Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

20 reviews

atamano's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Pregnancy

supermanabi's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Antisemitism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Minor: Self harm and Forced institutionalization

Forced institutionalization used in place of wrongful imprisonment.

maya_moksha's review against another edition

challenging tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

This is an interesting but challenging read. I love how Hugo describes unusual feelings/sensations, that many of us have experienced, but have rarely seen illustrated. I also love how characters swell to the forefront than melt away only to re-emerge in a way that alters ones perception of the entire experience/motives/character. However the character development of women could have been much stronger. This critique stems from Hugo’s apparent biases of the superiority of men. 
This book has several difficult stories, with extreme graphic/sensory immersion. See content warnings below. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

brookeimcfeely's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

iammmartina_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I know this is an international and intergenerational classic, but I can't give 5 stars to Les Misérables. Not after those nineteen Waterloo chapters. I understand the position Hugo was put in politically (that was the useful aspect of the introduction, though I was not terribly impressed with its literary analysis), but holy hell were those chapters a slog. The worst slog of the book, I dare say. Talk to me about convents and sewers any day over Waterloo.

Other than that mind-numbling digression (and a couple others like it), I deeply enjoyed this book. The five narrators of this particular version are all very talented. The story itself is much funnier than any adaptations convey it. Les Amis de l'ABC are iconic, I have the tenderest sympathies for their plight. (Combeferre's 'to be free' mic-drop is incredible.) Marius and Cosette are endearing idiots. Jean Valjean and Javert have a surprising amount of tension. What kind of tension, I could probably write a whole book of essays on. It's well-worth the read. Oh, I also feel like I absorbed a lot about 19th century French politics. Which is information I didn't necessarily need, but it helped my reread of Ellie Valsin's Virago. Over all, I would say that it's worth the insane amount of time required to read it. And this Penguin audiobook version is especially good to listen to while you work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Classism

Moderate: Fatphobia, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Sexual violence, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Some of these content warnings are more of a side-effect of the time period the book was written rather than a deliberate choice to engage with these topics by the author, if that makes sense. Particularly for the more minor ones.

chalkletters's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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.

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.) 

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!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Slavery

obviouslyplum's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

not really my taste personally. "fantine" was definitely more my speed, but once it got to all these random, unimportant characters, the friends of the abc, and the barricades it started to go over my head. however, the social commentary was revolutionary and unmatched.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide

alaskan_bull_worm's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A long book in which bad things happen to good people.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Excrement

sperdutaneilibri's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Police brutality, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Blood, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation