Hugo's sprawling novel follows the ex-convict Jean Valjean across nearly two decades of French history. After a bishop spares him, he becomes a mayor and factory owner, then adopts Fantine's daughter Cosette, always chased by the police inspector Javert. Around them move the Thénardiers, scheming innkeepers, and the student Marius, who falls in love with Cosette and joins the 1832 uprising. Hugo pauses to describe the battle of Waterloo, convents, argot, and the sewers beneath the city, since the book is also an argument about poverty and injustice.
It is for patient readers who like big casts and moral stakes. The payoff is a story about redemption that holds up through its length, and a picture of nineteenth-century France that few novels match.
Deep, contemplative and thought-provoking; a demanding read.
Best for readers like The Deep Diver. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2005
- Publisher
- Errepar
- ISBN
- 9789875500730
- Language
- ES
