Michael Seselja’s Reviews > Les Misérables > Status Update

Over 900 pages in and I’m still waiting for the revolution to start revolutioning.

One thing I’ve noticed is that Hugo seems to think social problems and crime will be solved if everyone just gets an education. Looking at this in 2025, the naive optimism is kind of funny.

Still enjoying the story.

Part Two. Hugo has been weaving the narrative (which is really interesting to follow) in with his own musings about nuns. On the one hand the disdain the nineteenth century liberal has for a convent is clear; he sees it as a bygone relic of a superstitious age. But as a nineteenth century liberal (not a twenty-first century one), he hasn’t abandoned belief in God and is intrigued by the life of prayer led within.

What I’ve read so far could stand on its own as a pretty good novel. Particularly enjoyable is the pages long description of a tortured conscience as the protagonist tries to fight the urge for self-preservation.

Just like other great books of this era the dialogue is absolutely off the charts. Did people actually speak that well back then and do we all just speak like uneducated fools now? Probably not. But it makes for good reading.