Product Description

Many of the characters are well-known: Valjean, the criminal trying to escape his reputation; Javert, the police agent trailing him; the unfortunate Fantine and her daughter, Cosette; the rascally Thenardier; and above all the splendid street urchin, Gavroche. Among the unforgettable descriptions are those of the Paris sewers, the battle of Waterloo and the fighting at the barricades during the July Revolution. There are few more complete, or more vivid, pictures of France at the beginning of the nineteenth century. LES MISERABLES is at once a thrilling narrative and a social document embracing a wider field than any other novel of its time. This edition is an abridgment of Norman Denny's translation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4972 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
Victor Hugo (1802-85) was the most forceful, prolific and versatile French nineteenth-century novelist. He wrote Romantic costume dramas, many volumes of lyrical and satirical verse, political and other journalism, criticism and several novels.

Customer Reviews

If you thought Classics were 'boring', think again
I decided to read 'Les Miserables' more out of a challenge to myself than anything else. I honestly thought it was going to be one of those 'boiled cabbage' books that taste pretty dull but are very good for you. I could not be more wrong. From the first chapter, I was surprised by Hugo's sense of humour and sharpness. His take on the clergy and their not-so-humble lifestyle set the tone of the book and acted as a promise that it wasn't going to be a 'tour de force' of morals and religion.

And then it just got better, and better, and better. The plot had more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie's novel, the characters far more rounded than the two-dimensional figurines one encounters in Dickens' writing. These characters are memorable. Jean Valejan, Cosette, Marius, the evil Javert: I dare you readers to find a book in which the characters become so alive, so vivid, so intense and so human. By the end of the book (almost 1000 pages of!)you just don't want to let them go. I frantically read and read for days until, almost at the end, I slowed down and tried to make it last a little bit longer, and yes, when the last page was turned, I felt totally and utterly BEREFT. Les Miserables is a story that will stay with me forever. If classics ever put you off, do yourself a favour, and read this wonderful novel.

Warning!
This particular book is the ABRIDGED edition! This is fine if you are happy to read the 'lite' version as seen in the musical show. If you want to read the more complex and fascinating book that Hugo actually wrote make sure you are getting the whole thing!

Beautiful
This book is complexly written and with extremely diverse vocabulary - both in english and in the french excerpts within this book. The theme of sorrow is developed and converged from various angles in an elegant portrayal that recurs on several ocassions. The overall result: thought provoking self-diagnoses that leaves the reader inspired (if not over-whelmed) by the author's vivid imagination. The author has delicately intertwined religion, politics, love, vengeance, suspense, sorrow and various other themes in an altogether historic France...simply beautiful. Indeed one of the greatest books ever written.