Les Misérables

A lot of my friends are really into the book Les Misérables (and alternatively, the play as well). I started reading the book about a month and a half ago, but due to the fact that I was super busy with finishing up school, and then working at camp, it took me longer to read it than usual. The book is split into five different "volumes". I had a completely unabridged version, which sadly, only had three volumes. As soon as I get the chance, I'll try to find the final two volumes.

Despite being 800 pages long, there isn't actually that much in the plot. The author, Victor Hugo, spent an excessive amount of time on foundation information. For example, the first 60 pages or so were an in-depth look at the life of a bishop; talking about his history, his view on life, his political opinions, and stories about him. But, the amount of time spent with the protagonist of the book, Jean Valjean, is actually very, very short. Later on we learn that he died. Even though he had a lasting impact on Jean Valjean, how important was the background information. In the second volume Hugo spent another 60 pages describing the battle of Waterloo, even though it was almost entirely superfluous to the story.

Throughout the novel many minor characters have quite a lot of time spent on them, and every now and then some philosophy will be thrown at you (a book inside a book, bookception anyone?).

That being said, it worked well. If you have the extra time to spare, you can really get sucked into Hugo's tale that he so magnificently weaved.