Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

11 reviews

iammmartina_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Death, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, War, and Police brutality

Moderate: Alcoholism, Violence, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Gun violence

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I know this is an international and intergenerational classic, but I can't give 5 stars to Les Misérables. Not after those nineteen Waterloo chapters. I understand the position Hugo was put in politically (that was the useful aspect of the introduction, though I was not terribly impressed with its literary analysis), but holy hell were those chapters a slog. The worst slog of the book, I dare say. Talk to me about convents and sewers any day over Waterloo.

Other than that mind-numbling digression (and a couple others like it), I deeply enjoyed this book. The five narrators of this particular version are all very talented. The story itself is much funnier than any adaptations convey it. Les Amis de l'ABC are iconic, I have the tenderest sympathies for their plight. (Combeferre's 'to be free' mic-drop is incredible.) Marius and Cosette are endearing idiots. Jean Valjean and Javert have a surprising amount of tension. What kind of tension, I could probably write a whole book of essays on. It's well-worth the read. Oh, I also feel like I absorbed a lot about 19th century French politics. Which is information I didn't necessarily need, but it helped my reread of Ellie Valsin's Virago. Over all, I would say that it's worth the insane amount of time required to read it. And this Penguin audiobook version is especially good to listen to while you work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, War, Violence, Classism, Child death, Child abuse, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Grief, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Suicide, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Abandonment, Racism, Xenophobia, Murder, Police brutality, and Fatphobia

Minor: Excrement, Sexual violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, Cursing, and Antisemitism

Some of these content warnings are more of a side-effect of the time period the book was written rather than a deliberate choice to engage with these topics by the author, if that makes sense. Particularly for the more minor ones.

eliterbees's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Violence, Police brutality, Child abuse, Racism, and Death

rowy148's review

dark emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Police brutality, and Death

mmehdi_auteur's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Classism

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Police brutality

sperdutaneilibri's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, War, Child abuse, Child death, Suicide, Alcohol, Death, Domestic abuse, and Police brutality

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, and Abandonment

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Gun violence, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

neviris's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

the shadow side of society in the days of the French Revolution in all of it's varieties. amazing book and writing style. historical chapters were rather boring. however, this book lead me to one of the rare occasions where I questioned my own lifestyle and habits and led me to be grateful for the way I am able to live my life. it changed me for the better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, War, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Gore, Grief, Colonisation, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Police brutality, Child death, Death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide, Bullying, Stalking, Misogyny, and Excrement

cnidariar3x's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Theres lots to enjoy but its almost unreasonably long. I recommend the condensed version unless one is familiar with French history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Gun violence, and Death

Moderate: Antisemitism, Child abuse, Misogyny, Police brutality, and Grief

Minor: Slavery and Racism

clatara's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, and War

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Misogyny, Police brutality, and Suicidal thoughts

caidyn's review against another edition

adventurous reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

No matter what people think about this book with Cosette and Marius or the barricade, I fully believe this is Jean Valjean's story. It's gorgeous to see how he changed over the years and did his best to live a good life. The book is terribly long and I spaced out so many times when Hugo went on random ventures, but I really enjoyed it. An excellent classic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Murder, and Police brutality