/Victor Hugoshelf | Les Miserables

Reading Les Miserable takes you back to the 19th century, not just in the content, but as a reader. You can’t enjoy the book unless you allow yourself to amble along with Victor Hugo as he digresses from his plot and then digresses from his digressions. It’s hard to imagine this book being published today, as marvelous as it truly is.

That’s more a reflection on the nature of publishing in 2007, and our impatient reading habits, than Hugo’s writing, which is superb. His descriptions of places and characters are all masterful.

When Hugo remembers he is telling a story, the writing is exciting, dramatic, full of unlikely coincidences that you just accept because it’s fun. It’s a 19th century soap opera for readers who had little else to read and far fewer distractions than a modern reader, and his perceptively drawn characters entertain us even today (Lewis M. Weinstein).

I am embarrassed to say that I never finished the novel (not even the abridged version) and sparknoted the end in order to pass the test. I did, however, enjoy the parts I did read, encompassing the most of it. I also own the unabridged version, and some time, when I have a lot of time on my hands, plan on reading it in its entirety.