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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
HUTCHINGS BOOK CLUB DEC/JAN 2025
This is the greatest story ever told.
This is the greatest story ever told.
This is a massive beast of a book, but I FINALLY FINISHED IT! Victory is mine.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really enjoyed my experience of reading this. I chose to go for the heavily abridged Penguin edition, and I can't say that I regret that decision! It's obviously very pacy and cuts the majority of Hugo's infamous diversions (that I've heard are still very much worth the time and effort to read). But I was happy to get to the meat of the story, and I think that the editors of this version did an amazing job whittling down the behemoth into something that still had a nice flow and carried emotional weight.
It's a timeless and moving story that I think has and will always contain parallels in life. The characters are reflections of real people, whether those we know personally or not, and they will always exist. Victor Hugo's idea was to create a novel that gave voice to the downtrodden of society, and I can't think of many novels that do it as successfully (or more beautifully) than this one.
It's a timeless and moving story that I think has and will always contain parallels in life. The characters are reflections of real people, whether those we know personally or not, and they will always exist. Victor Hugo's idea was to create a novel that gave voice to the downtrodden of society, and I can't think of many novels that do it as successfully (or more beautifully) than this one.
This has been on my bucket list for a long time. I enjoyed the parts where the plot was moving along but skipped/skimmed several of the tangential sections (Waterloo anyone?) to keep my interest piqued and to finish in time for our book club meeting. Towards the end I felt like it dragged on a bit and I got a little exasperated with how Jean Valjean felt like he had to be honest about all his "bad" deeds but secretive about all his good deeds, however all in all I enjoyed it and feel accomplished for having conquered the beast.
I couldn't gives this less than five if only because reading this book did the impossible: it made me like Gavroche, who in all adaptations is insufferable. But Marius still sucks in all adaptations *and* this source material.
If you've only seen adaptations and you have a lot of patience, read this, even if you're going to read an abridged version and be a sucka. I have to believe even the abridged version would include Hugo's wild, metaphorical haymakers, which justify any difficulty in reading. Some digressions and footnotes are tough, but some are amazing and you learn all about human manure or Paris street slang! Classics like these are sledgehammers where we're more accustomed to chisels these days. Sledgehammers are more fun though sometimes inaccurate. But they know that about themselves. I described reading Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid as being transcendentally shanked, but this was more like being very slowly crushed into ecstasy by a bolder.
Put this book on your bucket list and carry it in the pitch black forest like little Cossette until a saint rescues you from the non-Les Mis books that have been terrorizing you. Non Les-Mis books are only after money and sell off their male children.
I thought about Interview with a Vampire while reading this because when I reread Interview, I was surprised at how many of my ideals can be traced back to a vampire book I read in the 90s as a teen. Somehow, although I didn't read Les Mis as a teen, I feel a similar identification here, placing me squarely within the realm of the Francophile.
If you've only seen adaptations and you have a lot of patience, read this, even if you're going to read an abridged version and be a sucka. I have to believe even the abridged version would include Hugo's wild, metaphorical haymakers, which justify any difficulty in reading. Some digressions and footnotes are tough, but some are amazing and you learn all about human manure or Paris street slang! Classics like these are sledgehammers where we're more accustomed to chisels these days. Sledgehammers are more fun though sometimes inaccurate. But they know that about themselves. I described reading Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid as being transcendentally shanked, but this was more like being very slowly crushed into ecstasy by a bolder.
Put this book on your bucket list and carry it in the pitch black forest like little Cossette until a saint rescues you from the non-Les Mis books that have been terrorizing you. Non Les-Mis books are only after money and sell off their male children.
I thought about Interview with a Vampire while reading this because when I reread Interview, I was surprised at how many of my ideals can be traced back to a vampire book I read in the 90s as a teen. Somehow, although I didn't read Les Mis as a teen, I feel a similar identification here, placing me squarely within the realm of the Francophile.
"It is nothing to die; it is dreadful to not live."
I'd love nothing more than to give this book all 5 of the stars, but, let's be real--I skipped 10% of it, and I'm not sure I liked my translation fully (Hapgood version). The bits my sister sent me from her old 80s paperback seemed to be translated more...naturally? Hapgood had moments of sheer poetic brilliance, don't get me wrong, but the comedy and wit didn't seem to come through properly.
But. Man, I see why this is an unending classic and why people keep returning to it again and again. The musical does a great job adapting it and expanding the ABC boys and Eponine into something strong, but it doesn't fully capture just who Jean Valjean is and what his life was and how he dealt with his crippling guilt and deep love. It's rather hard to express just how much I adore this very sad, very broken fellow. I just want him to be happyyy.
It's a beautiful, heartbreaking book about people in all circumstances and walks of life, but especially about the downtrodden and what they do to survive the lot they've been given. Some with grace, and some (cough, Thenardier, cough) not.
People say Hugo was paid by the word, and I don't know if that's true or not. People might just say that because this is a beast of a novel, especially when all the books are published in one volume (you could compare it to Lord of the Rings, which is 3 books sometimes printed as one? Les Mis is the same way, with like 6 books printed as one). Coworkers kept asking me if I'd gotten carpel tunnel yet from hauling my (huge, with tiny print) book around. But, truly, I think Hugo just loved the written word, and wanted to write. There are speeches about puns, chapters about language, analyses of certain words and how they've changed.
Once you get into actual plotty scenes--like, Valjean escaping Javert in the twisty alleys with Cosette at his side, or the Gorbeau House's frightening back rooms, or the sewers (yes, yes, the famous sewers, and not at all as extensive as rumors would have had me believe prior to reading), they're often tight and sharp and highly emotional little works, highly descriptive and impactful and above all memorable.
But, I did skip the asides, mostly. So....take that as you will.
I'd love nothing more than to give this book all 5 of the stars, but, let's be real--I skipped 10% of it, and I'm not sure I liked my translation fully (Hapgood version). The bits my sister sent me from her old 80s paperback seemed to be translated more...naturally? Hapgood had moments of sheer poetic brilliance, don't get me wrong, but the comedy and wit didn't seem to come through properly.
But. Man, I see why this is an unending classic and why people keep returning to it again and again. The musical does a great job adapting it and expanding the ABC boys and Eponine into something strong, but it doesn't fully capture just who Jean Valjean is and what his life was and how he dealt with his crippling guilt and deep love. It's rather hard to express just how much I adore this very sad, very broken fellow. I just want him to be happyyy.
It's a beautiful, heartbreaking book about people in all circumstances and walks of life, but especially about the downtrodden and what they do to survive the lot they've been given. Some with grace, and some (cough, Thenardier, cough) not.
People say Hugo was paid by the word, and I don't know if that's true or not. People might just say that because this is a beast of a novel, especially when all the books are published in one volume (you could compare it to Lord of the Rings, which is 3 books sometimes printed as one? Les Mis is the same way, with like 6 books printed as one). Coworkers kept asking me if I'd gotten carpel tunnel yet from hauling my (huge, with tiny print) book around. But, truly, I think Hugo just loved the written word, and wanted to write. There are speeches about puns, chapters about language, analyses of certain words and how they've changed.
Once you get into actual plotty scenes--like, Valjean escaping Javert in the twisty alleys with Cosette at his side, or the Gorbeau House's frightening back rooms, or the sewers (yes, yes, the famous sewers, and not at all as extensive as rumors would have had me believe prior to reading), they're often tight and sharp and highly emotional little works, highly descriptive and impactful and above all memorable.
But, I did skip the asides, mostly. So....take that as you will.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
I adore the beautiful subtleties of faith that Hugo plants in the text