KDS’ FAVOURITE WESTERN BOOKS: LES MISERABLES

WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT?

What doesn’t happen in the plot of Les Miserables? In this 365-chapter, 1,000+ page novel, French literary great Victor Hugo describes the misery, love and ultimately redemption of ex-convict Jean Valjean. Valjean represents the best of humanity, a man who serves 19 hard years in prison for a theft driven by economic hardship yet continues to give back to the society that wronged him. As the narrative follows Valjean from embittered social outcast to honorable man, many other characters are introduced at varying levels of complexity, highlighting the consequences of social injustice and illustrating a range of human feelings including love, loneliness, and honor.

WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND IT?

Hugo wrote Les Miserables amid the injustices of nineteenth-century France, and unlike much of the literature of his time, Les Miserables was not written exclusively for the literate elite but instead describes the plights and possibilities for working-class society. Jean Valjean’s specific crime is based on a similar incident Hugo witnessed on the streets of Paris, when an impoverished man was arrested for stealing bread. Even as Hugo provides a critique upon the society that subjects his characters to such misery and injustice, he also shows how they are able to transcend their societal constraints with the help of love and compassion.

WHAT’S SO AWESOME ABOUT IT?

Les Mis has too many characters for readers not to love at least one, and for me this character is Eponine, the daughter of criminals who reaches adolescence in rags after a pampered childhood. Although Eponine comes from a morally bereft family, she ends up making tremendous personal sacrifices to do the right thing, and her tragic story of unrequited love invites compassion despite her shady background. Such complex characters make this novel memorable and give it a real human element, making their miserable circumstances that much more compelling.

THIS IS GREAT TO READ WHEN…

This is a great book for when you have a lot of time, as you will need a lot of reading hours to get into this work of classic literature – it was certainly not written for a generation accustomed to 6-second Vines and 140-character Tweets – and a lot more time once you’ve found yourself emotionally invested in the characters to read their full fates. It’s probably also best to read alone for when you start to tear up, which will likely happen a few times during this 1,500-page rollercoaster of emotions. I personally read this while I was studying in France – it kept me entertained every night at an otherwise-isolated university, and really helped me appreciate my surroundings.

IF YOU LIKED THIS, THEN YOU SHOULD TRY…

For starters, you should definitely try the recent film adaptation starring Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe (if you haven’t already), or the musical that the script was based on. For more literary enjoyment, check out The Hunchback of Notre Dame, another Hugo bestseller with similarly complex characters. The hunchback, like Eponine, is not a physically attractive character, and as in Les Mis there are no clear heroes and villains but rather those who succumb to their dire circumstances and those who are able to rise above those challenges. And if you enjoy the long French novel, be sure to check out The Count of Monte Cristo by fellow French literary great Alexandre Dumas – it is also well over 1,000 pages although probably still a couple hundred pages short of Les Mis.