Les Miserables

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Who doesn’t know the story of Jean Valjean? Movies, plays, musicals, and countless abridgments have been made, and each usually covers the basic plot.

The unabridged book is one of the longest novels ever penned, and I’m probably not the only one who took a really long time to get through it. There is SO much going on. The meat of the story is of Jean Valjean’s life as a parole-breaker on the run and his own redemtion, and every version of the story gets that part right. It’s all the other stuff going on that makes the story so affecting—the tragedy of Fantine, the sly and terrible Mr. and Mrs. Thernandier, the hopeful and loving Marius, the inspiring Bishop who give Valjean’s life meaning—all  these characters and more give a richness to the story that feels larger than life.

As rich and thought-provoking as many elements of the story are, there are several very long tangents that Hugo takes. There is a lengthy section on the battle of Waterloo that is strictly for background. There is a section on the construction and maintenance of the Parisian sewer system. There’s another long section on the history of some street slang used by two characters so minor that by the time it gets back to the story, the reader may have forgotten what they were reading about.

That said, the abridged version has a grandeur that other versions simply do not have. The first 70 pages of the novel are about the life of a bishop in a small town. The bishop is a good man, and kind and thoughtful and an inspiring character. Jean Valjean is taken in by him after those 70 pages, and it is at that point where most abridgments begin.

Overall, Les Miserables was an inspiring story about redemption and kindness. Bad things happen to good people, and sometimes bad people get just what they wanted. The author paints a vivid picture of each character and the reader can learn a great deal about humanity through Hugo’s work.

If I were to read this again, I admit that I’d probably go with an abridged version. I’d also recommend an abridged version to someone who is more interested in the story than the history of Paris and France (and its sewers).

The audiobook version is around 60 hours, but it is great to hear the French pronunciations of the character names. I also found that it was easier to get through some of the “tangent parts” via audiobook than by reading it.

There’s good reason Les Miserables has been famous for so long—it’s a great story that anyone can learn from. Give it a try, there are muggets of wisdom on every page!

Les Miserables can be found in the adult fiction section and in the audiobooks.