Now a major musical film from Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech"), starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway, and also featuring Amanda Seyfreid, Helena Bonham-Carter and Sacha Baron-Cohen, Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" is one of the great works of western literature. Victor Hugo's tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), 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 (Russell Crowe). It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine (Anne Hathaway), driven to prostitution by poverty. Victor Hugo (1802-85) wrote volumes of criticism, Romantic costume dramas, satirical verse and political journalism but is best remembered for his novels, especially "Notre-Dame de Paris" (1831), also known as "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" and "Les Miserables" (1862) which was adapted into one of the most successful musicals of all time. "All human life is here". (Cameron). Mackintosh, producer of the musical "Les Miserables". "One of the half-dozen greatest novels of the world". (Upton Sinclair). "A great writer - inventive, witty, sly, innovatory". (A. S. Byatt, author of "Possession").
Les Miserables (Movie Tie-In)
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About the Author
Victor Hugo (1802-85) was the most forceful, prolific and versatile of French nineteenth-century writers. He wrote Romantic costume dramas, many volumes of lyrical and satirical verse, political and other journalism, criticism and several novels, the best known of which are Les Miserables (1862) and the youthful Notre-Dame de Paris (1831). A royalist and conservative as a young man, Hugo later became a committed social democrat and during the Second Empire of Napoleon III was exiled from France, living in the Channel Islands. He returned to Paris in 1870 and remained a great public figure until his death: his body lay in state under the Arc de Triomphe before being buried in the Pantheon.
From AudioFile
Les Miserables (The Wretches) is one of the most popular musicals in the world, though grand opera would have done more justice to the excessive romanticism of the 1862 original about the benevolent ex-con, his relentless pursuer and the street people of the July Revolution. Employing a judicious pruning and excellent translation, Nigel Anthony plays the melodrama and sentimentality without chewing the scenery--a neat trick. His characterizations are broad, but that's only appropriate here. He has a strangely jerky delivery, either a personal quirk or the product of numerous inelegant edits. Either way, he gives a listenable rendering of this improbable classic. Y.R.Ê (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Anonymous
Format: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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format: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...
By C. Naus
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
It is the song of angry customers.
It is the music of a people who are wondering why the prices between the US and Canada are still so far apart.
When the prices in the North echo the prices in the south
The Canadians will get to read
before tomorrow comes.
Will you join in my crusade
Who will be strong and stand with me
When the prices are the same there is so much more that I can read.
But not only that...I ordered this late in January for my husband to give me for Valentine's. This was officially the worst Valentine's ever as I am still waiting and we are now in the Middle of March with it nowhere to be seen. It is currently available from the US website for a fraction of the price I ordered it at here.
Is it time for a revolution?
It is the music of a people who are wondering why the prices between the US and Canada are still so far apart.
When the prices in the North echo the prices in the south
The Canadians will get to read
before tomorrow comes.
Will you join in my crusade
Who will be strong and stand with me
When the prices are the same there is so much more that I can read.
But not only that...I ordered this late in January for my husband to give me for Valentine's. This was officially the worst Valentine's ever as I am still waiting and we are now in the Middle of March with it nowhere to be seen. It is currently available from the US website for a fraction of the price I ordered it at here.
Is it time for a revolution?
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4.6 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
KhanSmama@arabicunion.com
I read all of his books and he is a very bad man - racist I would say. He is pol himself and always belittles other races, especially black and arabs. Read more
Published on Mar 15 2004 by Khan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Character Developement
Victor Hugo; I read the English translation years ago after (like many I supposed)seeing the musical. It is a very thick book, but one definately worth reading. Read more
Published on Dec 7 2003 by Glenn Laycock
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly portrays the human condition
This is a political novel written by Victor Hugo to show all the injustices in society and that change in society is needed. Read more
Published on Nov 14 2003 by Elizabeth
5.0 out of 5 stars
A tale of lives intertwined by the workings of God.
Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" is a classic tale set in early-19th Century Paris, in which the lives of several colorful characters cross paths, seemingly randomly, and are each... Read more
Published on Jun 15 2003 by miked99
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vive le Republique
I love this book. Yes, it is long, yes there are random tangents that hardly affect the story, and yes, it can appear terrifying upon a first look. But it is worth it. Read more
Published on Feb 19 2003 by Stella
5.0 out of 5 stars
Les Miserables
Hugo is brilliant. I've read this book countless times, and find new insight in it every time. I continue to be incredibly impressed with his chapter about Cosette and her... Read more
Published on Aug 4 2002 by Sarah
5.0 out of 5 stars
Consider the Penguin edition!
I won't attempt to extensively review this classic, except to say that it's one of the most readable, involving, uplifting books you'll ever read, *if* you enjoy the kind of long,... Read more
Published on Oct 2 2001 by faience
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sublime...
i nearly cried when i reached the end of this book; i wanted jean valjean to live, to finally be able to enjoy life, to reap the rewards of years of suffering and sacrifice. Read more
Published on Sep 11 2001 by Erren Geraud Kelly
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like A French War and Peace
There are similarities between the two books. Les Mis and War and Peace depict the same era, both are long and satisfying reads, and both were published in the 1860s. Read more
Published on July 12 2001 by Adam Dukovich
5.0 out of 5 stars
The greatest praise a book can have: It changed my life
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. Read more
Published on April 19 2001 by leila
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