Les Miserables

Oh, fine, so I read it a month back and just now found the time to praise it

Les Miserables (Victor Hugo) is, in my mind, the greatest book ever written. Tedious at times, yes. Long, yes. It is rather taxing in some parts, especially when Hugo goes on one of his rants, which are usually political and somewhat boring. He tends to be rather verbose when he speaks about politics as well, and there are pages that make the reader want to give up.

However, this is overshadowed by the amazing characters and plot. From the honorable Jean Valjean to the determined Javert to the amoral Thenardiers to the desperate Fantine to the lovesick Marius to the lovely Cosette to the crazy Eponine to the...

Oh, who am I kidding? All of the characters are amazing, and that is what makes this book so grand. You get to know and love them all. They all have their motivations for their actions, and they are all very human.

Perhaps what makes this book so good, however, is the fact that there really is no clear cut 'bad guy.' As I have said before, they all have their motivations, and perhaps with the exception of the Thenardiers, they are not purely evil.

Of course, I will again say that this is a long, long read. I am a very fast reader, known for my ability to go through books like candy, and it took me a full month to get through the unabridged edition. Nevertheless, it was worth the time and energy.

I do suggest that if you choose to read it, you make sure you have a lot of time to do so. You will need it

I love Les Mis! I got it for my birthday a few years ago and read it over the summer. It turned out that we read it in English that year but they cut out three quarters of the story...sorry, I'm rambling(wouldn't be the first time). Anyway your right about it being a truely awesome book and I'm glad I'm not the only one who took the time to read it all.

You are not rambling at all I understand what you mean about them cutting out portions of the book. It is rather long, and I admit that I did think about reading the abridged version. I didn't in the end, but towards the end of the novel, I did skip a few portions (such as the 20 page sewer system layout/history/function).

Glad to know that I am not the only one who loved it though!

has anyone seen/listened to the musical?

It's great, possibly not as good as the book but without a lot of the boring bits.

We did some of the music in religious studies... that was quite intense

Sadly, I have not seen the musical, but I have listened to it! It is very good-not as good as the book, of course, but it does come rather close to the novel for the most part.

Actually, it is my favorite musical...er, rather my favorite musical that I have not seen

I read Les Miserables in six grade. It took me about two months to read it, but I truthfully loved it.

Oh. My. Gosh. I love that book. That is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES! Yes, the parts about politics (and the 30-something page long talk about the undertaker) were really taxing, but it was totally worth it.

Sadly I picked the book up... then set it back down =(...

well anyways this is a bad boy saying

keep writing and =) happy reading (=

I almost did that a few times. It was only my freakishly stubborn nature that kept me from doing so at first.

And boy, am I glad I didn't!

Anyone seen the film of it? Not sure if there's more than one, so for clarity's sake, the one with Gerard Depardieu starring.

Have to say, from what I've seen of the film, it looks pretty good. I'll have to go search the library for the book.

I must admit that I am a bit weary in regards to seeing the movie. It always seems to me that the movie never does justice to the book.

I'm glad I've found some other peeps who appreciate the book as much as me, all of my other friends just give me a funny look when I start singing its praises

I read the book in its original french and I think that's the best way to really appreciate the beauty of Victor Hugo's writing. I agree that in english his political rants do drag a little lol, but reading about his own country's history in his own language is stunning, and his take on many of the political activities of the revolution was really before his time.

As for the musical, I have to say, I actually prefer it to the book, in terms of plot. Nothing can compare to its depth of analysis but I think Cameron Mackintosh deliberately used the framework of Les Mis and sort of pretty-fied it, so many of the characters may be less gritty but they're easier to relate to and you feel a lot more strongly for the characters, plus the new beauty of the story makes it somehow much sadder. Plus the score is the best musical score ever written, in my opinion, songs like One Day More, Stars and I Dreamed A Dream are just phenomenal. Ruthie Henshall and Philip Quast are some of the few who do them justice though.

That's just me! Though I do think once its seen on stage, nobody can say a bad word about the musical. Who are your favourite characters?

Bisses