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Les Misérables

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Les Misérables

Written by: Victor Hugo
Narrated by: Bill Homewood
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About this listen

Les Misérables is set in Paris after the French Revolution. In the sewers and backstreets, we encounter "the wolf-like tread of crime", and assassination for a few sous is all in a day's work. We weep with the unlucky and heart-broken Fantine, and we exult with the heroic revolutionaries of the barricades; but above all we thrill to the steadfast courage and nobility of soul of ex-convict Jean Valjean, always in danger from the relentless pursuit of the diabolical Inspector Javert.

Translated by Isabel F. Hapgood

Public Domain (P)2015 Naxos AudioBooks Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction French Revolution Heartfelt Imperialism Middle Ages
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I read this when I was a teenager. I remembered the story and remembered enjoying it. I remembered crying as I read parts. I have read a decent number of books written in the 18th and 19th century, including long ones like the Count of Monte Cristo. At times, this book is painfully redundant, long winded, goes on tangents it reproaches itself for, and sometimes are completely unnecessary. I would often picture the other characters in these scenes, listening to this tangential sermons or redundant speeches, according to their character, just sitting waiting for them to finish, rolling their eyes, drinking from their glasses, or watching with a half smile because it's just ridiculous.

if you aren't completionist, aren't reading it for commentary on 19th century anything at all, and just want the story... find an abridged copy.

Rambling

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Les Misérables is in my life canon, even with the lengthy chapters about French culture, history, and religion. My first read-through was an abridged version as an adolescent, and it taught me the distinctions between humane and inhumane, charitable and base, vulnerable and impervious.

In adulthood, I listen carefully for those reminders, wanting to be like the Bishop, and Jean Valjean, actually seeing the Fantines and Eponines around me, wanting to ease suffering.

With all the solemnity and tragedy, hope and irony of the piece, I still find myself bursting with incredulous laughter at the skill of Hugo as a writer. Read sincerely, Hugo’s writing, thinking, and way of seeing are astoundingly beautiful, poetic, and recreative.

I love this book, its stories, and its author.

I laugh out loud every time

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The seemingly pointless ramblings lead the reader to understand the motivations and drives of the protagonists and how what we see unfold in their lives is an inexorable out come of who they are and how they came to be who they are...deeply deeply shows how humans distant in time, are still linked by a commonality of being human...and suggests that humans of any age are linked by their common shared humanity.

Listen to it, you will be as one with the story.

Fantabulously gloriously amazing and good

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This book is way too long winded and full of meandering descriptions of events and places and people who have no connection at all to the story... I've literally been listening for the last hour and a half to the narrator just rambling on and on about stuff that has no point and has still not gotten back to the plot... just going on and on and on ad nauseum about slang. if I were reading the actual book, rather than listening to an audio book, I'd have thrown it at the wall already, several times... i finally just gave up after the hour long lecture about slang. slang for gods sake. who even cares about nailing down every aspect and usage of slang?? i don't even care how the story ends.. its just not worth the headache anymore...

The movie is better!

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TL;DR: Don’t waste your time (or money) unless you’re interested in enduring over 65 hours of unnecessary detail. Just watch the movie instead.

This has to be one of the most overrated books I’ve ever come across. It feels like Victor Hugo was paid by the word, given how incredibly verbose the writing is. Why spend a couple of paragraphs to describe something when you can take 10 chapters, veering off on long tangents that often have little to no relevance to the main story?

The first part of the book is essentially a deep dive into the character of a priest. There's an entire section about Waterloo. And many chapters are devoted to detailing characters or events that barely contribute to the plot.

The bulk of the book was so slow and boring that I found myself skipping whole sections—and it didn’t matter. I wasn’t missing anything crucial to the main narrative. I didn’t feel like I was losing context or struggling to follow the story.

This was my first time hearing Bill Hornewood narrate an audiobook. While his performance was generally fine, certain voice choices became grating, though it wouldn’t deter me from buying an audiobook narrated by him in the future.

Bottom line: Just watch the TV series, movie, or play adaptation. They cut straight to the parts that actually tell the story without all the filler.

Just watch the movie instead.

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