Les Miserables (Abridged Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Heart-wrenching and wonderful
Review: I loved this book because it was so true to life. It is the story of an ex convict named Jean Valjean, who was imprisoned when he stole a loaf of bread to feed his starving sister and nephew. He is touched in the heart by the Bishop of Digne, when after he stole his silver while spending the night at his house had been pardoned for the offense. The bishop gave the silver to Valjean and said that Valjean must use the silver to become an honest man because he has sold Valjean's soul to God. Valjean because the mayor and helps all of the people in the town. the once poor town was now thriving with factories. There is a young girl named Fantine who was hiding her illegitimate daughter, Cosette, with the Thenardiers, a couple who have daughters of their own and a son. They are poor theives. When it is found out that she has a child, she is fired. No one will hire her, so she has to resort to prostitution. Javert, a confused policeman who hates his own parents because they were scum and criminals, is too hard on himself and has to make up for his past by being overly righteous. He arrests Fantine when she gets in a brawl with some men who were making fun of her and throwing snow at her. Valjean takes pity on her, sending her to the hospital because she has tuberculosis. Fantine only wants to see her child before she dies, but the Thenardiers will not send her for any sum of money. Valjean promises Fantine that her child will be safe. Fantine dies, and Valjean is reimprisoned. He later escapes and goes to the Thenardier's to buy Cosette from them. Cosette was treated badly and abused, but Eponine and the other girls were spoiled rotten. Valjean buys her an expensive doll because she has no play things of her own. Valjean raises Cosette in a convent. Cosette falls in love with a revolutionary from the ABC cafe named Marius. They are revolting because the poor people of Paris are so badly treated while the government is so rich.

I would suggest this book to everyone- it is a very wonderful read. Hugo knows a lot about human nature.

Rating:
Summary: "Who am I?...24601."
Review: I've just discovered the musical and I wanted to read the book as well. To be honest, I knew that it would be unrealistic of me to try to plunge into a 1,400 page novel. In glancing through the introduction to the unabridged version, even scholars consider it digressive and longwinded. I opted to read the abridged version instead.

The result?

I feel I have an idea now of the story, yet I am not sure I have really read Les Miserables. What is lost in the story, what is considered extraneous, is a lot of the background and the character definitions. I would have liked to have spent more time with Gavroche. I'm still not sure how the July Revolt started or why or how Marius was involved. We skip most of Fantine and her suffering. A lot of the questions remain unanswered.

What we have left is the plot. That is enough for me to recommend this book. I would have never have read it otherwise. I think I have an idea now of Hugo as an author and Les Miserables as a novel.

Some day however, I'll read the whole thing.

Rating:
Summary: A Book that makes you think
Review: Les Miserables is truly a fantastic book set in the Napoleon era in France. Ex-convict, Jean Valjean, goes through poverty, wealth, love, sadness, and happiness. He tried to forget his past and change himself for a new life while encountering a little girl, Cosette, who becomes like a daughter to him. This book relives the French setting of a person's life, whether it was a rich man or a poor man. It tells the story of many people's lives and how they all relate to every other character in the book. Les Miserables entangled me into the scenes through the sewers of Paris and the Battle of Waterloo because it sounded so real I felt as if I were there, running and fighting alongside of the men. This book also made me stop and think about what just happened because the people and events were all very conflicting. They match up at one point of the story. Victor Hugo really kept me into the book, except when some of the paragraphs went into so much detail it was tempting to just skip over it. But most of the time it was so exciting it made me want to skip the next few paragraphs to see what would happen. Though it took me awhile to read it, I couldn't stop reading and wondering what would happen next.