Book Report Of Les Miserables

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The book I read is written by Victor Hugo titled, “Les Miserables” which was a historical drama. It contains 1,900 pages in the original French and 1,400 pages in the English version which was the one I read. This follows the lives of many of the characters that had their own arcs throughout the book like Fantine, Cosette, Javert, Jean Valjean and others. The story is set on France and takes place years after the French Revolution. Jean Valjean was in prison for nineteen years when Javert, an officer of the workforce, lets him go.

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Valjean then uses stolen silver to rebuild himself and become a factory owner as well as a mayor. The first arc follows the story of Fantine who was a factory worker and was impregnated by a rich student who later leaves her, leaving her to take care of their child, Cosette, by herself. She later on becomes a prostitute and sold herself to earn money to send to her daughter.

Jean Valjean finds her later on very sickly and takes her to the hospital where she dies peacefully and he promises to take care of her child, Cosette for her.

The book is absolutely amazing. It can get confusing because it has a very deep vernacular but it was really good. The book was not only talking about history but also how much the Revolutionary War had an effect on a lot of people that included things like disease, famine, and other things. It focused on different people's lives and how their lives were so miserable… Hence, “Les Miserables” meaning “The Miserable Ones.

” “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise” was one of my favorite quotes because it is saying that no matter what happens and even if it seems like it’s forever, tomorrow will be coming.

To conclude this report, Hugo wrote in the book, “Love has no middle term; either it destroys, or it saves. All human destiny is this dilemma. This dilemma, destruction or salvation, no fate proposes more inexorably than love. Love is life, if it is not death.” Love is love. It’s life, it’s air, it’s dangerous, it’s scary… it is a whole lot of things. Anyone and everyone can go through it… will go through it. If you love something enough to protect it, whether it be your country, your rights, a lover, a little brother, anything or anyone. You will deal with such destiny like these characters. From a mother to their child to a man fighting for everyone. Love is everywhere. Seen and unseen.

Works cited

Hugo, V. (1862). Les Misérables (C. E. Wilbour, Trans.). Project Gutenberg. (Original work published 1862) [Note: Provide the specific translator's name and publication information if available.]
Carrez, M. (1995). Les Misérables: The Novel of the Century. University of Chicago Press.
Birk, D. H. (1990). The Novel of Virtue: Ethics and Ideology in Les Misérables. Harvard University Press.
Robb, G. (1999). Victor Hugo: A Biography. W. W. Norton & Company.
Davies, M. (Ed.). (2013). The Cambridge Companion to Victor Hugo. Cambridge University Press.
Gopnik, A. (2012). A Real Revolution: Les Misérables and the 1830s. The New Yorker, 88(42), 62-69.
Downey, S. M. (1996). Victor Hugo, Jean Valjean, and the Defense of the Proletariat. French Historical Studies, 19(1), 55-77.
Brockett, O. G. (2003). Victor Hugo's Contribution to the Modern Theatre. Theatre Journal, 55(2), 217-234.
Kaufmann, H. (1971). Hugo's Theatre. Twayne Publishers.
Dowden, W. (1879). The Life and Genius of Victor Hugo: With Extracts from His Writings and from the Writings of Hugo's Contemporaries (Vol. 2). Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.