Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo’s tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience, when, owing to a case of mistaken identity, another man is arrested in his place; and by the relentless investigations of the dogged Inspector Javert. It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty.
For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #40: Stream of consciousness narrative)
The Classics Club
The Reason
My online book club had a reading challenge and we get points for thicker books, and this book also happened to be a buddy read, plus it’s been on my TBR for years!
The Quotes
“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”
“It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.”
“A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is invisible labor.”
“The future has several names. For the weak, it is impossible; for the fainthearted, it is unknown; but for the valiant, it is ideal.”
The Narrator(s)
Frederick Davidson. He was a great narrator; he was very easy to listen to and helped me sail really smoothly through a huge book with no issues.
My Thoughts
This is a tale of miserable wretches, alright, the title does not lie. I ended up enjoying it so much more than I thought I would, and I got really invested in the story and the characters. Having said that, I don’t necessarily like any of the characters. I thought Valjean and Javert were both quite annoying and overly dogmatic in their individual approaches to life. It was a whole lot of unnecessary drama, but I was very much pulled into the story, and I couldn’t look away!
Although I didn’t like the characters very much, I absolutely loved the experience of reading the book. There were a lot of digression by the author towards other historical events that happened, and he writes about them in detail. It took me away from the main story but it was also interesting and made me want to learn more about those events. The story also reminded me a little of The Count of Monte Cristo – which is one of my all-time favorite books – they had similar elements in both stories. However, it cannot compare to The Count of Monte Cristo for the place it holds in my heart.
I do believe that this is one of those stories I’d enjoy rereading again. It’s a huge book with a ton of details I’ve probably skimmed over on a first reading, so I’m sure I’ll get more out of it each time I reread. It’s not one I’ll want to reread anytime soon though, but I’ll have fond memories of reading it the first time.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?