Rating: 
Summary: Life-Changing
Review: Les Misérables is easily the most amazing book I've ever read. Victor Hugo's eloquent thoughts on religion, society, and life blend with a touching and complex story. The characters are developed to the point where you know them, but the plot is often unpredictable. There are certainly portions that are "faster" than others, but every word has meaning. It's astonishing that Les Misérables retained such poignant messages through countless translations. This edition is the only unabridged paperback edition, and no abridged version could come close. If you read one book in your entire life, let this be the one!
Rating: 
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: Why don't the critics rate this a Great Book?
Review: I have read and reread this book at least 5 times. And then I read it a couple of more times in French and façile à lire (easy-to-read) French. To add to my compulsion-my mother classified it thus-I saw the musical twice and bought both the English and French versions of the musical's music. I read that during the war-I forget which war-French soldiers went into battle with a copy of Les Misérables under their arm. The story of the heroism of the main character, Jean Valjean, was an inspiration to the lowly foot soldier. The story of Victor Hugo, the author, must have been an inspiration as well. Like Balzac, Hugo was active in politics. When he died the whole country went into morning and he bodied laid in state. This novel absolutely takes my breath away as it moves from one scene to the next. It's appeal to the emotions under a less skilled novelist might have seemed corny and contrived. But with Victor Hugo it comes off as genuine and heartfelt. How many obscure characters from this novel can you name? How about Fauchelevent. Remember him? Jean Valjean saved his life when he lifted the heavy cart that had fallen on him. Later Fauchelevent is able to repay the favor by hiding Jean Valjean and Cosette in a cloister where the gendarmes and policeman Javert cannot enter. The musical and the various movies made about this novel cannot possibly cover that incident and the host of other little events that happen in the novel and that warm the heart. The musical and all the movies I have seen-two English and one French-skip, for example, the whole battle of Waterloo. Here is where we first meet the lowly criminal Thernadier who is robbing dead soldiers of their belonging. I have often wondered why the great critics-Edmund Wilson, Lionel Trilling, and Harold Wilson-have not mentioned this book as one of the greatest books of all time: part of the so-called Western Canon. They don't disparage it. They just don't mention it. Maybe it's theme is too simple or it's ironies too few. Perhaps they dismiss it as ordinary entertainment not worthy of the moniker "classic". In my mind this novel deserves such accolades as does Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". (By the way, it peeves me that Walt Disney does not given proper, prominent credit to the authors of "The Little Mermaid" (Hans Christain Anderson) and other films. My kids used to think that Walt Disney wrote Snow White, Aladin, and others. It's almost as annoying as that Barney television show which uses the melody of famous tunes and adds their own words without credit to the original authors.) Finally, I recommend the latest French film "Les Misérables". It retells Victor Hugo's tale against the setting of World War II and is consequently something new. Even the latest English film with Liam Neeson was a dissapointment-it told the tale exactly per the novel. But the novel was too familiar to me so I found myself predicting each scene before it happened. Liam Neeson needs to make another great film like "Schindler's List" before the horrible latest Star Wars film ruins his career.
Rating:
Summary: Les Miserables
Review: I'm a freshman in highschool, and after seeing the movie and falling in love with the entirety of the plot, I decided that I could not live any longer if I didn't read the book. Although I was at first turned off by the unusual length and slow beginning, I became engrossed at the moment when the Bishop bought Jean Valjean's soul with a bag of silver and returned it to God. Each character in itself can only be described as a masterpiece: Fantine and her downward spiral into desparation to feed her daughter, Thenardier with his complete lack of principles, Marius and Cosette's unadulterated and undying love for one another, and finally, Jean Valjean, the epitome of a good man. Each of their stories are beautifully interwoven to create a novel which is, on the whole, unforgetable.
Rating:
Summary: This is one of the greatest novels I have ever read
Review: "The book which the reader has now before his eyes is, from one end to the other, in its whole and in its details, whatever may be the intermissions, the exceptions, or the defaults, the march from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from the false to the true, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from rottenness to life, from brutality to duty, from Hell to Heaven, from nothingness to God." Les Misérables; Victor Hugo (Jean Valjean, Book XV, Chapter XX) As described in the quote, this book is to me as of now the greatest masterpiece, the greatest classic, the best novel, and all those excellent comments. It shows you al the miasma of the earth and at the same time it shows you the good hidden beneath it. You see how the perfect gets some times to be harsh and harmful to society, whereas those who have committed errors and felt repented and been constantly repudiated by the peoples, try to do as much good as they can and in fact benefit their oppressors.
Rating:
Summary: *^the sweetest story ever written^*
Review: I honestly cannot get enough of LES MISERABLES. I loved Victor Hugo's style of writing. His writing was so powerful and emotional that I was pulled right into the story, even the world around me seemed to fade away. I was very fortunate to have read the complete and unabridged version, and all the time I've spent reading this classic was definitely worth it. I was also lucky to have read the novel before watching the movie versions because in my opinion nothing can capture all the details of this story on screen. LES MISERABLES is set during the time of the French Revolution. It portrays the character of Jean Valjean, who at the beginning of the novel is set free after nineteen years in prison. He grew up in a very poor family, and when his parents passed away, he lived with his widowed sister who had seven children. He had a job as a tree-pruner and with his income he supported his sister and her children. It was when Jean Valjean lost his job, the family ran out of food. With no money and no food, Jean Valjean took it upon himself to steal food. He was caught by the police for stealing a loaf of bread and was sent to prison. The original prison sentence was to last only a few years, but as Jean Valjean saw opportunities to escape he did so, and everytime he was caught more years of being locked up in prison were added. It was after nineteen years he was set free, but had to carry a yellow ticket with him so anywhere he went, whether to get employment, he was to show it as his i.d. - thus labelling him as an ex-convict. You read about him walking around town looking for an inn to stay at, but nobody is allowing him in because of his history as a convict. He then is introduced to a bishop who whole heartily takes him in to his own home. The bishop is poor but offers Jean Valjean shelter and food for free. How does Jean repay him? He steals the bishop's silverware and runs off only to be caught by the police. The police bring Jean Valjean to confront the bishop, but the bishop makes the situation look like he gave Jean Valjean the silverware as a gift. He also included a set of silver candlesticks to go with it. The bishop then pulls Jean Valjean aside, and he tells him to promise him to sell the silver utensils and make a good life out of himself. To change for the better. Jean Valjean is absolutely stunned at the kindness he receives from the bishop. Through the bishop, Jean Valjean begins his transistion from an ex-convict to a saint, to a man of almost perfection. You'll meet many more terrific characters some evil (The Thernardiers...), some sweet (Cosette, Fantine, Gavorche, Marius and more). You will read about how Jean Valjean changes his life, making himself an important and helpful person for others. You'll understand how tough life was for the poor for the people that were less fortunate living in the time of the revolution. You'll also understand the power of love and the power of forgiveness. As well the ending of the story is the most powerful ending to any story I've ever read. It had me in tears. LES MISERABLES is a story that I shall never forget. The story is imprinted in my mind. I look forward to reading it again soon.
Rating: 
Summary: Please read the unabridged version...
Review: I just finished reading the original unabridged version of this book, in French, and believe me, I was moved. So when my wife and I wanted to get an abridged version for her to read in English, we bought this one. On skimming through the book, and maybe it's just us, but we found no trace of Fantine's story before she ended up in Jean Valjean's care, or of Jean Valjean's rescue of Cosette from the Thénardiers, which are both very moving parts. If those are missing, there are probably other very touching and important parts missing. We plan on taking our version back and getting the full version. It would be better to just skip past the sections that talk about the convent, the battle of Waterloo, the sewer system, etc., because they're wasy to skip, and the rest of the book will still be there. Honestly, Les Mis is probably the best book I've ever read, but it has to be purchased in it's full format to really be truly appreciated.
Rating:
Summary: WARNING TO STUDENTS
Review: Whether you have a miserable experience or a wonderful one will be determined by which translation of *Les Miserables* you're reading. Three translations are currently available: one by Charles E. Wilbour, one by Lee Fahnestock/Norman MacAfee (based on Wilbour), and one by Norman Denny. You can also get abridged (cut) versions. Don't get any abridged version. It's like reading a toilet paper wrapper - an almost worthless experience! If you have to write a report on *Les Miz* but prefer to skip reading it, then get the Cliffs Notes. The Cliffs Notes are better than abridged versions. If you want to read *Les Miz*, which translation is best? Simple: the Lee Fahnestock/Norman MacAfee. First of all, the Charles E. Wilbour translation was published in 1862, the year Hugo finished writing *Les Miz*. Wilbour translated all 1200 pages of *Les Miz* in just a few months, and it shows. What Wilbour wrote isn't French, it isn't English - it isn't any known tongue. It just can't be read. (Oh sure, it can be STUDIED, and it's the version in which I first read *Les Miz*, and some parts of it are okay, since Hugo is hard to kill.) This bad translation is around only because most publishers are too cheap to pay for new translations. Norman Denny's translation is new and published by Penguin, but it's bad, too. In the biography of Victor Hugo by Graham Robb, the Denny translation is called "a Swiss cheese of unavowed omissions and [it] bears out Hugo's comments on translation as a form of censorship. The translator does admit to 'thinning out, but never completely eliminating, [*Les Miz's*] lapses.'" Hm ... lapses? Here are some other remarks by Denny about *Les Miz*: "'wholly unrestrained,' 'no regard for the discipline of novel-writing,' 'moralizing rhetoric,' 'exasperating,' 'self-indulgent.'" Hugo is hard to kill, but Denny proves it's possible: I read his translation and it's the dullest of all time. The best translation is the Lee Fahnestock/Norman MacAfee one. Signet Classics publishes it. The cover shows the drawing of the waif from the musical. This translation (and no other) gets as close to the real thing as possible, in English. If Hugo had written in English, he would have written this. You can hear Hugo's "voice" and feel his living spirit. Though not perfect (few things are), this is a great achievement. Get the Lee Fahnestock/Charles MacAfee translation (that's two people), and leave the others on the shelf!
Rating:
Summary: Les Miserables
Review: I am a high school English teacher who teaches this novel. I have found this particular edition to be the most usable form of the novel so far. It is not so abridged that some of the more poetic passages have been excluded or glossed over, and students are not overwhelmed by it. I recently accidently began re-reading the novel in the edition that is most popular now--with the movie photos in it--and realized fairly early on that some of the passages that I wanted to mark were not there! So, having lost my first copy of this edition, I am on my second one now. Including all of the different times I have bought the novel in a variety of abridgement forms, this is, I think, my fifth copy. This is the version that I love.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful!
Review: I first read this story in tenth grade and fell in love with it from the first chapters. Although there were some chapters and books in the novel that seemed unnecessary, the frightingly poetic and enrapturing remaining 4/5 of the story more than made up for any "annoying padding" I had "suffered through". Each charater is so wonderfully three dimentional and captivating that the reader finds himself with a quite visual portrait of everyone from the bishop to Javert engraved on his or her mind. Everyone can find a small part of themselves in at least one of the characters. After finishing the story for the first time, I found myself changed. I couldn't even put my finger on what this change was, but I knew it was for the better. That feeling is all I need to know that a book is a wonderful piece of art. I would hazard a guess that there is not one person who has read this book and not been affected by it in some way. If I were given one word to describe the essense of this novel, it would be "spirit". It seems to have a life and voice all its own. It has the haunting ability to tell the wonderful tales of the power of faith, the strength of the heart, and the truimph of love that may possibly change your life forever. You will not be the same after reading this story!
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