Rating: 
Summary: Deeply Moving...
Review: Okay, I have to admit this book is long. But, if you want it to be shorter READ THE ABRIDGED VERSION! What else would you expect to find in an UNABRIDGED translation? The complete novel, though, has a wonderful effect of misery and poverty in society to build you up with feelings that you can't explain until they are finally releaved at the end. It has way of making you feel anger at times, but takes it all back and gives you a bit of hope to live on. And if you force yourself to read it, the least you can do is get into it!
Rating:
Summary: Sweeping and engrossing, but it rambles at times
Review: This work is truly a masterpiece. I have never read another work that even approaches Les Miserables in terms of sheer scope and complexity. I must warn prospective readers however that Hugo can become extremely wordy while describing points of interest that are almost completely unrelated to the narrative
Rating: 
Summary: A Worthy Epic
Review: The 19th century could be described as a century of epic literature. Les Miserables fits squarely into the epic mold. The time-span is long, the characters are deep, and the back drop is historically significant. Having written the novel while he was in exile from France, Hugo spent those years well. All of the central characters in Les Miserables are as complete a cast as you will find. Few literary heros can match Jean Valjean in his depth and realism. This is the only novel for which I have read the book and seen the musical, play, and movie. The only one of the last three that comes close to the original work is the Broadway musical. Do not base your opinions of this novel on the recently released movie, which was awful. I have given Les Miserables only four stars because it is not quite as good as the only novel that really can be compared with it: War and Peace. If you only have the time or inclination to read one of these two books, I would suggest War and Peace. However, you would be missing out by not reading both. Les Miserables is definitely worth the time.
Rating:
Summary: Deepest thoughts a man can have...
Review: ... this book is about inner thoughts, inner feelings, inner life. You will experience the feelings and dreams of common people in the french revolution, but the french revolution is only an excuse for Victor Hugo to travel and analize the inner thougts and feelings of the people in any age, this book is timeless and this book is one of the best you will ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: Fair plot and characters, but too lengthy and descriptive
Review: I enjoyed the book's main plot, and all the characters were thoughourly developed, but the book is too long and way too much description. Maybe I don;t like it because I was FORCED to read it for English... It also gives a realistic feeling of the harsh social status in France 19th-century, which I thought was interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful but Wordy
Review: I love this book. I love the musical. When I was little I literally couldn't sleep if I wasn't listening to the Broadway cast recording. I started reading this version about two and a half years ago. I got through a good 1076 pages before I (sort of) gave up and read The Deep End of The Ocean. The book is captivating and if you've got the time, energy, and dedication it takes to read it, it's a must. I still hope to finish it, but even the exciting parts are difficult to wade through.
Rating:
Summary: I hate the term "Les Mis"ΓΏ
Review: Yes, I hate the term "Les Mis". It strikes me as the Americanizing and the dumbing down of an interesting and complex book. I must confess that I haven't seen the musical and I never will. Hugo provides a vast historical panorama and a scathing commentary of post Napoleonic France. I can't imagine the richness of his material and bredth of his vision being reduced to a few cute skits and songs. Americans certainly do like their entertainment to be simple, and have become accustomed to the moral universe of the sit com (twenty minutes, four or five attractive white people, two or three issues, no conflicts, no complexity, no sign of entropy...). It is appalling to imagined"Les Miserables" parsed and truncated for such a format. Hugo is enjoyable for the very opposite reason. Rather than conflating things, he spreads them out. After thoroughly familiarizing us with his principle characters, he can't resist having the plot elope with some of the lesser ones for awhile (Epinone, Gavroche). As the characters wind their way through the environment, we are provided with rich historical digressions. For example, it is not enough to have Jean Val Jean escape through the Paris sewer--Hugo has to tell us about the history of the sewer from Roman times to the present. Unfortunately, I read an English translation of "Les Miserable" so my appreciation of Hugo's language is limited. But even in translation, Hugo's writing, is passionate, alive, and ironic. In the end, "Les Miserables" is a moral and spiritual story. Yet, despite the pleasure and interest it provided me, something didn't add up in the end. Many of the principle characters seemed more like personification than real people. (Javert = law, Marius = idealism, etc.)It was actually the lesser characters such as Epinone and Curyfrac who seemed more believable. But perhaps I am spoiled by having read "War and Peace" which is arguably the greatest novel ever written. I was able to read "Les Miserables" in a detached albeit interested fashion. The believable characters and spiritual impetus of "War and Peace" on the other hand were completely consuming.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest book of the 19th century
Review: A wonderful, rich, exciting read, this book has a tremendous cast of characters and some of the best scenes in all of fiction. It is also profoundly spiritual. Read this and you will be wiser. Read this slowly and you will be very, very wise.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful and elegant book!
Review: Les Miserables is one of my favorite books. I recommend it for any one over the age of 13. It has some difficult reading, but overall, it is excellent. A great buy! A wonderous investment!
Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC in three-foot-high letters!
Review: I absolutely loved this book. The characters are so universal-- everybody can relate to someone in Les Miserables. Me, well, I have to say I identified with poor Eponine; she loved Marius so deeply, and he never even knew it because he was so wrapped up in Cosette! But it was overall an incredibly well-written, passionate book that I would recommend to anyone who can read three words of English.
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