Les Miserables

by Victor Hugo

Enriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work.

Les Miserables tells the story of ex-convict, Jean Valjean, and his valiant struggle to redeem his past. A potent social document of the poverty, ignorance, and brutality of man, Les Miserables is also a rousing adventure story, famous for such unrivaled scenes as the brilliant depiction of the Battle of Waterloo. Victor Hugo reached the peak of his powers in this far-reaching novel of nineteenth-century France. Here are combined the dramatic skills of Hugo the playwright, the rich imagination of Hugo the poet, and the compassion of Hugo the man.

Enriched Classics enhance your engagement by introducing and explaining the historical and cultural significance of the work, the author’s personal history, and what impact this book had on subsequent scholarship. Each book includes discussion questions that help clarify and reinforce major themes and reading recommendations for further research.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literature, School, Book Club, France

656 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published May 1, 2005

About the author

After Napoleon III seized power in 1851, French writer Victor Marie Hugo went into exile and in 1870 returned to France; his novels include The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).

This poet, playwright, novelist, dramatist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, and perhaps the most influential, important exponent of the Romantic movement in France, campaigned for human rights. People in France regard him as one of greatest poets of that country and know him better abroad.

Reviews

[Dean Ryan Martin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Feeling disappointed with myself for putting this book on DNF (Did Not Finish). One, this copy is a mass market paperback that contains small fonts. This will give terrible headaches if I'll continue further. Two, this is a classic "war" fiction. I already saw the 1957 movie, which is four-hour long. That would be enough and I need to move on. I need fiction stories that could bring my imagination to another world of the unknown.

[Mia]

pre-read: i'm so ready



my experiences with classics have been up and down, so i'm hoping this one is as life changing as they say!

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 81st book read this year and just a few times I gave a 4-star rating. Faultless. Bewildering. Truly engaging.

I have been thinking what lapse I could cite in this review but there is none. This cannot be outdated as this is a historical novel and its messages still resound even up to the present generation. This is what I like about classics: their deathless universal truths about being human. We sometimes think that we are different, being in a cyberspace age and all, so we have our own sets of issues to face and armed with our own set of values to find never-before-thought-of solutions. That's not totally wrong as some circumstances have indeed changed but if you dig through these eternal literary classics, you will find that we are not really different from the characters portrayed in them. Somethings have never changed and are bound to be true forever.

Valjean the ex-convict who gets incarcerated for 5 years for stealing bread (remember the cake of Marie Antoniette?) and suffers for some more years for attempting to escape. How many of the prisoners in jail are innocent? How much stigma does our society still give to ex-convicts? Fantene who has to prostitute herself to support her child. She who is terminated from her job because having a child out of wedlock is deemed to be immoral while her lover who has impregnated her is faultless? The double standard of our society with women considered inferior to men. Javert who follows orders chasing criminals left and right without realizing that his own life may be dirtier as the criminals that he is prosecuting. The criminal system that favors the rich and punishes the innocent poor. But in the midst of these characters come Cosette who seems like a perfume in a decayed society of France in the 19th century. She is akin to the child Pearl of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter providing contrast to the decay and morass of the Napoleon France.

I read the abridged version. In 2009, when my brother and I agreed to read all books in the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die this was one of those that I picked up without really thinking. "Les Miserables! Yey! This is a 1001!" I remember shrieking with delight when I saw this copy at my favorite second-hand bookshop. I even texted my brother: "What does 'abridged' mean?" But I did not care to know that there were portions removed by the editors or publishers (Wiki says that those are the historical background of the novel). Classics used to scare me during that time so I thought that it would just be nice to have a slimmer version. Nice and easy. After all, I am just after the story and had I been interested on history, I would pick a history book. Also, I thought that this book was hard to read. Untrue. It was enjoyable and a breeze.

Really, now. I think I have to get myself a copy of the unabridged. This is really beautiful for me to settle for a shortened version. Really now.

[Mallory Morris Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cosette + Marius foreverrrrrr <3 love them love Jean Valjean love Fantine poor poor Fantine hate that they took her teeth (should’ve seen my face when I read that part) hate the Thernadier’s they are cray, love the innocence of Marius and Cosette’s love even in the midst of evil and sorrow, love how this book describes love & relationships especially between Jean Valjean and Cosette. It puts words to feelings that are hard to explain. By the end I had seen the movie so it was pretty much spoiled which made it hard to want to finish. The barricade seen was too long for my liking & was tough to get through. The end was great. Woohoo.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Les Misérables is a wonderful introduction to classic French literature – I read the Isabel Hapgood translation and loved it! Although I’ve read a fair few short stories by Balzac and listened to an abridged version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, I had never before read anything by Hugo (1802-1885) and I didn’t know his style. Since the entire Les Mis stage show phenomenon had passed me by, I didn’t know the plot either and I was soon captivated by the pathos.

To see my review visit http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/201...

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

i scanned over some chapters because there is sooo much detail but SO GOODDDD you guys. i love les mis.

[Silly Goose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Les Misérables: ★★★★★

To prove just how impressive that five-star rating is, let me clear this up: I'm not a classics kinda gal.
I read a book for how interesting it sounds and not for how popular the book actually is. Usually when I read a classic it's because everyone said I should and then I end up not liking it very much.

However, j'ai adoré Les Misérables.

The writing! The characters! The storytelling! C'est parfait, tu vois! Le livre met un sourris sur ma visage, mais le livre met larmes dans mes yeux aussi.

Alright, enough flexing of my elementary-level French. I really liked this book.

(Merci et au revoir (: )

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why did I put off reading this for so long?

This is one of life's greatest mysteries.

Possessed with the thought that this book would be to dense, too hard to understand, I deprived myself of the joy and sadness that is indeed wrapped up inside of it's pages.

It's such a brilliant work, pure genius.

This is now one of my favorite books ever, one of the best works of all time. Everyone should read this, EVERYONE!

Now, if you will excuse, it is nearly time to go watch the movie!

[Subah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though edited and abridged, I really enjoyed reading this and it made the story more approachable. Reading it is a much more rich experience than watching it. There are so many good quotes, and though most of that credit of course goes to the author, I think some can also go to the translator who appropriately captures the romantic tone and also maintains the humorous parts.

Some of my favorite quotes come from Marius (my lover boy extreme) when he was writing a letter to Cosette:

“The reduction of the universe to a single being, the expansion of a single being even to God, this is love.”

“Love partakes of the soul itself. It is of the same nature. Like it, it is a divine spark; like it, it is incorruptible, indivisible, imperishable. It is a point of fire which is within us, which is immortal and infinite, which nothing can limit and which nothing can extinguish. We feel it burn even in the marrow of our bones, and we see it radiate even to the depths of the sky.”

“You who suffer because you love, love still more. To die of love is to live by it.”

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This abridged edition was the one I first read in high school, completely unfamiliar with the musical or plot. For years I considered it my favorite book due to the impact it had on me: such powerful messages of grace, forgiveness, and redemption, especially contrasted against the strict black-and-white legalism that has always come more naturally to me.

I've since read an unabridged version, which admittedly I didn't care for as much.

[Barrett Tillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now time to read the unabridged and highlight every other sentence

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are few fictional novels that have the capacity to touch the human soul like Les Mis. The ubiquitous show of human generosity and love throughout the course of the novel was not only humbling as a reader, but inspiring: Jean Valjean and his love for Cosette and his eventual show of love for Marius; The reciprocal compassion that Javert and Jean Valjean show each other in their respective most desperate times; Even Eponine, who was raised by scoundrels, sacrificed her life for another, and the list goes on.

If there is one line from the novel that perfectly sums the essence of this novel, it is, "There is a point, moreover, at which the unfortunate and the infamous are associated and confounded in a single word, a fatal word, les miserables; whose fault is it? And then, is it not when the fall is lowest that charity ought to be the greatest" (254)?

[Camber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a quick read. I *often* found myself having to reread paragraphs before I "got" them. But when I got them, boy did I get them. The reward for making the effort to understand was more than worth it. It really spoke to me, this story of beauty in misery. The story is framed by absolute poetry in the writing. The way the characters' lives intertwined was fantastic, allowing the reader a really rich understanding of the nuances of interactions. I did have trouble following all the characters of the revolution, but the main characters' stories were enough to keep me going.

Film rating: PG. The story includes both prostitution and murder, but with a tactful lack of graphic details.

[Catherine Nasers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid 4.5 but I do think that may only be because I read my dad's (an English teacher) desk copy with notations. I generally have a harder time making my way through this style of older writing.

DEFINITELY go with the abridged version IMO. My dad's recommendation was a blessing. Still a very worthwhile story.

[Arlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

As desperately as I think this book need to be abridged, I'm never happy with any of the abridgments. This was the longest abridgment I could find, and it still left out stuff I wish were left in. And left in a few things I could have done without. Ahh, the dangers of abriging.....

[Amellina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the abridged version. Really liked it, couldn't put the book down. Want to read the complete version!

[Paniz K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read the abridged version for a class assignment. I'm sure I'll stumble upon this great classic in its entirety some time, soon.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely powerful! One of the most amazing novels I've ever read. Such a beautiful story of mercy triumphing over justice.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect emotional drama. This book has influenced my life immensely. The heart, love and compassion that we aim for in humanity are expressed so beautifully by Victor Hugo.

[John Reis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book many times in the 1970s and 1980s. It is a great abridgement.

[Krystal &#x1f9a2; · Rating 5 out of 5]

The husband and I read this out loud together, and it took for-e-ver. Even though it’s the abridged version I read in high school. 😂

So I rated this 5 stars officially, because I love this book. And I stand by the fact that is it indeed more than worthy of 5 stars.

But here’s the caveat. It’s a *really* hard book to read out loud if you don’t speak French. (And neither of us do.) Neither of us have ever even been to France. There is a lot of French geography, French names, etc in this book, obviously. And if you were reading these French words silently in your head, it wouldn’t matter if you could pronounce them or not because you’d know what they looked like and could recognize them if they came up again in the text. But if you’re reading out loud? You just have to butcher it, and that makes for really choppy reading. At least it did for us. So the read aloud experience was probably just a 2.5-3 star experience. But the book is definitely a 5 star book.

[Dominykas Bytautas · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredible book, a few too many coincidences for my liking, but I still teared up a few times. I live for the Jean Valjean redemption plot.

[Lauren Adderly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning story of redemption.

[johnny_by_johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was a doozy. Some high highs and some low lows, but the last 1/3 of the book goes crazy. Wish it was more modern english but it was still a banger

[Terry Tucker]

This is a sweeping historical socio-political romance that starts just after the war of 1815 and ends beyond the Cholera Pandemic of the 1830's. So what are the themes? Social injustice, legal vs moral rights and the redemptive power of love.

In paris in 1832 the hospitals could not keep pace, politicians took to bed from sickness and morgues were overflowing. There was already a social and economic ineqaulity and caste that was made even greater with the pandemic. The trigger event for the French Rebellion in 1832 was the death of General Jean Lemarque. He was a hero of the republic and was a critic of the constitutional monarchy of King Louis Philipp.
Lemarque's death from cholera sparked conspiracy theories and ultimately triggered the rebellion. The rebellion was suppressed by the National Guard and the Army.
During the 1830's Paris was an industrialized slum and was densely packed with large numbers of poor - the slums became breeding grounds for Cholera. "...Soon class tensions reached, quite literally, a fever pitch. The rich blamed the poor for spreading the disease, while the poor thought that the rich were trying to poison them. In this climate of fear and animosity, the suffering Parisians directed their anger at the government."
"...Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables includes a fictional account of the brief uprising which followed General Lamarque's death. In Les Misérables, Hugo views Lamarque as the government's champion of the poor. Hugo says that Lamarque was "loved by the people because he accepted the chances the future offered, loved by the mob because he served the emperor well". Hugo portrays Lamarque as an emblem of French pride and honour..."
The insurrection was a failure both historically and in the novel, but it is romanticized in the novel.
Lastly, Hugo is extravagantly sentimental and romantic, but this is what gives the novel its credibility - its extravagant paternalism.
The novel, the characters, the legal, the moral, the timing of events and the sweeping nature in which all collide makes this romance timeless and immortal. The events of 1832 could easily be the events of 2020.

[Stefanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping that reading the abridged version of the book would resonate with me more than the film did. Though vaguely familiar with the story prior to seeing the 2012 adaption, the movie was very much a "new" experience for me. And you wanna know what? I was really, really, really bored with it. And I thought maybe reading the book would fix that. It didn't.

First of all, I actually love the story. In general. As in, if I read a cliffnotes version of it, or maybe a version adapted for modern times somehow, I would probably be all about it. But christ, Hugo is just so goddamn wordy. I can handle descriptions, but his are superfluous- they don't add to the context, they don't deepen the atmosphere, they don't add clues for the reader later- they just add length to an already fairly interminable novel. (I can't imagine the unabridged version; I imagine a lot of furious masturbation to Napoleon.)

Regardless of all that, I did enjoy the story, although there were way too many coincidences for my taste. (Maybe this is because someone on Cracked had recently pointed out all of them in Dickens.) Are there only twelve people in Paris? I get people were confined to their neighbourhoods a lot more, but the fact that three main characters kept running into each other across time and space... it's like a Time Lord was at work.

Anyway this is a classic novel and it's not impossible to read. The overarching story is lovely and there are excellent and thought-provoking themes to the story. It just doesn't need to be as long and tedious as it is. If you at least somewhat enjoyed the movie or have a passion for French literature, you'll probably enjoy it. But man, I liked Dumas a whole lot better.

[Née · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the first classics I've read in a while, and one that I've wanted to read since I played Eponine in a stage production of Les Mis in high school. I always found the story fascinating, and actually always loved the Broadway musical that is based on this.

I'd always heard a lot about Hugo, but never actually read any of his work. This is what I would say: he is an extremely eloquent, detailed and beautiful writer. His words are often closer to poetry than prose, and he was able to make me identify with a character (Jean Valjean) that was so unlike myself.

About Jean Valjean...he may be one of the most beautifully and exquisitely realized characters in fiction. Les Misérables is ultimately his journey, and it is a beautiful, horrible one. The other characters are also incredibly intriguing, particularly Marius Pontmercy and Javert. Some of the best scenes in this book take place during the French Revolution; these scenes were the page turners.

Having said this...there are points in even this shorter version that I found lagging, preachy, and even boring. I would caution those wanting to read it that you may find there are times you simply want to give up on reading it altogether - but stick with it, by the end you'll be glad you did.

Lastly, I would highly recommend this abridged version of the book for someone wanting the main taste of the story, without having the patience or time to read the full 1400 page version. At times I did feel like I was copping out a bit by reading this version, but I don't think it made the experience of reading it any less for me.

Darn it, now I definitely want to go back to France.

[mads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hello!! This Review Contains SPOILERS

I finished Les Miserables for my Honors English class, I read this in under three weeks, and enjoyed every part of it, okay well not every part, like the Thenardier Family, not my favorite at all. I enjoyed Jean Valjean and reading about his troubled past, but overcoming it, due to morals and love for a little girl named Cosette, who soon he adopted from the Thenardier Family. There is also the former mother of Cosette, Fantine. A mother looking for a home for Cosette, she leaves her daughter with the Thenardier family. Fantine cuts her hair off, sells her teeth and results to prostitution trying to earn money for her daughter. Fantine got very ill, and died, leaving Jean Valjean with the task with find her. He finds Cosette fetching water and after a fight and a large sum of money left with the Thenardiers. We also meet Javert, a lead police officer watching Jean Valjean, they get into a feud leading to Jean Valjean go into hiding with his daughter Cosette. On Valjeans and his daughters daily walk in the promenade, a young man grows in love with Cosette, yet Marius's thinks Cosette's name is Ursula, and it leads to many awkward yet adorable stalking scenes. After a war, and multiple deaths the book is finished. I really enjoyed it! It was fun and at times made me very furious. Haha! I related most to Marius, yet enjoyed most of the characters

Have a lovely day!
XOXO maddy

[Claire House · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was definitely a journey (and a long one at that). In my opinion, you cannot beat Hugo’s writing. It felt like every word was purposeful and the symbolism was very powerful and prominent. The book itself is divided into five “short” books, some better than others. My least favorite was probably St. Denis because the whole book is basically a detailed description of the barricade and the revolt that they ended up losing. However I was able to overlook those boring 100 pages because the rest just succeeded my expectations. I loved the character growth found in Jean Valjean, a convict turned good God follower. He was such a wonderful person and very selfless. I loved the father daughter relationship he had with Cosette and seeing their love for each other. Marius as a character was only okay, but I loved his grandfather, Monsieur Gillenormand. He started as a stubborn old man, and ended as a kind, loving grandfather. He was like Jean Valjean in that perspective. Overall, this book succeeded my expectations and blew my mind with how good it was. It changed my way of thinking and seeing the world by getting an insight into the selflessness of Jean Valjean and hearing about his kind acts. Be more like Jean Valjean is what everyone should live by.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so moving. Hugo has a lot to say about human capability and really believes that love is ultimately the most valuable gift we have been given. I wish I could explain how moving this book was, it even moved me to tears while I was finishing the story. I think this writing has permanently touched me. Victor Hugo has an agenda, but it only helps his story telling, it doesn't limit it. He shows how the slums in Paris really helped breed criminals. He doesn't leave it there though. He also shows that people are capable of both evil and good despite their background. He allows change in the characters and the people in this story are so multi-dimensional that I could write an essay on any one of them. I think that is what makes Hugo such a good writer. He understood how deep, complicated and hypocritical people can be, but I think he also saw our abilities of love and sacrifice. Sorry, this is the best I can do for a review. Please just go read this book.