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Rating: 
Summary: The ultimate french classic
Review: A story of mans struggle with himself, and an oppressive society. The book has it all repression, discrimination, Love. The persuit of Val jean by the relentless Javert. I have read the book many times over, and still get the same joy from reading it. Do not be put of by the size, it is an eminately readable book.
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Summary: Hugo's classic story in the original French
Review: Having previously only read the very beginning of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, I wasn't very interest in the story, but then I went to New York and saw the show performed on Braodway, and that was enough to send me back reading. All in all, I think that if it is possible for you to read and understand in French, this book is the way to go, because it is Hugo's original words. You may also find it useful (as I have) to purchase the English translation in order to better understand the story. This also gives you a chance to nitpick the translator. This is definately a masterful story.
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Summary: A transforming book.
Review: I would recommend this book as compulsory reading for anybody interested in the universal issues of good and evil and man's ability to overcome all obstacles in his pursuit of a higher goal.The sheer breadth and depth of the literary canvas of Hugo's book takes one's breath away.It deals with the remarkable transformation of one man, Jean ValJean, wronged and exiled by society, his transformation by a kind Vicar's example and the trials and tribulations of his life as he strives to live by the Vicar's philosophy.
It is a tribute to the human spirit and the power of a single determined man in the face of all odds.
As relevant and meaningful today as when it was first written.
Rating:
Summary: what do you mean 4 1/2 stars?
Review: This book is one of the greatest books that has ever been written, if not the best. It is very long, but the intricacies of the characters and the plot are incredible. Hugo is a master at tackling issues of life, war, love, and God with insight and humor. If you are possibly able to sit down and read ths many pages...do it (and the abridged version does not cut it).
Rating:
Summary: Social Injustice
Review: This novel is one of the all-time classics in literature. It is a compelling story of a simple working man, Jean Valjean, caught up in the French "justice" system of the 19th century. His crime was petty. He broke into a bakery to get bread for starving family members (in the modern United States, he might have received probation). Because the baker's family lived in the building, he was charged with breaking into an occupied dwelling and sent to prison. In France, you were required to have a passport to travel within the country. Released from prison, he is given the infamous "yellow passport" issued to people with criminal records. An act of heroism allows him to obtain work without showing his passport, but his past catches up with him and he is sent to a prison galley for life for a second petty crime in his past as a "repeat offender." He escapes and recovers a cache of gold that he had buried, then rescues the orphan daughter of a woman he had known, but is pursued by the relentless policeman Javert, a man who has no compassion and enforces the law to the letter. Jean Valjean is a simple man and, basicly, is trying to help other people. The system does its best to grind him down. It is notable that the story ends when people are taking to the streets and building barricades in a fight against the very system that led to his troubles.
Rating:
Summary: Social Injustice
Review: This novel is one of the all-time classics in literature. It is a compelling story of a simple working man, Jean Valjean, caught up in the French "justice" system of the 19th century. His crime was petty. He broke into a bakery to get bread for starving family members (in the modern United States, he might have received probation). Because the baker's family lived in the building, he was charged with breaking into an occupied dwelling and sent to prison. In France, you were required to have a passport to travel within the country. Released from prison, he is given the infamous "yellow passport" issued to people with criminal records. An act of heroism allows him to obtain work without showing his passport, but his past catches up with him and he is sent to a prison galley for life for a second petty crime in his past as a "repeat offender." He escapes and recovers a cache of gold that he had buried, then rescues the orphan daughter of a woman he had known, but is pursued by the relentless policeman Javert, a man who has no compassion and enforces the law to the letter. Jean Valjean is a simple man and, basicly, is trying to help other people. The system does its best to grind him down. It is notable that the story ends when people are taking to the streets and building barricades in a fight against the very system that led to his troubles.
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