Customer Reviews

Les Miserables

5 star:		(355)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

UPDATE 2/11- I just realized this review is showing up on all Les Mis books on Amazon. If anyone cares, I read the one from Signet Classics.

Here's my story about how I came to love this book.

If you're an average schmuck, with a job (not in academia), a life, and some curiosity, this review is for you.

If you're a literary blueblood, this review isnt for you. If your sworn enemy in life used to be your closest friend until they disagreed with you about whether Beowulf was a real person, be offended by my apathy and go away. If you had to turn off the TV newscasts on 9/11 because they were getting in the way of your arguments of whether sonnets devalue prose, just move on down to the next review.

I'm not a Literature buff. I tolerated English in high school and college because I had to, skipping what I could, skimming what I could get away with, and bluffing where needed. The thought picking up a stack of books and being dictated a marathon schedule to read them by still makes me bristle with quiet rebellion.

After school I ended up with a job with lots of down time between bursts of madness. I decided to make use of slow time going back and leisurely reading some of the 'classics' that I probably should have read before. Twain, Tolstoy, Dickens, Stowe and others pulled from the titles of Cliff's Notes (Hey, if Cliff says they're important....) Funny, but classics are much more palatable when they are read on a leisurely timeframe. Some I liked, some I couldn't care less about, but Les Miserables was, literally, a life-changing text.

I fell into Les Mis completely by accident. On day I forgot to pack whatever book I was working on that day and dug around looking for something other than Harlequins and Clancys. I picked up Hugo's Hunchback more by default than choice, liked the book, and in the closing commentary a writer mentioned that Hunchback was merely a prelude to his greatest work, Les Mis.

But starting Les Mis was a trial. French words scattered in the text were stumbling blocks. Hugo's text is a jealous mistress- it demands your full attention while reading. Les Mis is not in the genre of modern novels...grab the reader's attention in the first pages or lose them forever. I got bored reading about a bishop's daily routine. It takes 100 pages for the story to kick in. I stopped reading it twice, only to pick it back up a few months later and start all over.

But, as anyone who was read the novel can tell you, those first chapters are essential to the power of the story that follows.

I pushed my way through, got caught up in the current of the story once it began, and floated out the other side a better human being because of it.

Les Mis is a fantastic, detailed journey through human psychology. With 1400 pages, subplots, a cyclone of characters over decades of history, it can be difficult to distill WHAT the book is about into one word, but here's my try: Redemption.

Les Mis can be trying at times. Hugo is very detailed. He takes the reader though various side trips along the way. More than once he spends 100 pages setting up two pages of storyline. But his detail produces a work that is untouched in its ability to reveal the characters.

We see the difficulty in Valjean weighing wealth and praise from the multitudes against "one voice cursing in the darkness."

We see a character in Fantine pulled from innocence with a slow cruelty found nowhere else in lit: being turned for more misery (in surprising ways)like a pig on a split...with a reader helpless to intervene.

I see the police detective Javert as an embodiment of 'the system,'not necessarily as evil as one reviewer suggests. Hugo's penchant for overly-through descriptions adds multiple dimensions to what would otherwise be a flat character somewhere between a Napoleonic Joe Friday and Robobcop. We see Javert recite all the reasons he is right...and Hugo agrees with Javert... but we see that sometimes there is a larger truth than being 'right.'

Writing this a decade later I still see in my mind one of the most powerful images in the story: a middle-aged man and a small girl, both written off by the society around them, each with little in common with the other,walking down a deserted rural road, both clinging to each other because the other is all they have in the world.

For those who are used to watching all the loose ends coming together at the end of every hour of television, Les Mis will be a rude shift. It ends in a way that can be described as happy in its own sense though everyone doesnt ride off into the sunset or end with a joke and everyone laughing.

Frankly, I think it is impossible to appreciate the nuance of the musical without reading the unabridged text.

I finished reading Les Mis for the first time over 10 years ago. I still remember reading the last page, closing the book, and spending hours reflecting on the immensity of what I had experienced.

Girlfriend read it on my recommendation with similar effect.

Friend decided to stick it in his reading lists on my suggestion. When he started, he came to me frustrated with the slow start. "Is all this about the Bishop necessary to the story?" I said yes and he kept reading. A decade and hundreds of classic novels later still names Les Mis as his favorite book.

Shortly after reading it the first time, he recommended the book to yet another colleague looking for something to read to pass the time. As he handed it over, he issued a challenge: "Give me 100 pages, and your life will change."

He did, it did, and I now offer my friend's challenge to you!

I'm a high school sophomore amd we had to read this book for school last semester. Honestly I wasn't encouraged by it's seemingly impossible thickness, nor by its slow start. Having never before seen any Les Mis movie or play or the musical (which is ALMOST as awesome as the book) I didn't know anything about the plot or the great characters and the whole experience was new to me. This is the only book I've ever read that has kept me up hours as night just to finish one beautiful part after another. My sister made fun of me that I would always talk to the book but when the believable characters act in ways that so thoroughly move your heart it's hard to resist sighing or commentary. Hugo is truly a master at combining every element of everything human to create characters from all walks of life and intertwine them into a poetically romantic plot that can only be described as beautiful. But don't skip the descriptions just to move from event to event. Hugo, I feel, has the unique ability to convey idea and thoughts and descriptions in a way that touches your heart and makes you think and yet at the same time doesn't bog you down with flowery adjectives. The language in his page-long paragraph descriptions flow so naturally you find yourself nodding and flipping pages and before you know it you're on to the next event in the plot. My friends laughed at me when we recently traveled to Paris and I wanted to buy the two-volume unabridged original Les Miserables- even though I don't know a word of French! It is a tragedy for any person with a poetic mind or a romantic heart to miss this book-truly a human classic.

Having not read many literature books in my lifetime, undertaking to read one of the finest piece of work ever written is a challenge.

If you are like me and have read the reviews on Amazon before tackling this gigantic novel then I do not need to go on about how great this book is and what it is all about.

Also, if like me, you are a beginner in the world of fine literature, the following are a few tips I would give to those who haven't read Les Miserables. Here goes:

1. Get the book and do not be intimidated by its size. It is huge but the chapters are not very long.

2. Make sure to buy the Signet Classic version translated by Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacAfee (ISBN 0-451-5256-4). One reviewer said that this was the best version available and I totally agree with that. This is the new version based on the 19th Century Charles E. Wilbour translation. I had another version of this book and this one is by far the only completely unabridged paperback and also more reader-friendly.

3. Have a dictionary handy as there are many words that need translation.

4. Knowing the French language/history is a bonus but not required.

5. Have patience - this book will require time to read and when I say read, I mean savor each word. Do not read hastily or skip over parts that you think are not important. Yes, Mr. Hugo is very meticulous and detail-oriented in his description of characters, things and places but by reading and in some cases (like me), re-reading you will realize that they were written because they are essential to the plot of this book. Also make sure that when you are reading the book, there are no distractions, i.e., tv, radio...as this book requires total concentration in order to fully appreciate it.

6. Do not be tempted to see the movie or show instead of reading the book. Read the book first and then go see the show or watch the movie if you want to. Be prepared to be disappointed with movie/musical as they cannot convey the, emotion, wisdom, love, etc... contained in the written version. Seeing the movie/musical instead or reading the book is like watching a Yankees game on TV instead of being at the stadium in NYC cheering along with the rest of the fans. Well you get my drift....

7. Be prepared to be changed by this book. No, it is not the Bible but it does deal with all aspect of human emotions and by reading it, you will want to be a better person. I know I do!!!

With that being said, enjoy the book as it is a reading experience that you will not soon forget.

Although Wilbour's classic translation of Les Miserables is excellent, readers may also wish to consider the newer unabridged translation by Fahnestock and MacAfee; apart from being somewhat more natural to Anglophone ears, the latter also contains translations of some of the French verses that Wilbour did not translate (e.g., see Saint Denis XII:6).

I love the film adaptions and musical of Les Miserables, but they can't even compare to the greatness of this piece of literature. It's such an epic story, covering such topics as justice vs. the law, and ultimate love and self-sacrifice. Everyone can find something to relate to, something to learn from, and something to enjoy in this novel. The characters truly do come alive in this novel, from the center and hero of the story, Jean Valjean, to the minor characters. I particularly was touched by the story of Fantine, a "minor" character but easily my favourite. This character falls from innocence, and eventually makes an ultimate self-sacrifice for her daughter. I found myself unable to put the book down on many a late night, but especially so on the chapters concerning Fantine. Of course, perhaps my love for "classics" and "epics" and "historical romance" may have helped me enjoy the book so, as I know many people who could barely get through the first 20 pages of the 1400 + page novel. Some people may not have the patience to go through the Waterloo part, etc. It is a quite detailed book, and it does go very much "off-topic" a few times. But I still enjoyed every single word. I hope the size of the book won't make people think twice about reading it, it really is best unabridged. I have read the abridged version and it is quite confusing, and you miss several moving scenes. In my own opinion, everyone should read this book, unabridged...and prepare to be amazed!

To be honest, when I started reading this book I didn't think that it would be very good. The book's beginning tells of a generous bishop who is kind to a released convict. The convict goes on to become the mayor of a important city, because of the bishop's influence on him. Meanwhile, a young girl is abandon by her lover, left alone and pregant.
If I while to tell you more of the story, I would ruin it for you but I will tell you this: this book is about exreteme povetry, where people are forced to do horrible things in order to survive. It is also about how your actions can affect the lives of others.
I realize that this review does not do justice to the book but I hope that you will read it because it is very good. I have read a lot of books and out of all of them this is one of the best.
The reason that I like the Barnes and Noble eddition is because it gives you quotes from the story, information about the life of Victor Hugo, an introduction by another great writer, easy and understandable end notes, and lists other books and such that provide further reading.
I really hope that you will take the time to read it because it is good, even if you didn't like my review.

I really hate to give this a one-star review, because it will seem that I'm a Phillistine who can't appreciate Victor Hugo or has the patience to read a book that's over 1400 pages long. But giving a one-star review will hopefully get enough attention from Kindle fans to read it before possibly wasting their money.

The cover art used for this Kindle edition is the EXACT SAME used for the unabridged Penguin classic version translated by Lee Fahnestock and Norman MacFee. (If the cover looks familiar, it should---it's the same promotional poster used for the Broadway musical.) It is BASED on, but not IDENTICAL to the classic C.E. Wilbour translation. This abridged Kindle edition may very well be the original C.E. Wilbour translation , and if so, people who read through the whole thing will probably find it much better than one star---more likely closer to five. But it won't be the same text as fans of THE PARTICULAR TRANSLATION I cite, and the one-star is a warning for them. That's another thing--I don't know if C.E. Wilbour or Elmer Fudd is the translator because the translator isn't credited. For that matter, there is no table of contents so you'd better use the bookmarks utilty to save your place, or the search option to look ahead because this Kindle edition won't make it easier for you to navigate through this book.

According to Amazon, the Fahnestock/MacFee translation is NOT available for Kindle yet, and when (or if) it is, it will probably be slightly more expensive than the virtual freebies. That's because although Victor Hugo's novel is in the public domain, only English translations made before 1922 are free of copyright. Fans of this particular translation may want to wait. In the meantime, I hope Amazon replaces the cover and is more forthright about who the translator is.

P.S. The Penguin Classic book I am referring to has Amazon code # 0451525264 ; ISBN-10 0451525264 ; and ISBN-13 978-0451525260 ; Miserables, Les (Signet classics)

I have both the original Wilbour translation and the Norman Denny translation of this book, and I'd say that the Denny translation is the more readable of the two. Graham Robb, in his award-winning biography of Hugo has called Denny's translation "swiss cheese" and "translation as censorship." However, it's well-written, and the "excised" sections are included as appendices to which any reader can turn. In places where Denny edits the prose, he captures the spirit of the novel.

But the best comparison is made by reading:
here's Wilbour from the beginning of Part Two, Book Four:

"Forty years ago, the solitary pedestrian who ventured into the unknown region of La Salpetriere and went up along the Boulevard as far as the Barrier d'italie, reached certain points where it might be said that Paris had disappeared. It was no longer a solitude, for there were people passing; it was not the country for there were houses and streets. It was not a city, the streets had ruts in them, like highways, and grass grew along their borders; it was not a village, the houses were too lofty. What was it then? It was an inhabited place where there was nobody. It was a desert place where there was somebody. It was a boulevard of the great city, a street of Paris, wilder at night than a forest and gloomier by day than a graveyard. It was the old quarter of the horse-market."

Denny's version of the same passage
" A stroller forty years ago penetrating beyond the Salpetriere by way of the Boulevard de l'Hopital as far as the Barrierr d'italie, would have come to a region where Paris seemed to disappear. It was not a wilderness, for there were inhabitants; not country, for there were streets and houses; not a town, for the streets were rutted like country roads, and grass grew in them; nor was it a village, for the houses were too high. What was it then? It was an inhabited place where there was no one, a deserted place where there was someone, a city boulevard, a paris street, wilder by night than the forest, more melancholy by day than a graveyard. It was the anciet quarter of the horse-market, the Marche-Aux-Chevaux."

I am now fifteen I was fourteen when I first saw the musical on PBS and absoulutly loved it. My parents bought the musical for me for Christmas. My brother and I both loved it, and we have memorized nearly all the words. I then became intrested in the novel which I knew was like a million pages long, but I love to read and I loved the musical, so I decided to go for it. I thought it would take me months to read, but it was so intriguing that I finished it in one week (and yes is was the unabriged version). The last night I just read all night long until I finished it. It is sometimes hard to remember that the characters are not real people. I love every character, even Javert. I love the chapters in which Hugo takes us inside the minds of Jean Valjean and Javert. I am afraid I disagree with a earlier review which states that the death of Enjolras and Grantaire was the most moving part of the book although it was extremely moving, the death of Jean Valjean was the most moving, I mean it makes you cry for thirty pages, what can be more moving? In my personal opinion this is the greatest book ever written, but I have never read "War and Peace" which I hear some people think is the best. FYI: Leo Tolstoy said that Les Miserables was one of the greatest, if not the greatest novel ever written, but that was before he wrote "War and Peace".

I noticed that alot a people feel this book is extremely long and I have to admit that some parts weren't entirely necessary, but I still would recommend reading the unabridged version, you just can't get the full depth of the story unless you read the full version.

To sum it all up read the book and go see the musical they are both exellent.

Despite being 900 pages long, this version of Les Miserables cuts out Hugo's magnificient chapters describing the Battle of Waterloo.

The description of this "edition" should state this openly.