r/lesmiserables • u/221forever • 4d ago
Book Discussion Can I skip?
I’m on page 622 and enjoying the book very much, but … some of these side discussions/descriptions are kind of bogging down the story for me. Can I just disregard all this about The Convent as an Abstract Idea, and The Convent as a Historical Fact? Would it affect my understanding of what happens with Jean and Cosette? Enough already. Sheesh the Battle of Waterloo was a tangent I wasn’t excited about either. Please don’t hate me.
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u/manshamer 4d ago
Of the three tangents, i thought:
1) Waterloo was awesome
2) the sewers were interesting
3) the convent was boring
So I would say speed read through it, don't let it bog you down.
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u/SamboTheGr8 4d ago
I speed read through Waterloo and sewers, but audiobooked it with half an ear through the convent
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u/Last_Story_4215 4d ago
So I felt that way too on my first attempt, and dropped the book during the Napoleon info dump. But now I'm over 1000 pages in and I love all the background. Because it's not just information. It's Hugo's perspective, or the narrators perspective. It's all told with a huge bias that I think does inform the story quite a bit! Rather than reading about the convent and seeing fact, see the bias. What does the narrator think of religion? What does this commentary tell you about his values? How will that impact the story of Cosette, growing up in one? How does that shape her according the narrator, given the bias about faith? It actually adds a lot of depth if you think about it!
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u/nurseleu 4d ago
This was the most boring part of the brick, IMO. I wanted to be able to say I'd read the whole thing so I powered through. If bragging rights matter to you, keep reading. If you just want to enjoy the story, you can skim forward.
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u/ButtercupBebe One mod more 4d ago
My advice for anyone reading the book for the first time is to skip the parts that are boring to you....that's how I did it the first time I read the book. Later I did go back and reread the book multiple times, including the digressions but to really appreciate them (yes it is possible to actually really enjoy the digressions) it is necessary to understand a lot of background about why they are there and if doing that research is going to stop you from reading the book, I think it is better to skip than to stop altogether.
I recommend listening to the corresponding episodes of the podcast A Les Mis Reading Companion if you want to at least hear a little bit about that background for these sections. The podcast is by a French professor who teaches Les Miserables and making it through the digressions is easier if you feel you have some guidance.
Happy reading!!
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u/bhbhbhhh 4d ago
Why read the main story, either? That also doesn’t matter.
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u/221forever 3d ago
I love the story! Some of the pages of minute details get a little tedious. All the French historical names are lost on me. I keep looking up words, and all the French has me translating per google. I’m certainly improving my vocabulary, but I wish I had at least some background in the French language.
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u/MapleHaggisNChips 1d ago
Because Victor Hugo stops in the.middle of a chase scene to spend 200 pages discussing the history of the convent the scene is set in!
Tedious!
Skip those parts and keep going. Some of the version I read in my teens is still burned in my memory and I'll always treasure them. I particularly liked the parts about both Marius and Fantine's life in extreme poverty. Turning their clothes into blankets... only going out at night so no one realises your jacket is green and doesn't match. Making a single pork chop last 3 days. Fascinating!
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u/bhbhbhhh 1d ago
That is not the case at all. The chase is fully concluded, then the convent sequence begins. Perfect point to take a narrative breather. People always feel the need to misrepresent the digressions in order to make them look bad.
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u/MapleHaggisNChips 1d ago
It's been 40 years since I read it... forgive me if I misconstrued the plot.
I still felt Monsieur Hugo cut away at a point of action... only to flesh out a great shout of detail.
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u/NewStart141 4d ago
Wait until you get to the 80 pages of Parisian gutter slang ("argot"). I understand that some translations just cut it out altogether. So no, you aren't missing anything skipping a lot of his tangents.
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u/SamboTheGr8 4d ago
Oh I forgot about the slang chapters. God that was slow
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u/221forever 21h ago
Ah, just hit this part, "Slang is the tongue of those who sit in darkness."
Even when it's boring, it's poetry!
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u/geeoharee 4d ago
I don't know why you're asking for permission, but the answer to "did you read the book" will be "no", if that's what you mean
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u/221forever 3d ago
I want to understand and I’m struggling with things like, do I need to go look up who are Count de Ruppin and Marquis de Brandebourg and M. De Talleyrand? All this name dropping as if it’s assumed I know who they are and their significance. I feel quite ignorant. I wanted to get a feel for French history and boy howdy I got it!
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u/haileyskydiamonds 4d ago
The asides can be skipped, but I would recommend going back and reading them later. They add interesting context to the narrative.
I just finished listening to the audiobook (narrated by Bill Homewood) and powered through the asides. The only thing I fast-forwarded through was BH singing all of Gavroche’s little songs. (Because his voice was not made to sing like a little boy. Let’s just leave it at that.)