Les Miserables

Unfortunately my reading speed hasn't been up to pace, so I won't post many book reviews here, but as a little taste I thought I would offer a short review to the longest book I've ever read. And yes, I read ALL of it.

Les Miserables most notably tells the tale of Jean Valjean, a thief and criminal who breaks out of prison, is saved by a priest, and turns his life around to become a humanitarian who is constantly on the run from the overzealous policeman Javert. The story is rich and powerful, with wonderful descriptions and moral quandaries that suck you in and pull you along Jean Valjean's tumultuous life.

However, there's another side to Les Mis, which are the endless political and philosophical ramblings that I'm sure you can tell I have no love for. Victor Hugo had many thoughts in his head when writing this book, and he decided to write them ALL down. For the French history buff, I'm sure the works would be engrossing. All the places his characters go, and even those they don't, are described in painstaking detail. The architecture and culture of 17th century France are paramount to Hugo. Unfortunately, to those who don't really care these passages are dry, dull, and looong.

So, if you start to notice that you haven't seen Jean Valjean or anyone you really care about for 3 chapters, just skip ahead because it's not important to the story and it will continue for several more chapters to come.

Overall, it's quite an undertaking at over 1400 pages of dense script, but as long as you skip the unimportant parts it's well worth it.

The complete Les Miserables gets a 6/10.
The story of Jean Valjean gets a 9/10.