Finally finished this mega-chunkster! Almost gave it 4 or 4.5 stars just for the long-winded bits that dragged on here and there, but after having read the last 50 pages I could not give it less than 5 stars. After all the misery of what the various characters experienced, the ending was very satisfying. Definitely an epic read!

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Sep 01, 2024 J_BlueFlower rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001, 1001-read, catching-up-read

Read at the time-wise price of three normal Door-stoppers. I am not sure it was worth it. Just the first four part was almost only 2-star, but part five is 4-star.

I have heard this book praised as a book about poor people. Instead suggest reading The Grapes of Wrath or anything Dostoevsky, especially the descriptions in Crime and Punishment.

Minor spoiler warning from here on:

Plot:
The book follows Bishop Myriel for most of part 1 leading to the important meting between him and Jean Valjean. Jea ...more

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Jun 10, 2014 Ellen Librarian rated it liked it

This is a great book and there's a lot to love in it. But much of the book didn't grab me and didn't move me. Ultimately, I'm glad I read it but I'm also glad to be done! ...more

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