Ok, I'm 16 LOVE to read and want to broaden my reading choices. Is this book difficult or boring to read through as it is a beast of a book. Is it also easy to follow and understand? Thanks =]
shareIt's long. Good, but long.
"Je crois que j'etais un peu amoureuse de vous." - Les Miserables
ya the book is long but it's not that difficult.
Definitely read the unabridged version. Also get the Norman MaCafee translation
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Meh . . . I wouldn't blame anyone for not reading the eighty pages about the Bishop.
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Do you hear the people sing?
Lestatic #4
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Yes, he's important in the sense that he redeems Valjean. But so did Petit Gevais, and Hugo didn't spend eighty pags on him. We didn't need te hear about all the saintly stuff the Bishop did, or his arguments with a Revolutionary soldier, or his household expenses; we just need to know that he's old, saintly, and makes Valjean a new man.
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Do you hear the people sing?
Lestatic #4
I survived the Bishop and the Petit-Picpus convent just fine, but Waterloo, the sewers and the description of the barricade are just impossible.
The book is brilliant and very hard to put down, but I won't blame anyone for skipping those three parts.
c'est ne rien
Ugh! The 40 odd pages about Waterloo were the worst pages I've ever read. It took me months to get through that as it was so boring. The rest is great though.
www.comfybrowncouch.blogspot.com
I didn't really mind the bishop. Some of his plots are pretty interesting, like when he presided over the deathbed of a revolutionary.
However, I wouldn't blame anyone for skipping Waterloo.
Je ne sais même pas votre nom
Theoretically, you can. Definately. I'm 13, and for the first time trying to read this, I actually got past page fifty. (Unlike other attempts) Now I'm at page... 450. So if you don't get past the first volume the first time, just wait a little and start over. If you're determined to read this, you can.
shareI read it at the age of 15, and it is really not that tough. Maybe you will skip certain chapters (dozens of pages on the sewers of Paris!), but if you are through, you enter a very exclusive society.
shareIt's long, but it's way more readable than some other, way shorter great works of literature out there. My advice is to take it in stages. The first time I read it, I was 12 or 13 and it took me almost a year. The second time I read it, I was 17 and I couldn't put it down, and finished it in less than two months. Now I'm 20, and I think it's due for a re-reading. VH makes a lot of digressions, like the lengthy bit about the bishop, not to mention the entire Waterloo section. But it's all relevant (even if only marginally so), and it's all readable so it goes by at a good pace. Bottom line: Go for it!
By the way, the edition I have is the Signet Classic edition translated by Fahnestock and MacAfee.
Victor Hugo DOES like describing his locations in amazingly astute details.
I noticed this when he practically orgasmed over describing medieval France in NOTRE DAME DE PARIS.
Flynn 24
For those of you that don't want to have to read through 300 pages about Waterloo, and the numberous other stop-downs that you guys have mentioned, I actually would suggest buying the slightly abridged version from Barnes and Noble.
It is one of the Barnes and Noble classics published by the same company, and it cuts the book to about 850 pages, but summarizes the parts that are cut. It's only like 10 bucks at most B&N stores. Not trying to advertise for the store, but it was a bit quicker to read than the unabridged.
That sounds like a good deal. The only abridged version I had seen when I was looking for this book was probably no more than 200 pages, and really just a glorified novelization of the Liam Neeson movie. But the Barnes and Noble one sounds great.
shareJust be careful going about it. I've attempted a couple of abridged versions and they always seem to take out more than they should and then you miss out on important aspects of the story. I say if you come to a boring part, skim through it and see if it's worth reading.
"To love another person is to see the face of God"
I thought the section on Waterloo went on forever, plus some of the other digressions (such as describing the life in the convent) also went on too long.
But in my mind you haven't really read a book if you skip over sections.
The book is awesome, 100% better than the movie go and read it. i read it in 2 days.
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