Product Description
Set in medieval Paris, Victor Hugo’s powerful historical romance The Hunchback of Notre-Dame has resonated with succeeding generations ever since its publication in 1837. It tells the story of the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda, condemned as a witch by the tormented archdeacon Claude Frollo, who lusts after her. Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer of Notre-Dame Cathedral, having fallen in love with the kindhearted Esmeralda, tries to save her by hiding her in the cathedral’s tower. When a crowd of Parisian peasants, misunderstanding Quasimodo’s motives, attacks the church in an attempt to liberate her, the story ends in tragedy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

More Miserable than Les Mis
I read Les Miserables a few years before this one and was absolutely blown away by the depth of the plot and characters is that Victor Hugo novel.It was certainly in my top five all time favorite novels. I then thought I might as well give the Hunchback a try for the sake of the author.Wow, what a mistake that was!The Hunchback of Notre Dame has more useless commentary on architecture than it does actual plot.There were no redeeming qualities or lessons to be learned, and the emotions of the main characters were grossly overdone and unrealistic.Every one of the characters had a moment where they made we want to transport myself to 16th century France and slap them around a bit.Instead of having some grand redeeming takeaway at the end of the story, Hugo just kills off everyone.It was as if he said to himself "This really is a terrible story and I'm sick of writing it...it's not worth it to come up with a proper ending, I hope nobody notices."I think I would have liked this better if the writers from the Disney movie collaborated on a new revised version with talking gargoyles.Truly astounding.

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
An excellent, very readable translation of the UNCUT original, revealing it to be a lot more panoramic than I expected, a much broader look at the city of Paris, its physical presence, and all the people who inhabited it in Victor Hugo's time, and not focused so exclusively on the one familiar title character - a title which was not Hugo's own, but was applied to the first English translation by the publisher; Hugo titled his work "Notre-Dame de Paris". The introduction is lucid and passionate, and for scholars, there are extensive explanations of Hugo's topical references at the end of the book.

good if you can make it to the end
This book was a toughie for a half-wit like me. I honestly am not sure what was going on the first half of the book. I don't think I cared either as it was pretty boring. And then the second half comes along and the plot really develops into an interesting story. But there were times when I was tempted to give up and stop reading altogether - maybe pick up the pocket classic version instead. But I think the finale made it worthwhile. I think another problem for me was that I started the book with zero knowledge of the story so all the characters were alien to me. I think I might have appreciated the early on parts more if I had a better idea how things were going to turn out.

I liked Les Mis. which goes a little heavy on description at times but Les Mis. seemed more 'even' as this book is weighted heavily on the front end with description and set-up.

I loved this story
I would have to say it has everything, and is highly readable, which I think is an important recommendation to give potential readers of classic fiction.It is beautiful, simple, filled with humor and compassion.I particularly liked the way Hugo pokes fun at the absurdities of anti-Gypsy prejudice and other social bigotry.Esmerelda's suitor, however, is a terrible selfish jerk in this story, which is far funnier and more believable than the selfless sap he plays in the Disney movie.Altogether an unforgettable read, and an unforgettable character in the Hunchback, who Hugo paints with considerable humanity.

An Amazing Read
Now I have to be completely honest with you, when I first started to read this book, I really did not like it. The book just did not really grab my interest, and I felt as if the things Victor Hugo wrote about were completely pointless. However, as I continued to read The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, I got really into the book. It just captivated my interests, and I could not wait to read about the end results of the love triangle/square between La Esmeralda, Claude Frollo, Quasimodo, and Captain Phoebus.

I also found this book comical at times, because of the actions of the characters. Like just some of the things they did or said, I just found funny. They might or might not have been meant to be humorous, but to me they were. An example would be when Claude Frollo is trying to kiss La Esmeralda, and she exclaims, "Help! Help! -A vampire! A vampire!" I don't know why, but that just made me laugh, because if that happened to me, I wouldn't yell about a vampire. I would have probably yell, "Help! I'm being molested!" or something close to that.

... Read more

Product Description
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Meet Quasimodo the bell-ringer of Notre Dame in this early classic by the pen of Victor Hugo
Notre Dame of Paris (aka The Hunchback of Notre Dame) is classic romantic fiction by Victor Hugo (1802-1885). Many have seen the Hollywood film starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara but have not yet had the pleasure of savoring the exciting and sad novel written so long ago by a young Victor Hugo. He who would later write "Les Miserables" was flexing his muscles in this novel of the 1830s.
Quasimodo is the deformed hunchback of Notre Dame. He is deaf, has one eye and is hideously mishappen. He is one of three men in love with the fetching gypsy La Esmerelda. She was born "Agnes" but was stolen from her prostitute mother by gypsies. La Esmerelda entertains the Paris mobs by dancing and exhibiting her goat Djalin who can do tricks. Later they will both be accused of witchcraft and sentenced to be hanged.
The sinister archdeacon Claude Frollo adopted Quasimodo and is also in love with Esmerelda. The evil cleric seeks to rape her but is foiled by Quasimodo. The third man in love with Esmerelda is the swashbuckling Phoebus the captain of the guard. He seduces the young girl even though he is engaged the lovely and wealthy Fleur de Lys.
The lives of all these characters are entwined in a story of color, adventure, love and ultimately of tragedy.
The real hero of the tale is Paris and the architecture of the Gothic Age championed by Hugo. The novel is not perfect as Hugo spends many pages discussing art, architecture, the church and the lives of fifteenth century Parisians but he still is able to hold your attention. While not on the literary level of such nineteenth century French superstar authors such as Flaubert, Balzac, Stendhal and Zola, Hugo is still worth reading. He will inform and entertain you. This is one of the saddest novels I have ever read as we suffer with La Esmerelda the beauty and Quasimodo the beast (Quasimodo is the first Sunday following Easter). This is an essential novel to be read b y everyone claiming to be educated. Enjoy!

A confession.
I have come to the conclusion after rereading Notre-Dame of Paris that I must be a terribly shallow person. I expected to love it. This was one of the first classic novels that I read as a child. I loved it then. Critics love it. How could I not love it now? I'm sorry, dear readers, I am surprised and grieved to tell you that it bored me to tears.

It seemed to me now as though it were written to teach freshman literature students about place as character. Or was intended to assist a third year intensive study program on Paris in literature. The symbolism seemed large and forced and the philosophizing easy and obvious. The digressions about architecture weren't long enough to do anything except distract me from the story. I was interested in the story itself, but found it quite choppy and hard to read with all the jumps and interruptions. In fact, the bit that I liked best was the "Note Added to the Definitive Edition" included at the front of the book.

How disappointing.

Anyhow, I'm sure that this is going to earn me large brickbats thrown at my head, but I can't help it. I just didn't like it this time around. So there you go. I don't want to discourage anyone from reading it, since this is one of those books that one is simply meant to read. But I at least wanted to post this review and let any other dissenters out there know that they were not alone. I'm going to pick up another Hugo and see if it is just his style that irritates me unduly. I've given it three stars because it seemed cowardly to give it more. On the other hand, it seemed wrong to give a book of this stature less.

Feel free to tell me why I'm wrong in the comments.

(The Penguin Classics edition seems fine, by the way. The introduction is helpful. The translation by Sturrock seems good enough-- if perhaps overly peppered with archaic words. Blessedly, the notes were left as footnotes and not as endnotes.)

You feel like you really are in Paris
The book is brilliant. The caracthers are complex, except for that La Esmeralda, the city of Paris is beautiful describe and the chapter about architecture and litetarute is fascinating. Victor Hugo's style of writing is elegant and his sense of humour, sometimes really ironic, is unique.
The only low point of the book is La Esmeralda caracther. She is shallow, the typical "please rescue me" heroine and i kept asking myself praticatly the whole time i was reading it: HOW CAN SOMEONE BE SO STUPID???????? And by the end of the book, every time she said "my phoebus" i felt like slaping her. And i didn't think her love for "my phoebus" was bliding her so she couldn't see what he was really about. I think she was that dumb and stupid to not see what was right in front of her. Love isn't blind. Love is the opposite. That's why Quasimodo's love for her is so great. He is aware she doesn't love him, she doesn't even like him, she just keep on thinking about "my phoebus", he sees all that and still he loves her. That's love. What she felt was due to her stupidity.
When la esmeralda, hiding from the people who wants to hang her, hears phoebus' voice and yells "my phoebus" (it seemed that the only sentence she could say most of the book), and is found out, i thought: "she deserves to be hung, how can someone be so dumb??????".
I 'don't give 5 stars because of her.

Notre Cher Notre Dame
Forget singing hunchbacks and chivalrous captains, dancing on rooftops and merry parades, and embrace the real Notre Dame of Paris. Poor, deaf Quasimodo, doggedly loyal to his vicious and stern master, delighting in his pealing bells and as flawed as every other character in the book makes a frightful counterpoint to the beautifully innocent La Esmeralda. The tale does not begin with them but events spiral around these two in a vortex of complicated plots and duplicitious people, drawing closer and closer to finally end with the two unfortunate souls. It is a single-sided Romeo and Juliet, a daisy chain of ill-conceived romance and misbegotten loves that ensanare everyone they touch. Every character has a story, from Gringoire the poet of the streets to Claude Frollo, the very model of severe ecclesiastical virtue and his miscreant brother, and even the city itself is described in occasionally agonizingly minute detail. They are at times loveable, at times odious, and forever utterly enthalling.

Romaticism at its best!
Victor Hugo, the French poet and writer, who wished to change how novels were written and read, wrote The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in the beginning of his career. In contrast to Les Miserables, which is his more celebrated work, and was written several decades after the Notre-dame novel, the present piece is not only laced with more humor and romance but also stands out as a piece where the young poet in Hugo pours out a ravishing range of similes. Just for the pure magic of his metaphors and similes that make all his descriptions so poetic, so powerful Notre-Dame is worth reading.

The story itself reads like a fanciful movie, an ugly hunchback, Quasimodo is brought up by a Priest Frollo, the archdeacon of Notre-dame. The hunchback is hence attached like a dog to his master to him. The English title of Hunchback of Notre-dame is a misnomer, for the original is called Notre-dame de Paris, and English title lets us assume that it is the story of Hunchback as hero, while the original title asserts it is story set in Notre-dame and has characters who reside in it, or live in its shadows. The Priest Calude Frollo, leaving his pursuit of science and philosophy meanders to a path of unrelenting lust for the gypsy dancer, Esmeralda. A writer, Pierre Grigorne, gets into a set of bizarre circumstances, where a token marriage attaches him to the gypsy. Phoebus, captain of King's Archers is the object of the affection of Esmeralda herself.

Besides these characters, there is a madwoman who lives in confinement, pining for her lost child, who was carried off by gypsies, and hates Esmeralda. There is the goat Djali, who performs tricks with Esmeralda, Jehan who is Claude Frollo's irreligious brother, King Louis IV - who interacts with Claude on issues of science, and the most important character, who lurks like an existence all though, is the Notre-Dame itself. The romances criss cross through a series of interesting episodes and drama, and that forms the crux of the story that I won't divulge here. Readers will benefit by discovering surprises and mystery for themselves, in process getting enchanted by a story that has been a popular read for centuries now.

What makes this novel a masterpiece, besides the poetic descriptions, is
Hugo's description of the cathedral of Notre-dame and the city of Paris, and his discussion of how the arrival of printing press signaled an end to the importance as architecture as the expressive art of intellectuals. The views of the author expressed in these pages and pages of delightful reading provide the reader not only with historical and architectural perspective on the buildings in Paris, but also gives us a word image of buildings, roofs, rooms, carvings, modernism, and more. In his commentaries and comparisons between writing and printing as form of expression in contrast to architecture, Hugo unmasks a wide array of issues that arrival of every new media (TV, Cinema, Internet, Digital Photography) bring. How existing precepts and concepts are revised, how adaptations occur, how each age has its own expression through any of these means- and all Hugo says so passionately about architecture or literature allows us to feel the essence of why we make monuments of stones or words in the first place.

Victor Hugo had great skill in developing characters, and describing their lives over an extended period of time, capturing how situations and people led to certain choices, behavioral changes and thought process of each. His ability of doing this, in a very detached manner, where narrative is like a camera floating into a room, and staying long enough for a distant observer to watch and identify traits of every person present there, makes him a great novelist. The novel, like all classic reads, looks formidable in size, but can be read at a formidable pace, especially after the first half of the novel is over.

Besides the merits of the novelist, and the beauty of his wordplay, the story itself is a charming one, and has been brought to screen versions many times. Reading Hugo's two major works allows one to get the same keen insight into French society of the respective times, as does Thackeray and Dickens novels for England and Tolstoy in Russia. Reading any of these masters takes time, but trust me, it is worth the patience and the effort. Recommended highly. ... Read more

Product Description

This collection was designed for optimal navigation on Kindle and other electronic devices. It is indexed alphabetically and by category, making it easier to access individual books, stories and poems. This collection offers lower price, the convenience of a one-time download, and it reduces the clutter in your digital library. All books included in this collection feature a hyperlinked table of contents and footnotes. The collection is complimented by an author biography.

Table of Contents

List of Works by Genre and Title
List of Works in Alphabetical Order
Victor Hugo Biography

Novels :: Short Stories :: Non-Fiction :: Poems

Novels
The Man Who Laughs
Notre-Dame de Paris or The Hunchback of Notre Dame Translated by Isabel F. Hapgood
Napoleon the Little
Les Misérables Translated by Isabel Florence Hapgood
Toilers of the Sea

Short Stories
A Fight with a Cannon
Claude Gueux

Non-fiction
The History of a Crime Translated by T. H. Joyce and Arthur Locker
The Memoirs of Victor Hugo
Preface to Cromwell Translation done by Harvard Classics

Poems
Poems (~200)

Customer Reviews (2)

Wonderful novels
Works of Victor Hugo. Les Miserables, Notre-Dame de Paris, Man Who Laughs, Toilers of the Sea, Poems & more. Published by MobileReference (mobi)

This ebook is well worth reading if read for the right reasons. Don't read it looking for "techniques" or for "neo-modernism," or "anything-else-isms." I guarantee you that's not what the author had in mind when he wrote his novels. He meant them to be read, not analyzed.

Les Miserables, Notre-Dame de Paris, Man Who Laughs ~ Kindle eBook
Works of Victor Hugo. Les Miserables, Notre-Dame de Paris, Man Who Laughs, Toilers of the Sea, Poems & more. FREE Author's biography and Stories in the trial version.

These books are simply amazing! Les Miserables, Notre-Dame de Paris, Man Who Laughs are among the most powerful novels ever written. ... Read more

Product Description
"Graham Robb tells the complicated story of this colossal life with authority and sympathy. . . . Unquestionably, a magnificent biography".--"Washington Square Press". of photos.Amazon.com Review
It's easy to see why Victor Hugo won the 1997 WhitbreadBiography Award. Unintimidated by the epic sweep of Victor Hugo's life(1802-85), British scholar Graham Robb analyzes it with intelligence, wit,and enormous verve. The author wears his learning lightly as hecherry-picks the vast Hugo archives to cogently chronicle hissubject's evolution from leading poet of the Romantic revolution(Hernani) to passionate novelist of the downtrodden (The Hunchbackof Notre Dame) to majestic political exile (The Chastisements),thundering against the tyranny of Louis-Napoleon from the ChannelIslands. Victor Hugo is a stimulating, opinionated reassessment of France's mostmonumental writer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Well-researched, and yet...
Well-researched biography, maybe; however, I found Robb's patronizing tone towards his subject to be distasteful, offensive. A more objective account--without a lurking sneer behind it--is in order.

Some Background Required
Graham Robb's magnificent bio of Victor Hugo has won numerous awards, and deservedly so; Robb has steeped himself in Hugo's works and life. It's all there - Hugo's greatness, his megalomania, his politics, his poetics, his personal life - stripped of the many false accretions of previous biographies. Robb sees Hugo clear, and he sees him whole. My only reservation - and I think it is a fairly significant one - is that Robb assumes that his readers are already familiar with Hugo's immense literary output (not just Notre-Dame de Paris and Les Miserables, but dozens and dozens of other books of poetry, novels, biography, politics, etc.). And Robb also assumes that his readers know something about the tortuous and very complicated course of 19th century French politics, from the Revolution to the Third Republic. This is a lot of background to assume of the general reader, and so - by all means get the book, it's the best existing biography of Victor Hugo, but be prepared to do some additional reading if necessary, to fill in the background that Robb takes for granted.

Tremendously enjoyable -- reads like an adventure novel!
This is the most enjoyable biography I've ever read, portraying someone who truly was larger than life.It's as complex, entertaining, and riveting as the man himself.Bravo!Now, how can we get Hugo's completeworks translated into English?

A thorough accomplishment that gives life to the legend.
I spent a week in Paris last year, and returned home wanting to know more about this Victor Hugo whom Parisians still revere as a God.And Robb's book did the trick!Since reading it I've tried to find an American toequate him with, but fall short:I must make do with a composite of ThomasJefferson (for statesmanship in opposition to the crown), Henry DavidThoreau (for drawing strength from nature for his writing) and WilliamJeferson Clinton (for his sexual appetite).

Thoroughly enjoyable AND scholarly: quite an accomplishment!
Graham Robb is one of that rare breed of scholars, who write what they want to, unfettered by institutional constraints, and write to an intelligent, literate audience that genuinely wants to learn.Much ofVictor's Hugo's work is inaccessable to the English language audience. Robb's presentation and interpretation of many different aspects of hisliterary career show how much he enjoyed the Hugo's work, and hisenthusiasm excited this reader.He did a masterful job of integratinghistory, the stange personal life of Hugo, and his massive literary output. This will become a classic source of information about Victor Hugo. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Amazing
This is an incredible book.I first ran into it when my college art instructor brought it for me to look at.He obtained a copy while on vacation, visiting Hugo home.I was awestruk then and now.Now a few years later, I was visiting the Art Institute of Chicago and saw a Hugo, one that is actually in the book.

It jogged my memory of this incredible book.I jumped online, and amazingly found a copy here on Amazon.I can't wait to get it.And for an amazing price.

This book is fonaminale in its explaination of Hugo, his art, and his techneques.A ture treasure for anyone interested.Exceptional work from someone who is known for is writing, not drawings.

Wonderful book on aneglected aspect of Hugo.
After viewing Hugo's art displayed at his home, I was surprised at the lack of material I could find to read about it.This book has been a great find for me, and Ihighly recommend it to anyone interested in Hugo or thehistory of modern Western art. ... Read more

Product Description
Here is the haunting drama of Quasimodo, the hunchback; Esmeralda, the gypsy dancer; and Claude Frollo, the priest tortured by his own damnation. Shaped by a profound sense of tragic irony, it is a work that gives full play to the author's brilliant imagination.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (83)

Just what I needed
The book was in good shape and delivered quickly.Just want I needed.Thanks.

Great.
Can tell it's the work of a young author with a withering view of society. Hugo deserves more credit as a forerunner in the literary naturalism and realism that later authors get all the credit for. Important to the theme is that nobody's perfect; not even Esmerelda.

Earthenware and Crystal
Just a friendly warning: this book does not have a happy ending. It's a heartbreaking, frustrating, deeply upsetting book that will leave you feeling dazed and overwhelmed long after you've finished it.

So why read it? Because it's amazing, that's why.

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame", also known as "Notre Dame de Paris" in the original French edition, is a story of contrasts. On the one hand, it describes the beauty and majesty of medieval Paris, while at the same time it exposes the ignorance and cruelty of its people. It shows that those in power are sometimes the ones who are the least qualified to possess authority. And it introduces characters who, while sometimes exaggerated, are incredibly well-developed, and what's more, are never really what they seem.

Archdeacon Claude Frollo, for example, is made up of contradictions: he is quiet, cold, and serious, and yet he is deeply attached to his little brother Jehan and feels pity for the orphaned Quasimodo. He is devoted to God and to the church, but is obsessed with science and with accumulating knowledge. He shuns the society of women, but is secretly consumed with passion for Esmeralda. He is respected for his piety and his great learning, but he has a dark side that frightens even himself.

Quasimodo, on the other hand, is so feared and hated because of his appearance that he has turned his back on humanity, until an act of pity bestowed on him by Esmeralda softens his heart. After that moment, ugly and deformed as he is on the outside, he proves to be a tender-hearted, tormented, and deeply sympathetic character. The chapter "The Bells" was one of my favorites, which showed the degree of his affection toward the bells which had made him deaf. Though he is viewed by society as a monster, in reality he is the only person in the story who seems capable of real self-sacrificing love.

Esmeralda, the beautiful gypsy girl, is not what she seems, either. Sweet, innocent, and chaste in the beginning, she soon shows her true colors when she becomes infatuated with the young, empty-headed, licentious Captain Phoebus, and is willing to give up her chastity and (so she believes) any chance of finding her parents, simply to be loved by him. In the chapter entitled "Earthenware and Crystal", in which Quasimodo presents her with two vases - one a beautiful crystal vessel containing dry, withered flowers, and a crude earthenware vase full of fresh blossoms - Esmeralda chooses the crystal vase with its faded flowers, proving how shallow and superficial she is by showing she is only capable of appreciating outer beauty.

There are a few chapters which diverge from the plot and can get a little tedious - namely, "Notre-Dame", "A Bird's-Eye View of Paris", and "This Will Kill That" - but oddly enough, the author's intimate, conversational narrative style keeps them from becoming boring(at least to me). Walter Cobb, who was responsible for translating the story so brilliantly into English, certainly deserves some of the credit for this.

All in all, as depressing, infuriating, and heart-wrenching as this book is, it's also impossible to forget. And it's the only book I've ever begun re-reading immediately after finishing it the first time.

A tragedy for the ages.An emotionally powerful story!
This was my first Hugo, and I must admit to having mixed feelings. On the plus side, the plot of this book grabs your attention and never lets go, and through its development, Hugo proves why he is considered a master of his craft.The story of La Esmeralda, Quasimodo, and Dom Claude Frollo is absolutely excellent, and as these tragic characters go through their intensely-painful experiences the reader is treated to a unique look at raw human emotion of all sorts.The frightening obsession of Dom Claude, the frustrating naivety of Esmeralda, and the pitiful depression of Quasimodo are the primary focuses of this book, and succeed in making it very powerful.The addition of Jehan, Phoebus, Gringoire, and Djali give spice to the story, but don't distract from the principle protagonists/antagonists mentioned above.And of course the ever-present Notre Dame itself, under whose immense and almost-menacing shadow all of those characters live out their lives, helps shape the story too.In all, because of the unique characters and their powerful emotional trials, this is one of the most enjoyable and memorable I've ever read.

That being said, there are a couple of aspects of this book that I found less-than-pleasing, almost irritating.Primarily, like most other reviewers have said, the long-winded tangents describing mundane-seeming topics from archaeology to philosophy draw out parts of this book way too long, both distracting from the story and challenging readers not to start skimming.It is possible that Hugo had citizens of Paris in mind when writing this, and they might find the detailed street and building layout interesting, but I can't believe most readers now don't have a similar reaction to mine. I'm not sure if Hugo was getting paid by the word here, but it certainly seems like he went out of his way to demonstrate his disregard for pacing.

Also, and this is a minor complaint, I found myself becoming annoyed with the forgetfulness or seeming idiocy of ALL of the characters.There is not a single character in this book that consistently behaves in an intelligent way.Especially the otherwise extremely likable Esmeralda, who somehow fails to see the truth time and again when it seems to be staring her right in the face.It may be a fault of mine, but I can't help feeling frustrated by characters I like behaving foolishly.But I guess this was partly Hugo's point with this book.He certainly seems to be a cynic when it comes to the human condition.

One thing I was surprised to learn, was that "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" wasn't the original title of this work, and that Quasimodo himself didn't occupy the spotlight nearly as much as that title would imply."Notre Dame de Paris" seems like a better title considering the book's content, but "C'est la vie."

As for recommending this book, I heartily do so, but caution readers to expect some hard slogging at certain points, as Hugo lives up to his reputation of being long-winded.Still, this is a wonderful and powerful story that should be experienced by all!

Hugo Mistake
While Victor Hugo's genius is obvious as one progresses through The Hunchback of Notre Dame, I nevertheless finished with the impression that he was overwhelmed with this piece.What starts very promisingly is concluded awkwardly.The climax hinges on a foolish miscommunication between liberating vagabonds and the heroic Quasimodo, both of whom are working to save unfortunate Esmeralda.Opposing forces share the same benevolent intentions, depriving readers of a dramatic contest between good and evil.It is unclear what Hugo intends to achieve with Esmerlada's estrangement from and epic reunion with her mother, given their ensuing fates.That said, the story's moral is communicated forcefully. ... Read more

Product Description
This file includes: Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), The Toilers of the Sea, The Man Who Laughs, Les Miserables, The History of a Crime, The Memoirs of Victor Hugo, and Poems. According to Wikipedia: "Victor-Marie Hugo(26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France. In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry but also rests upon his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem, and Hugo is sometimes identified as the greatest French poet. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (known in English also as The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Though a committed conservative royalist when he was young, Hugo grew more liberal as the decades passed; he became a passionate supporter of republicanism, and his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and artistic trends of his time. He is buried in the Panthéon." ... Read more

Product Description
In the dark world of medieval Paris, the deformed bell-ringer of Notre Dame Cathedral heroically fights to save the life of a beautiful Gypsy girl about to be unjustly executed. Told with simple vocabulary and set in large type, this adaptation of the classic tale is perfectly suited for young readers.  


From the Trade Paperback edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A classic worthy of Bollywood
In late medieval Paris, a priest serving at the Notre Dame de Paris is sexually attracted to a Gypsy dancer. He gets his adopted son, a bell-ringer who suffers from several physical deformities yet has superhuman strength, to try to kidnap her. She is saved by a squad of soldiers; the bell-ringer is captured and tortured; the dancer has pity on him and gives him water to drink. He falls in love with her. The captain of the soldiers too is attracted to the dancer; when they go on a date, the priest tracks them down, stabs the officer and thinks he has killed him; he then has the dancer captured and tried for witchcraft. Under torture, the dancer confesses to practicing witchcraft and killing the officer; she is sentenced to be hanged. She is given sanctuary from secular law in the cathedral, and befriends the bell-ringer; the priest attempts to rape her but the bell-ringer beats up the rapist before he realizes that this is his adoptive father. The Gypsies of Paris organize an attack on the cathedral in an attempt to free the dancer; the bell-ringer misunderstands their intentions and fights them off. King Louis XI of France orders his army to violate the sanctuary and fight the Gypsies. A mysterious stranger arranges the dancer's escape from the cathedral in a boat down the Seine; in the boat he is revealed to be the priest. The dancer spurns the priest's advances again, and he hands her off to onlookers who in turn hand her off to soldiers. One of the onlookers is a woman who hates the Gypsies because they kidnapped her daughter years before; only when the soldiers arrive and arrest the dancer does she realize that the dancer is actually her daughter; a soldier kills her when she wants to be reunited with her daughter. The dancer is hanged; the priest watches the execution and laughs demonically; when the bell-ringer sees him laugh, he flings him down from the tower, and goes to die together with his love. The captain, who did nothing to save the dancer hanged for allegedly killing him, is punished by bad marriage. I didn't realize classic French literature has plots worthy of Bollywood.

Footnotes do not work
Do not buy this Kindle edition.Notwithstanding the fact that it is published by a major publisher, the footnotes do not work.The little numbers appears in the text, but clicking on them is impossible and there is no way to get to the footnote text (except by manually setting a bookmark for each note).This is the type of poor formatting one frequently finds on public domain titles, but this is not a public demand title (because it is a recent translation).If you want to read this translation, buy it in paper.

Romanticism at its best
Victor Hugo, the French poet and writer, who wished to change how novels were written and read, wrote The Hunchback of Notra-Dame in the beginning of his career. In contrast to Les Miserables, which is his more celebrated work, and was written several decades after the Notra-dame novel, the present piece is not only laced with more humor and romance but also stands out as a piece where the young poet in Hugo pours out a ravishing range of similes. Just for the pure magic of his metaphors and similes that make all his descriptions so poetic, so powerful Notra-Dame is worth reading.

The story itself reads like a fanciful movie, an ugly hunchback, Quasimodo is brought up by a Priest Frollo, the archdeacon of Notradame. The hunchback is hence attached like a dog to his master to him. The English title of Hunchback of Notra-dame is a misnomer, for the original is called Notra-dame de Paris, and English title lets us assume that it is the story of Hunchback as hero, while the original title asserts it is story set in Notradame and has charaters who reside in it, or live in its shadows. The Priest Calude Frollo,leaving his pursuit of science and philosophy meanders to a path of unrelenting lust for the gypsy dancer, Esmeralda. A writer, Pierre Grigorne, gets into a set of bizarre circumstances, where a token marriage attaches him to the gypsy. Phoebus, captain of King's Archers is the object of the affection of Esmeralda herself.

Besides these characters, there is a madwoman who lives in confinement, pining for her lost child, who was carried off by gypsies, and hates Esmeralda. There is the goat Djali, who performs tricks with Esmeralda, Jehan who is Claude Frollo's irreligious brother, King Louis IV - who interacts with Claude on issues of science, and the most important character, who lurks like an existence all though, is the Notra-Dame itself. The romances criss cross through a series of interesting episodes and drama, and that forms the crux of the story that I won't divulge here. Readers will benefit by discovering surprises and mystery for themselves, in process getting enchanted by a story that has been a popular read for centuries now.

What makes this novel a masterpiece, besides the poetic descriptions, is
Hugo's description of the cathedral of Notra-dame and the city of Paris, and his discussion of how the arrival of printing press signaled an end to the importance as architecture as the expressive art of intellectuals. The views of the author expressed in these pages and pages of delightful reading provide the reader not only with historical and architectural prespective on the buildings in Paris, but also gives us a word image of buildings, roofs, rooms, carvings, modernism, and more. In his commentaries and comparisons between writing and printing as form of expression in contrast to architecture, Hugo unmasks a wide array of issues that arrival of every new media (TV, Cinema, Internet, Digital Photography) bring. How existing precepts and concepts are revised, how adaptations occur, how each age has its own expression through any of these means- and all Hugo says so passionately about architecture or literature allows us to feel the essence of why we make monuments of stones or words in the first place.

Victor Hugo had great skill in developing characters, and describing their lives over an extended period of time, capturing how situations and people led to certain choices, behavioral changes and thought process of each. His ability of doing this, in a very detached manner, where narrative is like a camera floating into a room, and staying long enough for a distant observer to watch and identify traits of every person present there, makes him a great novelist. The novel, like all classic reads, looks formidable in size, but can be read at a formidable pace, especially after the first half of the novel is over.

Besides the merits of the novelist, and the beauty of his wordplay, the story itself is a charming one, and has been brought to screen versions many times. Reading Hugo's two major works allows one to get the same keen insight into French society of the respective times, as does Thackeray and Dickens novels for England and Tolstoy in Russia. Reading any of these masters takes time, but trust me, it is worth the patience and the effort. Recommended highly.
... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Victor Hugo was a great French poet
Although Victor Hugo is better-known as a novelist, he was actually among the greatest of the French poets in the pre-Baudelaire era.

Very good
This was a gift for a my little brother who is taking French Literature this year in college.He is happy with this book!That's all I really know.

A Brilliant and Faithful Translation
A magnificent translation, worthy of the highest praise, which, unfortunately, the Blackmores will not receive because of the animus everywhere prevailing against the translation of rhymed poetry in rhyme.Yet it would make as such sense to deprive Hugo of rhyme as it would to inflict it on Whitman.Rhyme is not a frivolous adornment or a self-inflicted stricture in Hugo's poetry of which the helpful translator should make haste to free him.Rhyme is an integral part of Hugo's poetry: it enhances the senserather than diminish it.The Blackmores, contrary to the opinion of Publisher's Weekly, are faithful translators.No two languages are exactly compatible; hence the need for translation.To expect a word for word correlation in a formal (or even a free translation ) is to elevate computer-translation to pre-eminence in the field. This translation does Hugo a greater service than that. It is clearly a work of love and reverence and almost of resurrection, since Hugo the novelist so completely overshadows Hugo the poet in The English-speaking world.It is also a most timely translation, for, inevitably and probably soon, the bile of modernism will finally dissuade anyone from undertaking the monumental task that the Blackmores have so admirably performed.

poems by a storywriter
i cant say that i loved the work. i sometimes feel its hard for a story writer to cross over and write poetry. that came across here as well--in my opinion. i struggled thru most of the work ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics eBook contains the most famous English translations of Victor Hugo's work, including 'Les Misérables,' and 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame.'Includes an active table of contents.

Contents:

Les Misérables
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The History of a Crime
The Man Who Laughs
The Memoirs of Victor Hugo
Napoleon the Little
... Read more

Product Description
"Compared to the soul-destroying banality of most séancetexts, the Marine Terrace corpus is a literary masterpiece, theunconscious product of a naturally dramatic mind" (Graham Robb, VictorHugo: A Biography, 1997).From Aug., 1853 to Dec., 1855, while inpolitical exile at Marine Terrace, his home on the Channel island ofJersey, the author of Les Misérables participated in numerous"table-tapping" séances.At least 115 "spirits" communicated withhim, his family, and fellow political exiles.The group of allegeddiscarnate entities included the illustrious dead such as Shakespeare,Plato and Galileo; legendary animals like Balaam’s Ass and the Lionof Androcles; entities who claimed never to have never been alive,like the Shadow of the Sepulcher and Death; a series of abstractconcepts with names like ‘India,’ ‘Metempsychosis,’ and‘Ocean’--and aliens from the planets Mercury and Jupiter.Thefirst translation into English ever of the most important of thetranscripts of these séances, with an introduction by Martin Ebonsetting Hugo's channeling experiences in their historical context.Were the séance texts only "the unconscious product of a naturallydramatic mind"?Readers will decide for themselves. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

More than a 5+++++
Anyone interested in paranormal, personal histories or ghost stories will Love this book! Excellent for clergy to expand their point of view!

Sloppy
I must confess that I was thrilled the first time I read Conversations With Eternity. But at the same time I was puzzled because there were some things stated in the book that I had a hunch was totally wrong. So I began to check the verifiable information provided by John Chambers and discovered that not only did he present incorrect basic facts, such as dates, places and historic detail, he also neglected to present vital information that contradicts his version of the events that took place in Marine-Terrace. In addition, he has invented a state of mind of the Hugos, during their early exile, that simply have no connection with reality.

If you are an admirer of Victor Hugo, save your money for a decent biography instead.
If you are an advocate of the paranormal, choose mentors of higher quality than that of John Chambers.

Mind Expanding Dispensation via V. Hugo
I had heard of this book for sometime before actually reading it and when I finally ordered it and began my reading; I was off on the most amazing adventure of metaphysical ideas I've ever encountered. As a student of Spiritualism as well as the Alan Kardec inspired spiritualist philosophy known as Spiritism from a historical and sociological perspective, this book brings to life the intensity of those 19th century psychonauts who in living with human mortality in a much more immediate way than we do now, documents their explorations of one of the fundamental questions of existence- do we survive death.
And the answers to those pointed questions that were revealed to the Hugo circle during his period of exile from France are simply breathtaking. First is their sheer poetic verbal majesty, secondly in the intimations of a universal mind that is both the embodiment of that "love which steers the stars" of Dante's "Divine Comedy" to the impersonal karmic justice that minimizes the inflated human ego in the scheme of things.
I cannot recomend this book highly enough, it will remain with you for thought & contemplation long after you've finished the final page.

Poorly written; Big disappointment
I purchased this book, because I love the work of Victor Hugo and was interested in this aspect of his spirituality.But the writing is terrible.Most of it seems to be a drug addled commentary on Hugo's later life by an unsympathetic critic.The writing is so bad as to frustrate the most patient of readers.If you love the work of Hugo or the philosophy of romance in literature, avoid this waste of ink and paper.

Is he off his rocker?
I am telling you, what a trip!Well if you can believe it, the table did rock!Victor Hugo (1802-1885) is in excile on a lonely island and to pass time, he and his retinue conduct seances. Animals, of course, are the incarnations of criminals. (How good to know, that Stalin is now a dung beatle.) The Dove of the Ark had been guided by God to the landing place for Noahs gigantic boat. Not only animals, but also plants and stones knew what crime they had committed. Why was such knowledge not granted to man?Animals are prisons of the soul.The animal sees man and glimpses the angels. Forgiveness is Noah's Ark. Well, I think this is worth reading, even though it comes down from another century.Be curious!Gerborg ... Read more

Product Description
"Excerpt from the book..."
De l'Angleterre tout est grand, meme ce qui n'est pas bon, meme
l'oligarchie. Le patriciat anglais, c'est le patriciat dans le
sens absolu du mot.Pas de feodalite plus illustre, plus
terrible et plus vivace.Disons-le, cette feodalite a ete utile
a ses heures. C'est en Angleterre que ce phenomene, la
Seigneurie, veut etre etudie, de meme que c'est en France qu'il
faut etudier ce phenomene, la Royaute.
... Read more

Product Description
excerpt from the book...
In 1815, M. Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of D---- He was
an old man of about seventy-five years of age; he had occupied the see
of D---- since 1806.

Although this detail has no connection whatever with the real substance
of what we are about to relate, it will not be superfluous, if merely
for the sake of exactness in all points, to mention here the various
rumors and remarks which had been in circulation about him from the very
moment when he arrived in the diocese. True or false, that which is said
of men often occupies as important a place in their lives, and above all
in their destinies, as that which they do. M. Myriel was the son of a
councillor of the Parliament of Aix; hence he belonged to the nobility
of the bar. It was said that his father, destining him to be the heir of
his own post, had married him at a very early age, eighteen or twenty,
in accordance with a custom which is rather widely prevalent in
parliamentary families. In spite of this marriage, however, it was said
that Charles Myriel created a great deal of talk. He was well formed,
though rather short in stature, elegant, graceful, intelligent; the
whole of the first portion of his life had been devoted to the world and
to gallantry.
... Read more

Product Description

Translated by Isabel Florence Hapgood

Les Misérables (literally "The Miserable Ones, translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims, is an 1862 novel by French author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. It follows the lives and interactions of several French characters over a twenty-year period in the early 19th century, starting in 1815, the year of Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo.

The novel focuses on the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption. It examines the nature of law and grace, and expounds upon the history of France, architecture of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. The story is historical fiction because it contains factual, historic events, including the Paris Uprising of 1832 (not to be confused with the much earlier French Revolution).

— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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Customer Reviews (2)

Quality edition, but get the abridged version
This product is great.Navigation through the text is very easy, and is a must with a file of this size.There are a few typos but considering it's length I'm not very surprised there are some.

The story is excellent, and a classic for good reason, but I strongly recommend the abridged version.Many times Hugo goes into several chapters of things that have very little to do with the actual story.Spare yourself from the unabridged version unless you are really, really sure you want to subject yourself to the ramblings of Victor Hugo.No offense, his inserted personal essays and social commentary are mostly wise and even interesting, but they really belong elsewhere.

soul-moving book
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

This book is considered one of the greatest artistic triumphs in history. This epic classic is reading for everyone. ... Read more

Product Description
This file includes: Han d'Islande (1823), Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (1829), Hernani, drame (1830), Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), Le Roi s'amuse, drame (1832), Littérature et philosophie mêlées (1834), La Esmeralda, libretto (1836), Napoléon le Petit (1852), Les Contemplations, poèmes (1856), La Légende des siècles (1859-1883), Les Misérables (1862)
L'Homme qui Rit (1869), Quatrevingt-treize (1874), and Actes et Paroles (1875-1876).According to Wikipedia: "Victor-Marie Hugo(26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France. In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry but also rests upon his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem, and Hugo is sometimes identified as the greatest French poet. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables and Notre-Dame de Paris (known in English also as The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Though a committed conservative royalist when he was young, Hugo grew more liberal as the decades passed; he became a passionate supporter of republicanism, and his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and artistic trends of his time. He is buried in the Panthéon."
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Hugo, Brillant, Politique, ses chefs-d'oeuvres
Victor Hugo, incontournable. Cette collection inclut Hans d'Islande, Le Dernier jour d'un condamné, Hernani, Notre- Dame de Paris, Le Roi s'mause, Littérature et philosophie mêlées, La Esmeralda, Napoléon le Petit, Les Contemplations, La Légende des siècles, Les Misérables, l'Homme qui rit, Quatre-vingt seize, Actes et Paroles mais aussi plusieurs préfaces et commendaires, soit de victor Hugo, soit d'autres auteurs (certains en anglais).
Une table des matières active permet de choisir parmi les livres. J'aurais aimé que chaque livre ait sa propre table, surtout pour les recueils de poèmes.
Tout le génie de Victor Hugo pour 1 $ ! Imbattable...
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Quality Mid-Century Release from The Heritage Press
Heritage's Notre-Dame of Paris was released in a black slipcase with textured, pictorial, two-color cloth.

Illustrated with color paintings by Bernard Lamotte. Type design by Jan van Krimpen.

331 pp, cloth over hardback boards with a sewn binding.

Another Quality Piece of Work from Heritage
Heritage's Notre-Dame of Paris was released in a black slipcase with textured, pictorial, two-color cloth.

Illustrated with color paintings by Bernard Lamotte. Type design by Jan van Krimpen.

331 pp, cloth over hardback boards with a sewn binding.

About the Heritage Edition...
Heritage's Notre-Dame of Paris was released in a black slipcase with textured, pictorial, two-color cloth.

Illustrated with color paintings by Bernard Lamotte. Type design by Jan van Krimpen.

331 pp, cloth over hardback boards with a sewn binding. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A misprinted copy?
I greatly appreciate having these four major plays by the amazing Victor Hugo in a good English translation.The copy I received, however, included none of the introductions announced on the copy and, indeed, no title page or copyright page. Instead, it includes two copies of each play, for a hefty 800 pages.

double printing too
My copy was complete as well, but printed twice.398 pages printed twice.No notes or introduction.So this must be a defective printing.

Double the value!
Expecting to get 4 plays from Victor Hugo I was suprised that my edition contained 8 plays! Only problem with that is that it was 4 plays printed twice each. The promised introduction was lacking also. There are no notes accompanying the text in this version so buyers may want to check other options for Hugo's plays. The content is quite entertaining so don't be entirely put off. ... Read more

Product Description
Audiolibro dramatizado en español basado en la historia original de Víctor Hugo. Catalogada como la primera novela social de su época, Los Miserables, es una de obras literarias las más famosas de todos los tiempos. Es la historia de Jean Valjean, un convicto que estuvo injustamente encarcelado por 19 años por haberse robado una rebanada de pan. Al ser liberado de su injusta condena, Valjean trata de escapar de su pasado, lleno de maldad y depravación, para vivir una vida digna y honesta. Sin embargo, esto se ve truncado al ser reconocido por el inspector Javert, quien lo persigue obsesionadamente para enviarlo de nuevo a prisión. Esta persecución consume la vida de ambos hombres, terminando en un inesperado desenlace. FonoLibro les presenta esta excelente dramatización de la obra maestra de Víctor Hugo, con un elenco completo, música original, y excelentes efectos de sonido, la cual le estremecerá, y le llegará al corazón.
Duración: Aprox. 4 Horas (4 CDs)

Audiobook dramatized in Spanish based on the original story of Victor Hugo. Cataloged as the first social literary work of its time, Les Miserables is one of the most famous novels of all times. It is the story of Jean Valjean, a convict that was unjustly imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread. After being released, Valjean tries to escape from his past full of depravation and badness to live a normal and honest life. However, his past returns when inspector Javert recognizes him, and begins obsessively to pursue Valjean to put him back in prison. This pursuit consumes the life of both men, and concludes in an unexpected end. FonoLibro brings you this excellent dramatization of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, with a full cast, original music, and sound effects that will shake you and reach your heart.
Estimated Duration: 4 Hours (4 CDs) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great dramatization!
Recommended to people like me, who lost a lot of time in the car because of the traffic. Love it!

Magnifico, Que gran produccion, parece una pelicula
Es una magnifica produccion al estilo de las radio novelas que existian en el pasado, pero con musica, efectos, actuaciones y sonidos actuales. Es una de las mas maravillosas produciones de FonoLibro, lo disfrute mucho, y no les niego que se me aguaron los ojos. Lo recomiendo mucho.

...in love
...you'll suffocate with love for Marius or Cosette, cry with pity for Gavroche, sing with joy of living, for only living you may read such wonders, sleep with boredom at learning about the battle of waterloo, and learn the details of the paris sewers, dream with pages of the poetry of young parisian students, identify yourself with desperate Eponine, hope to God, you'll become someone like Jean Valjean. I admit it took me a year to read this novel. Reading the last page, made me despair it was all finished...

Deepest thoughts a man can have...
... this book is about inner thoughts, inner feelings, inner life.You will experience the feelings and dreams of common people in the french revolution, but the french revolution is only an excuse for Victor Hugo totravel and analize the inner thougts and feelings of the people in any age,this book is timeless and this book is one of the best you will ever read.

A masterpiece. Revolution and romanticism together.
It is a masterpiece of the universal literature. How Victor Hugo tellus about the french revolution and all the new ideas and concepts which brought it to all of us. The life of the characters with all their problemsand neccessities, the amazing way to describe the character circumtances and their internal thoughts (in and out at the same time). After reading this book you will not be the same and you'll never see in the same way all the needed people, specially children. I encourage you to start reading this book. I'll tell you that after 3 pgs you won't be able to quit. Best regards to all readers. ... Read more

Product Description
Out of extreme poverty Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread and then spends many years trying to escape his reputation as a criminal. In later years he rises socially and is a respectable member of society; but policeman Javert will not allow him to forget his past and is determined to expose him. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Quite Simply the Greatest Novel Ever Written in Any Language
Of course, that claim is bound to be controversial. "Hold!" I can already hear my self-conjured and hypothetical critic exclaiming, "know you not of Moby Dick, of War and Peace, of Pride and Prejudice, of Madame Bovary? Do you not know how weighty is the position you have unthinkingly advanced?" I know it, and the choice was deliberate.

I cannot claim, nor can anyone else claim, to have the last say on such a question, certainly. The choice is inevitably coloured with personal biases, defective judgment, or simply lack of experience. After all, there are many great novels, and few, if any, have read them all. I have, however, read a great deal, including those listed above; I have, as an American in name (though perhaps not always in spirit) no vested interest in the political quarrels which dominated Europe during the early 19th century (though I will admit to being partial to classical liberalism); and I have, I believe, good reason for placing Les Miserables in such an honoured category of books, even if my original claim be admittedly hyperbolic.

As with any great novel, however, these reasons are more or less inexhaustible, so I will not try to enumerate them here. I will simply say this: the characters in Hugo's epic are so compelling and full of life, the theme is so immortal, the epic fabric into which the plot is woven is so subtle and complex, that the author has created a world in which one entirely loses oneself. If you understand this book at its deepest level, you will not be the same after reading it. If you find it boring and incomprehensible, pity is the only appropriate emotion, pity for the beauty that will not be shared. Indeed, this book is so beautiful, that each time my eyes happen upon it as I pass my bookshelf, they instinctively begin to well up with tears, very real tears, tears connected with the memories I have had of my experience therein, and how it is has made me who I am. Few books, certainly few books of fiction, can lay claim to that status; but Les Miserables can.

Bottom line: read it, learn from it, live with it.

NOTE: If there is one technicality upon which I must insist (and it is hardly a technicality), it is this: DO NOT READ AN ABRIDGED VERSION, IF YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO EXPERIENCE THIS BOOK. I found invariably that if Hugo's 'digressions' had me lost, it was because I was not seeing his work in its broadest context. The introduction to the Wordsworth Classics version did an excellent job of putting it in that context (Hint: Why did Hugo change the title to Les Miserables from Jean Valjean? Food for thought).

Also, as an afterthought, I should note that the Wilbour translation (published by Wordsworth Classics) is generally excellent, although I hear that the revised version published under Signet for mass-market paperback is somewhat smoother for the 21th century ear. What is important however is NOT to get the Rose translation. I glanced over a copy in Barnes and Noble's, and found it ridiculously modernized and unfaithful (and, according to Hugo's biographer, blatantly inaccurate) in translation. Perhaps there is a reason why it is published by "Modern Classics", although I'm not sure if there is any of the classic left after all the modernity has been crammed in.

Beautifully read
Very clear quality recording and enjoyable to listen to. Translates you to France in 1862.

Hope For The Hopeless
The power of God's love is exhibited in the transformation of this individual, Jean Valjean. This tale follows his life, from the young convict that is broken and wretched, to the matured, changed man that has found restoration through the Lord. This is a wonderful story, but the original version is way too long with French history that probably goes on for hundreds of pages. Fortunately, this condensed version cuts out a lot of the unnecessary rambling history. I wish I had read this version originally because I just ended up skipping a lot of it anyway. Trust me, you won't miss anything.

Les Genius
It's no wonder Les Miserables is a classic.Victor Hugo takes the reader into a psychological realm that was well ahead of his time.There are no human virtues, and few human follies, that this book doesn't explore. -Stephen Prins, author of: Strife of the Lorin

Good classroom edition
I like teaching this novel, but I don't have time to teach the full text.This abridgement does a good job of capturing the fullness of the story and the characters in about 40% of the pages.I like the historical timelines at the beginning and the Notes sections at the end.My students find the novel easy to manage, too. ... Read more