Les Misérables: Translated by Julie Rose

By: Victor Hugo, Julie Rose - translator

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 60 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

One of the great classics of world literature and the inspiration for the most beloved stage musical of all time, Les Misérables is legendary author Victor Hugo’s masterpiece. This extraordinary English version by renowned translator Julie Rose captures all the majesty and brilliance of Hugo’s work. Here is the timeless story of the quintessential hunted man—Jean Valjean—and the injustices, violence, and social inequalities that torment him.

©2008 Random House (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

“Rich and gorgeous. This is the [translation] to read.” ( Times (London))

the best novel I have ever read!

I knew the story, or thought I knew the story from the musical and movie and songs, but the novel is SO incredibly much more. the characters are passionately deeper. the background is complex, abstract, and tangential at times, but rich. the ending is sweeter, more somber, more moving, and more bitter than any dramatization has ever captured. I can unequivocally state that Les Miserables is the best story I have EVER read!

Masterful narration enhances great story

Les Miserables is a powerful thought-provoking story. George Guidall’s narration made even the lengthy digressions enjoyable and his vocalizations of the different characters amazed me.

Spectacular

The translation and narration were simply spectacular. I can't imagine a better experience. Powerful and moving. The essay at the end was also really nicely done and insightful.

Wow

Wow. I can feel now why this is a classic. It moved and instructed me.

I feel educated, edified and changed by this book.

If you could sum up Les Misérables: Translated by Julie Rose in three words, what would they be?

No better book!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Les Misérables: Translated by Julie Rose?

The lecture on thievery that Jean Val Jean gives to Montparnasse about the difficulty behind stealing. After that speech, it's unthinkable that anyone would rationally turn to a life of stealing that wasn't at the last threads of desperation.

Have you listened to any of George Guidall’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't heard George Guidall's readings before, but he did a marvelous job. I was clinging to every word.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This book will take weeks to get through, but you'll wish it took longer.

Any additional comments?

They just don't write with this kind of education and insight anymore.

Epic tale excellently performed.

This novel is very 19th century. If you’ve read Dostoyevsky you will know what I mean. The characters and scenes are so incredibly well drawn and detailed that you are left feeling like you know some of them. The description of the Battle of Waterloo, for example, and which is only there as supporting backstory, is as vivid a telling of the horror of the battle for the average soldiers as any I’ve heard. The details, which one reviewer has compared to the gargoyles and windows of a Gothic cathedral, make the relatively simple story of a convict redeemed by a single act of charity into the great work of literature, history and commentary of Les Misérables.

The translation and narration were great. Both lent the book a lively and contemporary feel. Certain reviewer might not like the use of “the clink” in lieu of jail or prison (and obviously the French slang is different anyway), but the common crooks of 1830s Paris wouldn’t have sounded like they were on Masterpiece Theatre anyway.

For those familiar only with the musical expect your view to take two or three steps back and see the full sweep of the novel’s story. Some minor characters (Petit Gavroche, the impoverished botantist turned revolutionary, and of course M. Thenardiers) could have their own novellas in their own right.

There are a few slogs, I’ll admit, particularly with the endless proclamations of endless love between Cosette and Marius, however all-in-all the diversions and monologues on slang, names, the sewers of Paris and death by quicksand make Les Misérables the rich story that had endured so long.

A little long but good

I hadn’t anticipated exactly how long it was but the book was, indeed, better yet sadder than the musical.

A masterpiece performed masterfully

Beautiful translation that captures Hugo's poetry, passion, insight, and wit. Superb performance. Outstanding audiobook of an epic work.

Great Intro to Epic Fiction

"...as long as ignorance and misery exist in this world, books like the one you are about to read are, perhaps, not entirely useless." --Victor Hugo (Les Miserables, Epigraph)

The best part about reading through classic lit in my 40s without any academic background: every book is a surprise. I didn't get more than a few hours into Les Mis before I yelled "I'm reading Tolstoy!" I was wholly unaware that Hugo had a profound influence on Tolstoy's W&P.

That said: Les Mis comes off as a structurally 'junior' version of W&P. (That's a complement to both parties.) The LM storyline is more linear, and there are 10x fewer characters. Content-wise, there is still tons to love about LM: every other day had some sublime quote or passage. There were too many quotes to keep track (pocket notes below). Perhaps the scene that moved me the most was middle-aged Valjean ripping Montparnasse a new ear on what constitues the 'easy' life, and Hugo's subsequent attack on epicureanism. Or perhaps Cosette's doll. So tough to choose.

In only my sixth year of being a father to my two daughters, the Valjean/Cosette allegories struck me to the core. (I'm having a very difficult time convincing myself I will not suffer the same fate as Valjean N years from now if my Cosette finds her Marius. Yet, it was Valjean who freed Cosette in her youth. God--such a good novel.)

I listened to the 1980 musical after reading the novel. The novel is much darker than the musical (which is to say: I preferred the novel), though the muscial expands upon Eponine more so than in the novel (which is very much for the better).

If you've thought about tackling your first epic audiobook, the Rose/Guidall LM is a great place to start. To whet your palette further: Chernow's 'Alexander Hamilton', Les Mis, and W&P make for a trilogy unlike any other. Pocket notes below.

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Memorable scenes:
Mothers death scene
Waterloo
Helping Cosette with the bucket and the doll at the fairgrounds.
The convent and the prison.
JV didn't want to lock Cosette in the convent, didn't want to take away her freedom.
Cosette and her father's relationship as she blossoms.
Monologue on work by JV.
Monologue on love by Marius.
Etiology of slang. Suffering.
Mankind will be saved when we feed our minds like we feed our stomachs.
The darkness of the Parisian streets and the toxin of the St Marie bell running.
There is no civil war. Only just and unjust war.
Marius had not lived long enough to know that nothing is more inevitable than the impossible, and what you must always forsee is the unseeable.
The sewers.

Good but is missing parts

There were some parts that were silent and missing from this audio book. Otherwise well done.