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Summary: Curl up with one of the all-time best novels in history!
Review: What I most like about this inspiring story is the way Victor Hugo is able to capture human nature in a wide spectrum of character types. There is Jean Valjean- hardened ex-con. There is the Bishop- a figure reminiscent of Saint Francis the reformed playboy. Then there is Jean Valjean again- cleansed of bitterness by the experience of pure grace. There is Javert: Mr. By-the -book, letter of the law, unrelenting exactor of merciless judgement, pursuing Valjean to the ends of the earth. We also have Thenardier (not sure of sp. as I loaned the book to a good friend). We first meet him at night on the battlefield of Waterloo as he is robbing the dead and near-dead of their possesions. A vulture among men. As Javert's judgement is the antithesis of the Bishop's compassionate grace, so Thenardier's grasping greediness is the antithesis of Valjean's openhanded generosity and sensitivity to the needs of others. In this book we find the story of a hunted man (the original Fugitive), the mis-placed fervor of young revolutionaries, the joy of romance and the cutting pain of unrequited love.
Those who enjoyed the Musical will love the book, finding that it fills in a number of gaps. Those who have a love of history will find more than enough in Hugo's often rambling excursions. Don't expect to finish this book in a weekend. It is a weighty tome. But the investment of time will be richly repaid in the enjoyment of a great story and insight into the human condition. Enjoy!
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Summary: A colossus of modern literature
Review: Nothing I have ever read was better able to combine humanity and heroism. Victor Hugo's Les Miserables is a gift to the world and should be treasured as such. If any author has ever been able to conjure a real, beautiful human being from nothing but his own mind, Hugo has. And the story itself is fully deserving of the charactor of Jean Valjean.
Parts of the novel are overly laborious and perhaps a bit indulgent. Three quarters of Waterloo can easily be skipped with no great loss (but don't miss the triumphant "merde!").
Les Miserables is a monument to the human spirit, to love, to meaning, and to our potential. It is an inspiration and a warning against complacency. Read it
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Summary: The Best Novel written!
Review: This novel is about a person named Jean Valjean, a convict that escaped, and how he found his way through the world. He had to take a child, Cosette, from her dying mother. Cosette was worked at a hotel, and Jean took her away from that palce. When Cosette grew up, she met a person in the army named Marius. The book told about their love, and the wars that were going on that time. Cosette and Marius wants to get married, but Cosette doesn't want to leave her old father by himself. They do get married and her father, Jean Valjean, dies. This book is by far the best I've ever read
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Summary: Uplifting
Review: Les Miserables is the most wonderful, thought provoking novel in the world. Victor Hugo writes with such understanding of humanity that you almost believe the characters he writes about are real. In a way they ARE real because you can see bits of their personalities in everyone around you. This IS a long read, 1200 pages without the appendices, but it is definitely worth reading. I suggest, after reading Les Miserables, that you share it with someone you appreciate. It brightened my day, and it will bighten yours
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Summary: Great!
Review: This book, which I read at 13, took me 6 months to read. But this is the greatest book I ever read. And I don't think anything can top it
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Summary: The single most defining, poignant work ever created.
Review: When I was eight years old I fingered through my cousin's high school version of Les Miserables. I caught glimpses of names that fascinated me: Fantine, Cosette, Eponine, Azelma, Thenardier, Marius, Jean Valjean. It has been three years since I flipped through that book, and I have just completed Les Miserables.
Les Miserables is very much like a Requiem. Its sweetness is from its sadness. Victor Hugo could have written this tragic tale only if he had been touched by a pain so profound he was changed for life, and the sad backstory of his life alone brings the pain in this book to life. At points in the story his words almost seem to burst with torrents of tears in ink, and it is amazing he can control his rhetoric and prose at these times.
This incredible novel defies words. Words cannot describe the incredibleness, the magnificence, and the quiet somberness that the tale captures. From the bustling streets of Paris to the weeds that conceal Jean Valjean's final resting place, the descriptions alone make Les Miserables so real I feel like I have been in Paris forever, even though I have never been to France. I first found Les Miserables in this version at a little bookstore, and promptly sat down and read through the wonderfully steady entrance of the book to Jean Valjean's wretched debut, all the while gripping the pages tightly without realizing it. By the time I was finished, the book looked like it had gone through the blender, but that did not tarnish the charm and the magic of the tale captured in ink and paper. Nowhere else have I been able to find such a magnificent work. I never did see the musical, or hear it on CD or tape. I didn't need a play to bring life to a tale so life-like that if it weren't only ink and paper I would not be able to tell the difference between real and unreal. Whether or not you are just a teenager or an octogenarian, Les Miserables is for everyone. It is such a pure and unstained work of inner beauty that anyone can appreciate it. The evil and good expressed in this amazing tale defies words. I know no French, and therefore I do not know what bourgeouis is and all those intriguing if not accurate bits in The Year 1817. I have found that you could have a vocabulary of a seven year old and still be deeply touched by Les Miserables. After I read the book (and the quality of this version was incredible) I felt as if I had gone through a long journey. The book's most beautiful feature is that it does not dwell overly and completely on sad matters: there is always that little undertone, but brightness does shine. The reader feels little pain knowing that Jean Valjean has finally rested, and Fantine's life before the dramatic despair that follows the disappearance of Cosette from her life is wonderfully bright-but it makes the tortuous life of Fantine afterwards even more painful to read.
Les Miserables is something that you must read. Nowhere else will you find love, war, hate, despair and pain all put into one beautiful, magnificent package
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Summary: Truly essential reading for anyone. The best book ever!!
Review: I could never fully express what this book means to me. It is such a rich work full of so many characters that anyone can identify with. It is beautifully written in every way. The plot is very engrossing. The characters are intriguing and exciting. The whole book says a great deal about life and what we should or should not do with it. I hope that everyone that reads this will go out and read the book. You may at first be distressed at the extreme length of the book. However, you can read it a section at a time and then put it down for a while and pick it up in the middle later and fall right back into this world. Read the book. You will never experience something so wonderful in your life as a reader than this book!!
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Summary: This book made me realize what I hadn't read.
Review: I am a fifth-grader,and am 1o years old. I read this book last summer, and it kept me spell-bound the eight days that I couldn't put it down. The plot kept me flipping each page frantically to go deeper into the lives of the characters. I found it particuarly fascinating to have the bits of French wound into the tale. The character of Eponine fascinated me particuarly. I could find myself in each of the charcters. Gavroche a child at heart, and I, still in school, a child at heart, and in spirit and mind. I admit that I first fell in love with the story hearing the music of the spectacular broadway musical, but the story soon captivated me as well. As I envisioned each of the characters in my head, I could not help feel sympathy for Eponine, and spite for Thenadier. The character of Marius seemed to be nearly gullible, but I can relate to that in real life, having a gullible family. I find the characters to all be inspiring: Enroljas to be a leader who carried forth his dreams; Jean Valjean for not giving up hope at the dimmest times. Eponine for not withering away in Marius's ignorance toward her, and Marius for not giving up a distent hope to find Cosette again.
I overlooked the adult-themes, the length (unconsiderably long for a child of only 9) and the occassional stumbled upon vocabulary, to find the true meaning of the book. The intricate plot wove around me, as the reader, and I think that's what made it so interesting. The fact that I was caught up in the story, and not just a bystander like other books I've read. At some times, I found the reading to be dense. It seemed dark and isolated from the fairy-tale books that we read in school. Yes, Les Miserables is far from being compared to Cinderella. Although the topic may have seemed dark, it grew light at times, like the light peaking out of the clouds after an April shower. I mentioned before that the length was long, but I thought it all had good reason. Everything was in depth, and I felt as if I knew the characters more personally that in other novels. It seemed as if I had known the characters all my life, and that they were real people, not out of some French author's imagination.
Everything was woven together idelly to make a flawless composition, and long-lost masterpiece that I hope will never be forgotten. Ever.
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Summary: Breathtaking and Moving!
Review: Les Miserables was one of the best books that I have ever read. I got very personally involved in the story of Eponine, a very tragic character in the book. It's the heartbreaking sub-plot of a young girl that loves a man that does not love her. Then, inspite of her love, Eponine leads Marius, the man she loves, to the girl that he has fallen in love with, Cosette. Finally, Eponine sacrifices her own life to save Marius'. After reading the book, I felt understood by Hugo and his characters. This was a life changing story for me. Les Miserables is also a Broadway musical, however the book is so much more in depth in the tragic stories of people in a little French town that will not stand for the ongoing Nepoleonic wars. This is a must read for all generations, and this is a story that will live on for centuries to come. Love, hate, and war are all issues addressed by this book, and all of these issues will be relevant in the time to come
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Summary: Best novel ever written - essential reading - rated 10++
Review: This novel comprises all the essential elements - suspense, drama, humor, intrigue; a love story, a war story, a police mystery, a psychological drama... it has it all. The story follows the life of a convict, Jean Valjean, who makes a 180 degree change in life after a brief encounter with a truly religious man. The faith of Bienvenu introduces us to Hugo's amazing ability to paint a lasting impression with a few strokes. While endeavoring to live an honest life, Valjean is pursued by a relentless police captain and captured by the love of Cosette, a homeless waive he rescues from an abusive household. Some of literature's most classic scenes are found in these pages - Valjean's escape through the Paris sewers, for example. His description of the battle of Waterloo alone makes the book a memorable read. Along with well rounded and interesting characters and a riveting plot, Hugo's writing itself makes the book a must-read. Lines like "So idleness is a mother. She has a son, robbery, and a daughter, hunger," reminds us that Hugo was France's greatest poet as well as a writer. One can not consider himself well-read without having added Les Miserables to his list. It is mandatory reading - but what a delight mandate
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