I’ve got the Penguin edition of* Les Miserables* next to me as well as a week off from work.
I should be able to finish it in a week. Is it worth the time?
Yes.
I am also certain that I shall never attempt it again.
Absolutely - it’s a great book. One recommendation - do NOT skip the Waterloo scenes. Although many people feel that they are unnecessary, and Hugo did add them after he had finished the major part of the book, they are some of my favorites and provide a lot of historical context. Happy reading! (or should I say Miserable reading!)
IIRC, something very important to the plot happens towards the end of the Waterloo chapter, so even if you skip through, don’t skip it all.
I enjoyed it a lot.
Eh, here’s one vote for finding an abridged edition and skipping all of the non-plot related sections, unless you’re really really really into the Paris sewer system.
Are they making a new movie out of it or something? I decided the same thing earlier this year, put it on hold at the library, and then promptly canceled my hold when I saw that I was number 200-something in the queue. I’ll eventually stumble across a used copy for $1 or something; it’s not worth monopolizing one of my hold spots for what could be months.
I took French in high school specifically so I could read the unabridged in the original French.
Yeah…don’t bother. The abridged one in English is slog enough.
(And now I can barely order a coffee en français. So much for 5 years of study.)
In Number of the Beast, Heinlein has a character learn Russian specifically in order to see if the ponderous Russian novels are better in the original than in translation. Her report: the translations are better.
I think his wife actually did this, and he stuck it into the book.
Back in my 20s, I read it unabridged several times, and it’s been one of my favorite novels. I’m way overdue for a re-read . . . but definitely abridged this time.
I didn’t think so. It’s one of the most morbid and depressing things I’ve ever read in my life. I wish I had the time back that I wasted reading it.
Of Victor Hugo’s work, I only ever tried reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
There’s a reason that The Hunchback has been made into film several times, which is because it’s secretly a short story and so the proper length to be made into a film. Unfortunately, Victor Hugo wasn’t aware that he was writing a short story and so wrote a novel instead. That is to say, for every one page of story, there is a good 10-20 pages of description. Not description of action, characters, theological points, or anything else, but just of rooms, paintings, the grit under a character’s nails, a little bit of history on the pot in the corner, what time of day it is, how the weather’s been, the price for that rug, etc.
Hugo’s works were serialized, meaning that the longer he could drag something out, the longer his employment was secured. At this, he was an expert.
The abridged version is a great read. Although like DrFidelius I probably won’t read it again.
I hated that book. At least the title was accurate.
Compounding my mistake, I let an ex-GF drag me to the Broadway version. I slept through the middle three hours.
Loved it. One of the best books I’ve read.
Read it unabridged and love every second of it!
It will give you an understanding of a side of life which you may never otherwise see. You will come out of it with a true depth of knowledge about the kinds of horrific choices poor people are forced to make every day. You can not unsee this, so decide first.
I’ve spent a lot of time with Charles Dickens and this is one of those rare times when I’m employed but have time off to lay on my couch and read. I think I’ll start it tonight.
ISTR hearing something along the lines that writers back then were paid by the word. Dunno if it’s true.
I read it when I was quite young, and think it is one of the best things I’ve ever read. I’ll admit it is pretty slow, but some of the philosophy in it changed the way I look at the world. If you are a fan of the musical, know the book is about a million times deeper. Les Miserable is not about the story at all.
When I lived in west Africa, I was shocked by how relevant the details of this book were even today, and would love to see a movie or play adaptation in a west African setting. It’s all there- the seedy underworld, the ill-planned revolutions, the religious faith underpinning everything, the orphans and street kids, the sketchy inn keepers- hell, you could even keep all the French!
It took me my entire 20s to read it once.