Books
by Victor Hugo
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Les Misérables |
The "holiday" read par excellence - a book that really demands to be read in one great sweep (all right I didn't but every time I managed to properly sit down with it, I was swept away on the tide of Hugo's storytelling - I am afraid in English). There's the story at its core - the tension between Javert and Jean Valjean - the moral complexities of their situation and characters; there's the excitement of the 1832 June rebellion sweeping through Paris; there's the love story (perhaps the least satisfactory element) and then there's the history, Hugo's opinions on the government of France and England, philosophy, and Paris which is as much a presence in the novel as any of the human dramatis personae. The cast - well Marius and Cossette, great disappointments, but Valjean, Javert, Eponine and Gavroche - brilliant - and sadly all dead by the end.
(Ferelith Hordon - bwl 101 Summer 2021) |
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