Reviews

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

midwifereading's review against another edition

5.0

I give this book 5 stars for the story. It is so rich, and deep, and wide, and lovely. The characters are all people that I feel SOMETHING about. Love, hate, pity, sympathy, annoyance, disgust - all these emotions evoked in me, and more. Even the very minor characters, that are left out of the various movies and musical adaptations. Those little characters that are tucked into nooks and crannies, barely visible, have an impact on the heart.

I cried at the end. It is, truly, one of my favorite stories of all time.

If I ever read it again, however, I am getting the ABRIDGED version. Why, oh why, Mr. Hugo, did I need to understand why Napoleon lost the Battle of Waterloo (as well as the intimate ins and outs of his strategies, the topography of the land, and the colors of the various uniforms), just so I could catch a glimpse of Thenardier's true character, and his connection to Marius? That could have been told in two pages, instead of a billion or so. A history on the sewers of Paris? The history of Paris slang? Those rabbit trails read like a well-written textbook, and while I waded diligently through the Waterloo aside, struggling all the way, I don't think I could do it again. Not unless I had a Bachelor's degree in French History.

This book is not for the faint of heart. It's a big stinking deal if you pick it up.

This book took me a full year to get through, until I finally gave myself permission at about 3/4's of the way through to skip the parenthetical chapters. Hundreds of pages of parenthetical asides!!!

Still, I have nothing truly negative to say about this book. It's just exhaustingly brilliant, and I'm sure I'm just not quite intellectual enough to appreciate his political/historical commentaries.

kcrouth's review against another edition

5.0

I finally finished Les Miserables, all 1463 pages of it! Wow, what a story! After having seen the Liam Neeson movie, and falling in love with the story, this unabridged version added so much depth and richness to the story. It was exciting to read the "back story" of so many of the characters I already (thought I) knew, and to meet other characters that were left out of that movie. This must be one of the most classic stories ever written. I especially enjoyed the additional depth of understanding obtained from the MANY discussions of history, politics, customs, philosophy, religion, etc. I fully understand why abridged versions of this story exist, the story itself is a subset of the rich contents of this volume. I loved this book, it is one of the best I've ever read. I wish that I had time to read it again... maybe someday. I'm especially glad that I read this before the upcoming movie release of the Broadway version of this story. I am excited to see the upcoming movie from the perspective of having read this classic work in it's entirety. Six stars to this book. Wonderful story.

klparmley's review against another edition

2.0

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't take it any more. Every day a new sermon about religion or politics or some other topic that he absolutely beat to death. I don't care enough about the story to endure any more of that.

lsquared's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

cardboardcat's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

sxmireads's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

lrwebber's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

The first half of the book moved a long much better for me than the second half. A lot of rambling thoughts by characters/author and a definite religious theme that’s not up my alley. Convict = bad for forever = hideous and horrible, deserves what’s coming. Virgin = perfect, angel

unintelligible_and_confused's review against another edition

funny inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This is my favourite book on Earth.

jburkespraker's review against another edition

Free Audible copy was no longer available. Carter’s version was better tbh. 

mafer1606's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25