Charles E. Wilbour

This is a long book, but worth the read. I was already a fan of the musical version, so I was familiar with the primary cast of characters, but this adds so much more to that story. (Warning: it is highly probable that if you know the musical, the songs will be stuck in your head the ENTIRE time you're reading.)

It's an engaging read, and for the most part it held my interest through the many pages. However, Victor Hugo likes to pause and take a chapter (or five) to provide in-depth back story and details. While informative, I'm not necessarily keen on taking a break to read fifty pages about the sewer systems of Paris when I'm eager to know the fate of characters.

I was a little bummed that the only two characters to get a happy ending were the two I found most dull. Not to say I didn't like Marius or Cosette, but compared with gems like Enjolras or Gavroche or Eponine or Javert... eh. But, hey, I guess the title of the book is enough of a head's up.

I would recommend it, and I imagine I'll feel compelled to read it again - which is always a good sign.… (altro)

I started reading on my Kindle and ended up getting lost in all the historical narration. I was on the verge of giving up entirely when I thought to try the audiobook. It still took me borrowing it from the library 3 TIMES to get through all the chapters, listening to it at 1.5x speed, but in the end, it did the trick.

I admire Hugo and his love of language that leads him to say a thing 3 or 4 different ways, when one would have done sufficiently to explain it. Listening to the narration of his prose was a wonderful way to pass the time. Reading it might have just been the death of me, tho. The characters and the story were incredible, and at the end of it, I think that all the thoroughness served a purpose. If I was a Frenchwoman at the time the book came out, I might have reveled in reading about things that my grandparents or parents had told me of their firsthand experiences of France in their day.

In the end, Hugo's story of Jean Valjean, Javert, Marius and Cosette and all the rest is much more dramatic and satisfying than any musical or dramatized version I've seen.… (altro)