Les Misérables: A Novel

Jean Valjean, an ex-con who spent 19 years doing hard labor in France around the revolution, finds himself bitter and hardened by his experience. But through some eye-opening experiences, he discovers God, and thus spends his life attempting to seek redemption. Throughout his life he attempts to do good deeds, even with the lawman Javert ever on the hunt for him. Valjean is one of the greatest heroes of literature, in part because he does always strive to do what is right for right's sake, but also because in many ways he represents the common man. He has made mistakes, and he has his doubts about himself. He cannot change the past, though, and so just strives to be a better man for the future. In many ways, we all seek redemption for our past misdeeds, and perhaps we even wonder when, if ever, we will have done enough. Valjean's tale is a moving one that should be experienced by everyone. Please note that this edition is an abridged one. However, I feel that this edition manages to capture all of the important bits of Valjean's tale while losing almost nothing of direct importance to his story. The only tragic cut is that a large part of Fantine's tale is missing, but other than that I find this is the edition of the story I prefer for those who actually care about the story first and foremost.

The musical Les Miserables (which I love) prompted me to read the book by Victor Hugo. I really enjoyed the read despite my initial misgivings taking up a French classic written so long ago. Despite this, it is very easy to read and, knowing the story of the musical, the extra dimension the book provides about the characters, kept me interested all the way. A few of the words used were not familiar to me and had me using the dictionary at times, probably because they have dropped out of modern usage. This book I believe is the abridged version as the original contained many long asides which became a little tedious to some readers. That said the story lacks nothing in detail in it's setting or depth of the characters. I found the book hard to put down and will definitely buy the unabridged version as M. Hugo was such a gifted writer and I also intend to explore more classic authors.

To start- I have to mention the seller did not send the orange book pictured, but instead a cheap copy. No matter I needed it for ethics class in grad school. Les Mis has been my all time favorite classic since I was 15 and most classics still bored me. At 35 I appreciate the story even more. If you haven’t read the novel it is a bucket list read for anyone. Maybe don’t purchase from this particular seller though if it matters that you receive the book pictures in the description 😂

I could not believe at my age I had not read this book or at a minimum know the story. My friend told me I just must read this. Humph....He was right. I bawled and smiled and cheered. It was amazing. It took my breath away. I wanted to jump into the book. The feelings it stirred up are hard to put into words. I hope it touches every reader the same way.

The first time I read Les Miserables it was the unabridged version and that was so full of story and historical facts that built up the setting and the characters. I thought it would be a little too much though for my 12 year old to read all of the history of the rise and fall of Napoleon and how he affected the political climate of the times so I chose the abridged version. Unfortunately, I found myself having to orally relate the back story of many important characters that set up the horrible and amazing consequences and results of actions and relationships. What an amazing book the unabridged Les Mis was, but this one was choppy to me. It just left out too much.

Five stars for the story, no stars for the quality of the binding. I was throwing away sections that fell off as soon as I’d read them. I’d look for another seller if I were you.

I read Les Mis on a kindle and loved it so much, I had to get a hard copy. This book has heft! Under the paper cover, the binding is blue. I found the hard cover to be handsome, if simple. The words are a comfortable size on the page (not tiny to try to make the book less huge).

I tried to read the full-length version but got bogged down in the lengthy descriptions and details. This is a very abridged version that filled in the blanks that were missing in the stage and theater versions of the book. I highly recommend everybody read this book. The Bishop is one of the best examples of how a Christian should behave in all of literature. Les Mis highlights the difference between one living under the law (Javier) and one living under grace (Jean Valjean) and the results of each.

A lot of choice on which Les Mis to download and in the end I picked one with a small charge. Well worth it. Free isn't always best. If you are like me and a huge fan of the musical but want to dig deeper then this would be one to go for. It is renowned as a 'big book' and one where Victor Hugo added a lost of historical information and social comment. That has been sifted out of this edition so that you can just stay with the main plot of the story. For me that works. When I've read it I'll know where to go if I want to read deeper again. But I'm enjoying the simplicity of just letting this magnificent story unfurl.

I've really enjoyed this edition of Les Miserables. It was easy to read, flowed well, and is really beautifully written. For someone looking for a very manageable and enjoyable version of the story, this is a great choice.

I chose to read this classic after both seeing the show a few years ago and then seeing the film. I wanted to read the original story as written by Victor Hugo. This has taken me the best part of my two weeks holiday and it is still not finished. It has transported me back into the days of the French Revolution and I now understand so much more than from either the show or the film. Victor Hugo must have had a brilliant mind and what I love about the Kindle version is that I can find out the meaning of any words with no real effort. In my view this should be given to all students be they literary or otherwise.

After watching the DVD of the musical, I felt I wanted to read the text (translated) as Victor Hugo had written it. but did not think I could cope with the 1,200 pages version! This one is excellent - far more moving than the fim/DVD. I coul;dn't put it down.

Always wanted to read the book behind the stage show and film. Found this one available for Kindle and feel that it is the best version available. There are lots of extras, such as the background to Hugo's life, which helps to set the context of the book.