Les Miserables

Rating:
Summary: Please read the unabridged version...
Review: Bar none, Les Mis is the BEST book I have ever read. I don't usually like very descriptive writers (i.e. Thomas Hardy), but even the in-depth writing of the French Revolution kept me glued. I carried this book with me everywhere and read every minute I could. I truly felt Valjean's emotions through Hugo's writing, and I was rooting for Marius and Cosette even though I already knew the story! The best book ever written.

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: It's a story about us
Review: I read this book as a requirement for English Lit. And for the majority of the shelf life (pardon the pun) of Les Miserables, the analyses of the characters of Valjean and Javert have been consistent: Valjean - ideal, conscientious and spiritual (good); Javert - cruel, stone-hearted and unforgiving (evil). If we look at the bigger picture, Victor Hugo writes a background on a future theory by one Sigmund Freud. If you remember your Psych 101, Freud postulated that the human psyche is made up of three parts: The Id, the Ego and the Superego, none of which by themselves, is good or bad. It is the imbalance between the three that makes good money for psychoanalists and imaginative writers.

I have never seen Javert to be "bad". Many have said that Javert is the "bad" or "evil" part of us. What is so evil about enforcing the law? What is so evil about adhering to the solemn mission to protect the citizenry from malcreants? What is so wrong about wanting, nay, needing to enforce what is right? But such is the character of the superego...unyeilding, unforgiving and strict. The superego does not bend to "situational ethics". But can you imagine a world of pure superego? Gee, boring. Thus enter the Ego. Perpetually bending the rules to also do what is right...at that time.

Valjean did what was right. He provided food for his starving family. Although stealing was one way to do it, by doing so, the ego part of Valjean failed to realise that the consequences of stealing, especially for the superego, must be played out. And whether or not the absolute or relative right wins, the conflict between the two proves a human psychological dynamism that makes for intensly interesting characters. But we're forgetting about the Id. That part of us which makes decisions with the crudest, basest parts of instinct, the gut and the most sensitive part of the human body (the heart). Who embodies this? Marius. His decision to fight in the revolution did not c! ome about by his thinking that what he was doing is right, but more of completing an obligation to his comrades who might think less of him if he did not. The Id is very interesting. Many carnal and worldly manifestations are attributed to a highly animated Id, but sometimes it can masquerade as the ego or even the superego when the decision turns out to be "right".

In playing out these three roles, the result is a turbulence that causes situations from mild anxieties to all-out neuroses. Between the three main men of Les Miserables, there is enough character to go around. We will fall in love with Marius, we will love Valjean, and we will hate Javert. But hopefully not because Marius is romantic, Valjean is ideal, and Javert is bad, but because Marius is childlike, Valjean is conscientious and Javert is intolerably self- righteous (but not evil). We can empathise with each of the characters when they exhibit the above but we also must realise that we can also turn a blind eye to their "weaknesses". Marius can be naive, Valjean can be unrealistically selfless, and Javert relenting. In the end, nothing and nobody changes. Marius (Id) carries on with his worldy life, Valjean (ego) as in the past, runs away, and Javert (superego) turns his self-righteous sense of law and justice upon himself.

Freud's famous illustration of these three parts is in the form of an iceberg, where the ego and the superego break the water surface and the Id remains hidden underwater. And though physically, Hugo's Les Miserables is as big as an iceberg, he (Hugo) asks us and the readers during his time, which part of our iceberg do we show? How many times have we made decisions based on our emotions? How many times have we "broken the rules" to achieve a greater good? How many times have we imposed our "superegoness" towards subordinates and especially children by being unforgiving, intolerant and strict? How many times must a man......oops, wrong song.

Victor Hugo, a! man light years ahead of his time, presents a story about us. He writes in a most moving, heart-wrenching, intellectual, but often verbose way. But it doesn't matter, does it? I was always taught that classics will withstand the tests of universality and time. The story applies then as it does now. Between the then and the now, many theories, postulates, schools of thought have flourished. Can we expect these to be just the tip of the iceberg?

Rating:
Summary: My heart filled with tears as I rolled through this novel.
Review: I started reading this work of Mr. Hugo's many a year ago, and after page one, made a solemn oath that I would never say finish it. So I began reading, one page a week, ten pages a month, sometimes more, sometimes less, fearful to read too much, afraid to see its end. Now here I am, some several years later, with one page left. I will never read it. After all, if you do not finish a book, a book cannot be finished. If a book is not finished, you never have to say goodbye. I believe all of us should carpe diem, but for God's sake, take your time with Les Misreables; if you live a thousand years times a thousand years, you will never experience such a profound piece of literature as this.

Rating:
Summary: Worth the Effort.
Review: Les Miserables will be a tough read for some. Victor Hugo, in typical Nineteenth Century prose, is exceedingly verbose. His character introductions go on literally page after page, covering minute details that some modern readers will find tedious. Not only are they long, but they break the modern writing rule of "show rather than tell." When he presents new characters, we don't hear them converse or see their actions to form our own opinions. Hugo simply regurgitates a ten or twenty-page biography on them.

But this was how books were written then, and he did it as well as it could be done. The language is marvelous and rich, the characters interesting and complete, and the story sweeping and classic.

Jean Valjean, freshly released from a French prison, is caught stealing silver from an extraordinarily pious Bishop. Amazingly, this Bishop denies the silver is stolen, allowing Valjean to go free. Valjean, brutalized by nineteen years of life in "the galleys" and suffering poverty and maltreatment as an ex-convict, is so affected by this merciful act that he vows to reform. Seven years later he has changed his name and transformed himself into a righteous and contributing member of society, now a prominent factory owner and town Mayor. Life is good as he shares his profits and kind heart with the poor and unfortunate--until his past catches up with him. Valjean is then faced with an incredible predicament whose genius and complexity can be appreciated only by plowing through the full text.

Historically, this is an important literary work. Much of its political and religious sub-text may be lost, however, on those unfamiliar with the basics of the French Revolution. Like Valjean, readers will be better people for making the journey through this book. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.

Rating:
Summary: C'est magnifique!
Review: What is there to say but to agree with most of the reviews below. This is a book that you'll never forget. It is truly one of the greatest! To the main criticism of its many unlikely coincidences I have to say this: I LIKE a book with lots of coincidences. If I want a normal of amount of realistic coincidences I'll read the newspaper.