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Les Miserables
122 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1991
11 people want to read
About the author
William Bankier
42 booksWilliam Bankier was one of Canada's premier crime/mystery writers with over 200 short stories published in Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock mystery magazines and in numerous anthologies. His work was produced for several Canadian and British television drama series. His short story collection, "Fear Is a Killer", was published in 1995. William was nominated for the Edgar Award in 1980 and three times for the Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award. He was awarded the Crime Writers of Canada Derrick Murdock Award in 1992 for his lifetime achievement.
From www.legacy.com
From www.legacy.com
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 11, 2019
Help. What do you do when you buy a foreign-language book, usually a classic like this, and it turns out to have been translated - insanely - by a computer? Funny for a page or two, but then you realize you've been had. So frustrating. I tried two different editions, both unreadable. off to the library now.
December 11, 2019
This is one of my favorite books of all time. It is a classic tale of struggle that is relevant pretty much any era.
March 27, 2020
Classic tale and a very good read. I read the Norman Denny translation not this one but couldn't find that edition in search.
June 27, 2023
5☆
This review is going to be a long one and will probably be edited throughout the week as I add more notes but I think it's time I write a review for this.
This is probably going to be really messy because when I hate a book, I know exactly WHY I feel that way about it, but when I like a book I'm just like "Yeah it was good :>" so this will mostly be random thoughts.
I read les mis mostly because I saw the musical and a lot of people were saying how much they liked the book, it's been on my tbr so when I had to pick a book for school I went with les mis so I'd be forced to keep reading and finish it in a timely manner.
I expected it to be hard to read but it was relatively easy and I could follow everything that was going on (it also helped that I knew the story from before, when I heard eponine with the thernardiers I immediately shelved that information for later because I knew it would be important)
This review will probably just boil down to how well the characters are portrayed in the book compared to the musical because some characters have changed a lot. The main point Is: everyone has enough time to really build off of eachother compared to a 2 hour musical and with such a huge and impactful story its good to sit with it for awhile. This also made every event amplified compared to the musical and it was just really good.
I think the musical really watered down Cosette as a character because she has a lot more time to grow with Valjean and way more time with Marius which makes the two of them falling in love way more believable. They spend basically every day together at one point while in the musical its like he shows up at her window and then they're fully in love.
The book also really compliments Fantine as a character and her story is just so tragic in every sense of the word.
The biggest change was probably Eponine's character, in the musical it's like she's Marius' best friend who's secretly in love with him while in the book they cross paths maybe once or twice and Marius barely even notices her. Even her death is different, in the musical it feels like her death is the last straw for the barricade and everyone is hyped up for revenge when really Grantaire fills that role in the book. Eponine really takes a backseat here, and it still doesn't take away from her character as a kid who steals and cons for her father.
Another big change was Marius at the end- HOLY HECK I felt like ripping him to shreds after how he treated Valjean. Granted, I understand Valjean didn't explain his situation well to Marius, but still you can't just cut your wife's father out of her life and leave her in the dark about everything it annoyed me so much, but Marius fixed everything eventually.
Also, really random, but that doctor coming in and seeing Cosette and Marius was SAVAGE like
"The physician felt his pulse.
'Ah! It was you he needed!' Murmured he, looking at Cosette and Marius.
And, bending toward Marius's ear he added very low,
'Too late.'"
Like DANG we don't like Marius but you didn't need to end him like that, he's trying his best rn.
There are a couple of other things I want to note before ending this review,
I kind of switched back and forth between some translations because I had an audiobook and a book that I'd go through interchangeably and they were from different translations. There wasn't too much that changed but one big thing was Enjolras and Grantaire's death where in one translation Grantaire asks if Enjolras permits it and "Enjolras shook his hand with a smile" which makes me think of a handshake, compared to a different translation where they clasped hands which makes me think of them with their backs to the wall holding hands while kind of fending them off and standing together rather than agreeing on something. It's a small thing but yeap :p
The last thing is a good example of how the extra bits of information throughout the book add to a greater story, like the background of the bishop and his candlesticks. In the musical, the candlesticks seem kind of random, but in the book, it's said that the candlesticks are the only thing of value that the bishop has left, so when he gives that to Jean Valjean to start a new life, he's basically putting everything he has left toward the old convict changing his ways. It's a small detail that adds a lot.
Overall Jean Valjean is best character, Enjolras and Grantaire are amazing and the musical adaptation hates Cosette apparently
5☆ ▪︎ 1463 pages
This review is going to be a long one and will probably be edited throughout the week as I add more notes but I think it's time I write a review for this.
This is probably going to be really messy because when I hate a book, I know exactly WHY I feel that way about it, but when I like a book I'm just like "Yeah it was good :>" so this will mostly be random thoughts.
I read les mis mostly because I saw the musical and a lot of people were saying how much they liked the book, it's been on my tbr so when I had to pick a book for school I went with les mis so I'd be forced to keep reading and finish it in a timely manner.
I expected it to be hard to read but it was relatively easy and I could follow everything that was going on (it also helped that I knew the story from before, when I heard eponine with the thernardiers I immediately shelved that information for later because I knew it would be important)
This review will probably just boil down to how well the characters are portrayed in the book compared to the musical because some characters have changed a lot. The main point Is: everyone has enough time to really build off of eachother compared to a 2 hour musical and with such a huge and impactful story its good to sit with it for awhile. This also made every event amplified compared to the musical and it was just really good.
I think the musical really watered down Cosette as a character because she has a lot more time to grow with Valjean and way more time with Marius which makes the two of them falling in love way more believable. They spend basically every day together at one point while in the musical its like he shows up at her window and then they're fully in love.
The book also really compliments Fantine as a character and her story is just so tragic in every sense of the word.
The biggest change was probably Eponine's character, in the musical it's like she's Marius' best friend who's secretly in love with him while in the book they cross paths maybe once or twice and Marius barely even notices her. Even her death is different, in the musical it feels like her death is the last straw for the barricade and everyone is hyped up for revenge when really Grantaire fills that role in the book. Eponine really takes a backseat here, and it still doesn't take away from her character as a kid who steals and cons for her father.
Another big change was Marius at the end- HOLY HECK I felt like ripping him to shreds after how he treated Valjean. Granted, I understand Valjean didn't explain his situation well to Marius, but still you can't just cut your wife's father out of her life and leave her in the dark about everything it annoyed me so much, but Marius fixed everything eventually.
Also, really random, but that doctor coming in and seeing Cosette and Marius was SAVAGE like
"The physician felt his pulse.
'Ah! It was you he needed!' Murmured he, looking at Cosette and Marius.
And, bending toward Marius's ear he added very low,
'Too late.'"
Like DANG we don't like Marius but you didn't need to end him like that, he's trying his best rn.
There are a couple of other things I want to note before ending this review,
I kind of switched back and forth between some translations because I had an audiobook and a book that I'd go through interchangeably and they were from different translations. There wasn't too much that changed but one big thing was Enjolras and Grantaire's death where in one translation Grantaire asks if Enjolras permits it and "Enjolras shook his hand with a smile" which makes me think of a handshake, compared to a different translation where they clasped hands which makes me think of them with their backs to the wall holding hands while kind of fending them off and standing together rather than agreeing on something. It's a small thing but yeap :p
The last thing is a good example of how the extra bits of information throughout the book add to a greater story, like the background of the bishop and his candlesticks. In the musical, the candlesticks seem kind of random, but in the book, it's said that the candlesticks are the only thing of value that the bishop has left, so when he gives that to Jean Valjean to start a new life, he's basically putting everything he has left toward the old convict changing his ways. It's a small detail that adds a lot.
Overall Jean Valjean is best character, Enjolras and Grantaire are amazing and the musical adaptation hates Cosette apparently
5☆ ▪︎ 1463 pages
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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