Rating: 
Summary: Good book, i guess...
Review: Les Miserables is probably one the greatest books ever written. That may be why it has lasted since it was first published in 1862. It is an important work, as it has greatly influenced other writers who came after Victor Hugo. But I'm sure you all already know this. The story is familiar and loved, so I'm not going to give another synopsis like the reviews already in place. This translation of the book is currently one of the newest and most highly praised that I know of, and compared to my old translation, it is an easier read. Not that it has been "modernized," but the writing is much more fluid and thought out than just straight translation, and shows that the he reallly understood what he was translating.
Rating:
Summary: a colossus of literature
Review: Hugo's books are not an easy read in a sense that they are very much emotionally involving. About 15 years ago I was pulled in by "The Man Who Laughs." The kind of emotional punch it packed was astounding. During the same year I first read "Les Miserables" - and for me Jean became a hero to look up to. But it's not only a book about one remarkable individual - it is also a book about the world we live in, just a moment's pass on eternal clock.
Hugo places the reader in the midst of dark valleys of 19th century Paris or it countryside and one can't help following Jean and Cosette with Javert hot on their heels. One reason we feel so much "inside" the story is that each character, even the non-sequential ones, are incredibly well-drawn, their faces (or mugs) are as clear as etchings. But it's not only that, otherwise it would be easily dismissed as so many works by so-called "scholars". The narrative is infused with white-hot passion. Yes, Hugo is taking a preacher-like stance on many issues, but without that the story would be simply entertaining but not involving and provocative which it remains to the present day. (After all, the villains have just changed their masks. Instead of unwashed rags they may now wear Italian business suits.)
This book cries out to its readers to take action, to ask themselves if their lives have meaning, to stop the pursuit of worldly possessions and concentrate on the pursuit of the moral ones. It is also about the second chances, about real and fake love, and about misplaced guilt and internal conflict.
I really hope the teachers don't make this book a "requirement" or that the students read abridged versions of it.
Rating:
Summary: There Aren't Enough Stars for Books Like This.
Review: A few words of advice about Les Miserables...Buy an old copy (am I allowed to say that!). I found mine in an antique bookstore. It's an old beat-up hardcover. It just makes the whole experience more...historic! Dare to read the unabridged edition. If Hugo could have told this story in fewer words he would have. Don't cheat yourself out of the real thing. Charles Wilbour's translation is an excellent one. Take your time with it. When you get frustrated by lengthy explanations and background information, put it down and come back to it. But don't give up! Les Miserables is one of the greatest stories every written. Hugo brings to life such weighty concepts as Grace, Forgiveness, Repentance, and Redemption and Salvation. The spiritual imagery is very rich. The interaction between Jean Valjean and the Bishop is absolutely life changing. "Jean Valjean my brother: you belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God!"
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Summary: Les Miserables
Review: Victor Hugo's _Les Miserables_ is truely what everyone makes it out to be. It is a literary masterpiece and a work of art. I am a high school senior who was reading the book because of a manditory project, but ended up finishing the book because of enjoyment. Some people critisize different versions that were translated from French, but they all have basically the same effect. The main differences are the abbridged versions from the unabbridged version of the book. The unabbridged version has a lot of French histroy about their revolution and the days of Napoleon. The history ties in with the book and makes the effect of the book more real and dramatic, but reading the story itself is just as enjoying. If you want the story itslef, just about the characters and their lives, then the abbridged version may be more suitable to you. So which ever version of Les Miserables you decide to pick up, you're most likely going to enjoy it.
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Summary: the original fugitive
Review: Our story begins, to my amazement (and consternation), some twenty years ago. I was a sophomore at Colgate and, if memory serves (which is doubtful), it was a Monday night in February. I and some fellow fraternity brothers adjourned to the basement for a long night of Television and a few frothy beverages. To our chagrin, we found an elder Brother seated before the TV and a Hallmark Hall of Fame special about to begin. None of us had ever heard of that night's special presentation--callow youths that we were, we had hoped for an episode of Solid Gold--but Joe Doggett, the sage who had staked a claim, told us to sit down and shut up. We sat slack-jawed for the next two hours as Les Miserables, starring Richard Jordan and Anthony Perkins, unfolded before us and claimed our rapt attention. Suffice it to say, we were all amazed at this great story that we'd never even heard of, a story which by itself justifies the existence of France.. I ran out the next day to get the book, but was put off by its elephantine girth. Flash forward a few years and the story had been turned into the much ballyhooed Musical--now everyone was reading it. In fact, we had a beach house at the Jersey shore and Tim Dowling decided it was the perfect beach book. He'd tote the thousand-plus-page tome down to the beach every day, read two pages and fall fast asleep. But you see, that's the kind of book it is--the narrative is so long and digresses so often that it must certainly qualify as one of the most put-downable books of all time. I finally did manage to mule through the whole thing, and buried within it is the great story we saw that night on television, but you've got to dig pretty deep to find it. So, when it came time to review the book for the site, I admit I resorted to an abridged version. The translation and abridgment is by James K. Robinson and I highly recommend it. Gone are the endless pages on farming techniques and the like, along with the lengthy description of Waterloo, by the end of which you simply had no idea what was going on in the battle. What remains is just the classic story of the convict Jean Valjean: his redemption; his rise in society; his repeated flights from the relentless Inspector Javert; his love for Cosette; and his Oedipal rivalry with young Marius for Cosette's affection. Even if you don't know the story, you've encountered it before; most famously, the TV series The Fugitive borrowed freely from the plot, even down to naming the police pursuer Gerard. I mentioned in my Man With the Golden Arm review the similarities that book shares with this one. The one great weakness that they share is the over sympathetic view of the poor in general and criminals specifically. But more instructive for our purposes are the differences. Chief among these is that, whereas Algren and Richard Wright in Native Son have the lower class milieu, the oppressive law enforcement and the manhunt down pat, only Hugo includes the element of redemption. For all his reputation as a writer of the Left, there is something profoundly conservative in the arc of Jean Valjean's life. First Monseigneur Bienvenu in saving Valjean makes it clear that he is performing, not simply a good deed but, a Christian act: Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God. It's hard to imagine authors of the modern Left: writing favorably of a cleric; believing that men have souls; or, acknowledging that criminal behavior is evil. Then, although his ill-gotten wealth gives him an obvious head start, Valjean is able to start a business and succeed largely on the basis of a new idea and the sweat of his brow. Finally, Hugo presents a fairly non-materialistic view of the world and of human happiness. Of course, it helps to have his wealth to fall back on, but Jean Valjean is not made happy by the worldly goods he gains through means both legal and extralegal, his true happiness comes when he experiences human love for the first time, with Cosette. In fact, the heroic actions of the novel consistently require the actor to give up or endanger wealth and position in order to sacrifice for others. Bienvenu, Javert and Valjean all have their moments of transcendence when they act completely selflessly. For me at least, it is these moments that really make the book. I can still recall the scene in the TV movie, lo those many years ago, when Valjean, risking discovery by Javert, lifts the horse cart off of a man who is being crushed. Melodramatic sure, but isn't that what you want from a novel? GRADE: A (abridged) GRADE: B+ (unabridged)
Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: An excellent version of this extraordinary classic. This edition belongs in every reader's library.
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