Les Misérables - Victor Hugo

I was extremely pleased to find a copy of Les Misérables for only twenty-five cents at the local Goodwill. I've made a few decent finds there. The only trouble is that, as I later found, mine is the abridged version. Abridging a book is a good way to irritate me. I just think it is pointless to cut out sections of a perfectly good book! If I want to skip some I'll do it myself! So needless to say I wasn't pleased. I like it well enough but I wonder what I missed? I guess I'll have to read the complete work some time...

Since I'm not up on French I wasn't too competent with the names of the characters or, for that matter, the title. I suppose I'll have to look up the pronunciation. According to the wonderful Google translator it means "poor wretches". Of course you get the general idea since "Les Misérables" looks like "the miserable".

This is the first of Hugo's works which I've read. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is now most definitely on the to read list. Towards the end of the narrative it began to remind me very much of the Dickens books I read as the author revealed the ties linking Jean Valjean, Marius and the hero-turned-criminal, Thenardier. As usual... I recommend it!

Les Misérables at The Online Literature Network