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Les Misérables

Victor Hugo

Start date: July 1, 2024

Finish date: September 30, 2024

Why we're reading this: 3rd Quarter 2024 Long Read
4th Quarter 2014 Long Read

Previous Group Reads:
Book of the Month Group Read, Ju…more
[close] 3rd Quarter 2024 Long Read
4th Quarter 2014 Long Read

Previous Group Reads:
Book of the Month Group Read, July/Aug 2011, & cont'd into Sept/Oct/Nov 2011

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What Members Thought

Aug 19, 2011 Laura rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, french-literature, audio-books, read-2011, hf-19th-century-europe

Shunned on leaving jail, Jean Valjean is tempted back into crime. Dramatisation of Victor Hugo's epic novel with Joss Ackland.
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Mar 14, 2023 Maggie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: boxall-1001, classics, guardian-1000, fiction, historical-fiction, european

It took me eleven months, but I finally finished Les Miserables.

What a mammoth of a book. And yet the plot is simple. (view spoiler) It took me eleven months, but I finally finished Les Miserables.

What a mammoth of a book. And yet the plot is simple. (view spoiler)

This is a book of redemption. Jean Valjean, having been forgiven by Bishop Bienvenu whom he stole from, sees the goodness of God and never looks back. It's easy enough when he is Monsieur Madeleine, wealthy and respected, and can afford to do good. It is much harder when his conscience leads him to voluntarily confess his identity in court to save another man, and to spare Javert when given the opportunity to shoot him, and to save Marius, whom he is jealous of, while risking his own life. Hugo shows us these struggles. Jean Valjean has sleepless nights, deciding whether he should do what is easy and safe, or what is dangerous to him. He always makes the choice to save his soul rather than his body. He performs heroic acts with humility, knowing his power but believing that he is worthless without God, and above all setting Cosette's needs above his own. Bishop Bienvenu may be a minor character, but the impact he has on Jean Valjean's life is great, and the two precious silver candlesticks that he gifts Jean Valjean feature even when Jean Valjean is dying.

Hugo's characterisation is masterful. The major characters are all complex characters, with back stories that explain their personalities, idiosyncrasies and inner turmoils. Even some of the minor characters, like Eponine, Gavroche and Monsieur Gillenormand, are well fleshed out. The plot lines are tightly constructed, with Hugo holding all the threads in his hands and never letting them go. There are perhaps too many coincidences, but it is a small flaw when the plot is so thrilling and emotionally heart-wrenching.

Much has been said about the digressions. Yes, they are long. But are they really digressions? I see this book as Hugo's love letter to Paris. He names specific streets and cafes, and writes essays on various topics from politics to convents to Parisian orphans to the nature of slang in Paris. For the modern day reader, it is tempting to skim through them to get back to the story of Jean Valjean and his encounters. But these "digressions" are as integral to the purpose of the book as the plot is. In any case, I believe there most people will have at least a digression or two that interests them. My favourite was the one on the Battle of Waterloo, and I know others who have expressed fascination in the ones on convents and on slang. And Bishop Bienvenu being one of my favourite characters, I don't count his back story as being a digression, though some people do.

I read the Penguin Classics translation by Christine Donougher and it was excellent. It reads smoothly and there are many footnotes that explain the references and puns that modern-day non-French readers may miss. Only, why oh why did she have to rename the book The Wretched?

Thank you, Victor Hugo. Those eleven months were good. ...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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