- Hardcover: 1376 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Distribution Services; New edition edition (December 1955)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0004225538
- ISBN-13: 978-0004225531
- Shipping Weight: 789 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (266 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Library Journal
Hugo's classic tale set against the backdrop of political upheaval in 19th-century France retains its timeless appeal in this notably condensed rendition of the struggles of former convict Jean Valjean. While the abridgment inevitably cuts many of the intricate subplots and minor characters who enrich Hugo's vast tome, this suspenseful central plot tracing Valjean's endeavor to emerge from desperate circumstances while being pursued by the duty-obsessed Inspector Javert remains intact and comprehensible to listeners. The principal characters retain their epic proportions, and the major themes of redemption through good works and the importance of authentic charity are undiminished. Narrator Michael York adds vigor and distinct characterizations to the broad cast of characters in this fittingly dramatic performance. Suitable for collections that do not already contain one of the many audio versions of this work (e.g., Audio Reviews, LJ 5/1/93).?Linda Bredengerd, Hanley Lib., Univ. of Pittsburgh, Bradford
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“Rich and gorgeous. This is the [translation] to read… and if you are flying, just carry it under your arm as you board, or better still, rebook your holiday and go by train, slowly, page by page.”
—Jeanette Winterson, The Times (London)
“[A] magnificent story… marvelously captured in this new unabridged translation by Julie Rose.”
—The Denver Post
“A new translation by Julie Rose of Hugo’s behemoth classic that is as racy and current and utterly arresting as it should be.”
—Buffalo News (editor’s choice)
“Vibrant and readable, idiomatic and well suited to a long narrative, [Julie Rose’s new translation of Les Miserables] is closer to the captivating tone Hugo would have struck for his own contemporaries.”
—Diane Johnson
“A lively, dramatic, and wonderfully readable translation of one of the greatest 19th-century novels.”
—Alison Lurie
“Some of us may have read Les Miserables back in the day, but… between Gopnik and Rose, you’ll get two introductions that will offer you all the pleasures of your college instruction with none of the pain.”
—The Agony Column (trashotron.com)
From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
—Jeanette Winterson, The Times (London)
“[A] magnificent story… marvelously captured in this new unabridged translation by Julie Rose.”
—The Denver Post
“A new translation by Julie Rose of Hugo’s behemoth classic that is as racy and current and utterly arresting as it should be.”
—Buffalo News (editor’s choice)
“Vibrant and readable, idiomatic and well suited to a long narrative, [Julie Rose’s new translation of Les Miserables] is closer to the captivating tone Hugo would have struck for his own contemporaries.”
—Diane Johnson
“A lively, dramatic, and wonderfully readable translation of one of the greatest 19th-century novels.”
—Alison Lurie
“Some of us may have read Les Miserables back in the day, but… between Gopnik and Rose, you’ll get two introductions that will offer you all the pleasures of your college instruction with none of the pain.”
—The Agony Column (trashotron.com)
From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
In 1815 Monsieur Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of Digne. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
In 1815 Monsieur Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of Digne. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The greatest praise a book can have: It changed my life,
By leila (lexington, ky) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Les Misérables (Paperback)
Soon after finishing this book, I heard from a slight acquaintance -- a man I had sat next to on a Greyhound bus some months before. He was a foreign national and he had a problem: he had just been offered his dream job, but could not accept it due to some problem with his visa. On hearing his tale of woe, a thought occurred to me: here's a nice guy in trouble, and I have the means to help him. As I said, I had just read Les Miserables and was in the throes of a spiritual passion to help humanity. I asked him if he wanted to marry an American and secure a green card that way. Over the phone, I could hear his jaw drop.My only intention was to do him a little favor, then leave him to his own life while I went on with mine. We lived in different cities, so it wouldn't be much of a marriage. We would get divorced in a year or two, of course. I hoped that my action would inspire him to do something nice for a stranger in the future, just as the bishop's kindness inspired Valjean to become a different man. We married at the courthouse in 1996 with no witnesses present. I tried to make it clear to him that he owed me nothing and I did not expect to hear from him except as necessary -- to sign INS documents, et cetera. I am not a religious woman, but I sometimes think that God rewarded me for the one selfless act I've performed in my life. It's five years later and I have the best husband a woman could ask for. Our daughter is three months old.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great book, but consider the abridged version,
By Anonymous (Vanessa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Les Misérables (Paperback)
Growing up in a house where Les Misérables the musical was constantly played, I decided to read the unabridged novel. I was not disappointed - the storyline is fascinating, the characters are likeable, and Hugo has some fascinating ideas. I would, however, caution the reader to first consider the abridged version. Be advised that Hugo does go off on several tangents directly unrelated to the storyline, not the least noteworthy being an intensive 40-page description of the Battle of Waterloo. His dissertation on argot, or slang of the Parisian underworld, is fascinating to a linguist but perhaps tries the patience of the reader who is reading for pleasure. Try the abridged first, and then, if you're unsatisfied, buy this.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great, with all its faults.,
This review is from: Les Misérables (Paperback)
Long-winded and eloquent, tender and cynical, passionate and sane, Victor Hugo made literature by adding to life, rather than subtracting from it. Hugo sees life from many sides. He finds good in the revolution and the monarchy, the priest and the skeptic, but also roots of evil in each. Hugo is Humanist and Christian, pious and scornful, lover and long-winded story-teller whose acquaintance one does well to cultivate on a rainy day. He is also preachy. This book is a series of sermons sandwiched between narrative. He is a poet who inflicts on his readers a maddening romantic history of the Paris sewer at a critical point in the plot. Like Dickens, his coincidences defy all plausible odds. I felt like docking Hugo a star for all these forms of "extravagence," but then decided, in the spirit of romanticism, to add an extra five and then take them away again, leaving a full complement. Only a person who has failed to grasp this book's essential greatness would discount it on account of such failings. Even the demerits of a work like this add something to its beauty, like the coloring in smoky quartz. Hugo excells in description of character, mood, and aphorism. Here are a few of the latter: "The girl who knows herself to be pretty is less likely to become a nun, the sense of vocation varying inversely with the degree of beauty." "Skepticism, that dry-rot of the intellect, had left him without a whole thought in his head." "Two riches which the rich often lack -- work, which makes a man free, and thought, which makes him worthy of freedom." "They made the fatal blunder of mistaking the discipline of the soldier for the consent of the nation. These are the delusions that destroy thrones." I took Hugo with me on a trip to China, and found him a very good traveling companion...
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