NOW A SIX-PART MINISERIES ON MASTERPIECE ON PBSThe only completely unabridged paperback edition of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece—a sweeping tale of love, loss, valor, and passion.Introducing one of the most famous characters in literature, Jean Valjean—the noble peasant imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread—Les Misérables ranks among the greatest novels of all time. In it, Victor Hugo takes readers … In it, Victor Hugo takes readers deep into the Parisian underworld, immerses them in a battle between good and evil, and carries them to the barricades during the uprising of 1832 with a breathtaking realism that is unsurpassed in modern prose.
Within his dramatic story are themes that capture the intellect and the emotions: crime and punishment, the relentless persecution of Valjean by Inspector Javert, the desperation of the prostitute Fantine, the amorality of the rogue Thénardier, and the universal desire to escape the prisons of our own minds. Les Misérables gave Victor Hugo a canvas upon which he portrayed his criticism of the French political and judicial systems, but the portrait that resulted is larger than life, epic in scope—an extravagant spectacle that dazzles the senses even as it touches the heart.
Translated by Lee Fahnestock and Norman Macafee, based on the classic nineteenth-century Charles E. Wilbour translation
Inlcudes an Introduction by Lee Fahnestock
and an Afterword by Chris Bohjalian
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I’d avoided reading this book mainly due to its somewhat intimidating word count. But, I run a classic book club at my local library and we’ve tackled other imposing books, so it was finally time to take the plunge. First, unquestionably, yes, it’s a classic and an important one that deserves your time and attention. Jean Valjean is an amazing character, entering the book as a convict who’s been stripped of his humanity and is on the verge of becoming a brute. But when he steals from a priest, the priest lies about the theft to save him from arrest, then tells Jean to keep the silver he’s stolen. He says with this silver he’s purchasing Jean’s soul, and from this day forward Jean must live a good life. It’s a moving story of transformation and redemption that gives the book its core emotional force. All throughout the book, Hugo paints vivid pictures of characters from every walk of life, and is unflinching in portraying the horrors of the world side by side with its beauty and hope.
That said, Les Mis is one of the greatest books I’ve ever read trapped inside one of the worst books I’ve ever slogged through. The actual storyline takes up less than half the book, and the rest of the book is given over to long, rambling essays on topics of tangential importance. At one point Jean Valjean takes refuge in a nunnery, so there’s at least seven or eight chapters talking about the history of the nunnery. At another point, he escapes through a sewer, so there’s a seemingly endless discussion of the history of the sewer. And these digressions always pop up at the moments of greatest tension. Jean Valjean is on the run, the police close on his heels! Let’s now spend fifty pages talking about the building he’s hiding in. Yeesh. This is a common problem with some of these super thick novels. War and Peace was bogged down by too many essays about war, and Moby Dick is bogged down by way more than you’ll ever want to know about whales. But at least there, the essays distracting from the plot were built around a common theme. Hugo’s digressions are much more random. Still, as far as a book actually making me care for the characters and feel tension for their fates, Les Mis sets a pretty high bar. And, despite the wordiness of the total book, when he’s actually telling the story his writing is surprisingly tight and well paced.