Les Miserables

By: Victor Hugo

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Set in the Parisian underworld and plotted like a detective story, Les Misérables follows the adventures of Jean Valjean, originally an honest peasant, who has been imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's starving family. A hardened criminal upon his release, he eventually reforms, becoming a successful industrialist and town mayor. Despite this, Valjean is haunted by an impulsive former crime and is pursued relentlessly by the police inspector Javert.

Hugo describes early 19th-century France with a sweeping power that gives his novel epic stature. Among the most famous chapters are an account of the battle of Waterloo and a description of Valjean's flight through the Paris sewers.

Translated by Charles E. Curtis.

Public Domain (P)1995 Blackstone Audio, Inc,

The way the person reads it

The whole thing is extremely well-done! The story is very easy to understand through the way the person reads it

Frederick Davidson is the Best Narrator

The narration with this guy is spot on. Recommend listening to this story twice there are a lot of characters to follow

Summer Reading

This book really helps with summer reading, the long time that it takes to sit down and read is taken away by this audiobook. I have watered the garden, worked out at the gym, and ridden in cars all the while embracing each word of Les Miserables. You are not missing out on any of the story, yet are also not being thrown too many details. I at first thought the language in this book would overwhelm me, however as a 15 year old this book was easy to comprehend and the story remained interesting as I saw Marius, Jean Valjean, Cosette and Javert's stories collide in a wonderful way. The expressions and voices used in this reading make characters easy to identify and cause little confusion during parts that would otherwise drive me crazy if they were read in a monotone. The variation of the voices also allows for a great picture of expression and allows the listener to gain a much more human and realistic feel of the situation during and throughout the novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook and would recommend it for anyone who is reading the 'James Robinson' translation.

would be 5 if the abridgment was better

Would be 5 if the abridgment was better. there are a few things that were left out that left you missing key elements of the story.

great book

I loved it the classic story! I was not crazy about the reader until the end.

The reader

He had different voices for each person and it made it very interactive and interesting

Good reader, but no Fantine back story at all.

Fantine's back story, her story ENTIRELY IS LEFT OUT! boooooo
otherwise, good reader. his character voices seem a little strange at first, but he gets better.

A Great Morality

Although I was a little put off by the extreme effeteness of the narrator, he managed to do most of the r voices fairly well and kept the story flowing. I have always been a big fan of the protagonist but moreso of the one portrayed in the musical than of this one who seemed to get overly maudlin, not unlike Dickens who, though a true genius in storywriting did tend to milkthe emotion to its ultimate possibilities.

Life Changing

One must read, or listen to this book. I read along with the audio book, it was faster, and I got to understand more. This story is truly inspiring, but make sure you have some tissue. I haven’t cried from a book ever, and this on had me bowling.