In January 2023, I discovered Les Mis Letters — a substack inspired by Dracula Daily which was sending out a chapter of Les Misérables each day in 2023. I’ve seen the musical twice, and listened to it substantially more than that, but never read it, so after very little consideration, I decided to dive right in. I spent a weekend catching up the chapters I’d missed, then the rest of 2023 doing my best to make time for my chapter each day. I did not always succeed, sometimes I had to catch up three or four chapters over the weekend, and I didn’t finish on the 31st, as I ‘should’ have, but instead on the 3rd of January 2024.
I really enjoyed reading Les Misérables this way at first, and I doubt I would ever have made it through ‘the brick’ in any other way. When he’s digressing about battles shaped like letters of the alphabet, a chapter is about as much Victor Hugo as I can manage. Unfortunately, I really lost steam around the barricades where, for what felt like weeks, we leave behind the characters we’ve spent a lot of time with to talk about the history and philosophy of revolutions. Even once the barricade has fallen, we never really return to the characters we love until the very, very end.
And do what he would, he always fell back upon the heartrending dilemma which lay at the foundation of his reverie: “Should he remain in paradise and become a demon? Should he return to hell and become an angel?”
Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
When the characters are strong, they’re really strong! The first book, all about M. Myriel is a delight, and sets up the second book beautifully. The interplay between Javert, Jean Valjean and Fantine is engaging enough to keep a reader going through the digressions. Even the introduction of the Marius-Cosette storyline is surprisingly entertaining. Unfortunately, Marius loses a lot of points once he and Cosette actually interact, and even more points for his treatment of Eponine. (Her affection for Marius is somewhat bewildering in the musical, it’s downright inexplicable in the book.)
One day, at last, he returned thither once more; it was a serene summer morning, and Marius was in joyous mood, as one is when the weather is fine. It seemed to him that he had in his heart all the songs of the birds that he was listening to, and all the bits of blue sky of which he caught glimpses through the leaves of the trees.
Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
Obviously, in a book with 365 chapters, there’s a lot of material that didn’t make it into the adaptation. Some of that is great: Jean Valjean giving Cosette an expensive doll she’s been admiring for days; what the fandom refers to as ‘the coffin heist’, Marius’s cousin. On the other hand, a lot of is comes in the form of digressions about French politics and history and philosophy that a lot of readers aren’t going to have enough context to follow or find interesting. That said, some people really enjoy these digressions! And many wonderful people have posted explanations and analysis of them, which can be read alongside the chapters, and which will certainly help provide some context, though perhaps only enough to make the digressions bearable rather than interesting.
Les Mis Letters used the Isabel F Hapgood translation which, because it was written in the 19th century, reads like a 19th-century novel. This, combined with the digressions, definitely slows down whole sections of the book. More modern translations are, apparently, easier to read, but that would mean devoting another 365 days to Les Misérables…
While I’m glad I read Les Misérables, I’m also looking forward to not having that daily obligation on my to-do list in 2024!
You are right, sir, when you tell me that Les Misérables is written for all nations. I do not know whether it will be read by all, but I wrote it for all. It is addressed to England as well as to Spain, to Italy as well as to France, to Germany as well as to Ireland, to Republics which have slaves as well as to Empires which have serfs. Social problems overstep frontiers.
Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
Chalk Letters Books 