From the Bookshelf of Reading the Chunksters…

Les Misérables

Victor Hugo,

Christine Donougher (Editor)

Start date: April 1, 2018

Finish date: September 29, 2018

Discussion: Les Miserables

Why we're reading this: April Classic Chunkster group read
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Les Miserables

* Les Miserables - Background/Banter
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What Members Thought

Jul 02, 2019 Biblio Curious rated it liked it

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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Feb 09, 2015 Greg rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, 19th-century, 1001-books-to-read, rite-of-passage

I've just read Hugo's "The Man Who Laughs" and found that book far superior. About "Les Miserables", it was on a forced reading list in high school. I didn't want to read it...until I went to the beach right before the 12th grade and suffered a bad sunburn. With nothing to do and "Les Miiserables" reluctantly packed in someone's luggage, I read it. I remember I was bored at times. I did not connect emotionally with the book, I did not connect emotionally with the subsequent Broadway musical, but ...more

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