A review by cpcabaniss
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

3.0

"Have no fear of robbers or murderers. Such dangers are without, and are but petty. We should fear ourselves. Prejudices are the real robbers; vices the real murderers. The great dangers are within us. What matters it what threatens our heads or our purses? Let us think only of what threatens our souls.”

I went into this with the barest of knowledge about the story, but knowing that many people have loved adaptations and say that the story is excellent. In may ways, I agree with them.

My main issue with this story was that I had a difficult time connecting with the characters. There were a few that I liked a lot and could understand and sympathize with, but some of the ones that got the main focus of the story frustrated me more than anything.

Some of my favorite scenes were those between Marius and his grandfather. I loved seeing this relationship unfold.

I loved the Bishop and seeing how his act of goodness changed not only the life of a single person, but the lives of many people that person came in contact with.

But then there were parts of this that really dragged and didn't seem to connect with the story all that much. It seemed like they were there to have something to talk about and fill space rather than being truly integral to the tale. Also, the romance in this was horrible. It was creepy at first and then just grew to make me angry. By the end I didn't like either of the two characters involved with this relationship, not much at least.

Anyway. I may visit this again in the future, but it's not a book that I finish and immediately want to start again.