Small Government Book Fan Club discussion

I decided to put this under Movies because I read the book too long ago and because this post has been inspired by the new movie version (a good one, by the way). If this book was written today, I am 100% sure it would be pigeonholed into Christian Fiction at best and quite possibly might have a problem getting published in the first place. the student uprising, the young love melodrama, even the cat-and-mouse game between Valjean and Javert- those are just plot points. Fundamentally, it's a story of a man's relationship with G-d and how different views of G-d lead people to divergent paths. Currently, as a society, we don't tackle these themes in our art as much as we should (or, if we do, we put it aside with a genre label and narrow both its appeal and its impact). And it's our loss.

I keep hearing that Hugo is the greatest Romantic writer ever. That's all I know. I really want to read NINETY-THREE about the French Revolution but don't have access to a full copy. I will read THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME soon. Unless someone has a better suggestion. Sorry for hijacking the thread! Just ignore me, I need to ramble occasionally.

Ayn Rand loved him, and that's a lot to say considering his Christian themes. He is considered the best example of Romantic literature, both the good and the bad parts of it.

Every line is indeed sung, which normally I don't like, but you get used to it pretty quickly. The acting is terrific.

For the book I recommend the abridged version. The regular one has too many historical sidetracks.

I've also heard that Hugo supported a strong central government. Being a product of the French Revolution I'm not surprised. I'm dying to read Hugo now. I better not let the moment pass and put him off another year.

Dany- I would read the book (maybe an audiobook if you are not sure if you want to spend your reading time on this). It's quite readable, the abridged version anyway.

Eddie- From what I understand, Hugo was pretty much a socialist, which you could say was sort of forgivable in his day considering it hasn't been tried.