Les Miserables, Part 1

Mom's Introduction:  As much as I loved the music of The Phantom of the Opera when I was a teenager, Boo loves the music of Les Miserables.  With a movie release approaching, I decided that she needed to actually read the story before she saw the movie.  What she didn't know was that the musical was actually coming to town as well.  (Hello, Christmas present!)  I had also been challenged by a friend to read the unabridged version.  It only took me 4 years to finish it.  ;-)  Since we have both read it (even though they were different lengths), we are going to both do a review of the book.  But Boo gets to go first.

Title:  Les Miserables, Abridged
Author:  Victor Hugo
Publisher:  Barnes & Noble Books
Date:  B&N edition 2003, originally published in 1862
ISBN:  ISBN-13: 978-1-59308-066-2
   ISBN-10:  1-59308-066-2
Pages: 843


Title:  Les Miserables, Unabridged
Author:  Victor Hugo
Publisher:  Penguin Putnam, Inc.
Date:  March 1987
ISBN:   0-451-52526-4
Pages:  1463

Summary from the abridged version:  Les Miserables tells the story of the peasant Jean Valjean-unjustly imprisoned, baffled by destiny,and hounded by his nemesis,the magnificently realized, ambiguously malevolent police detective Javert. As Valjean struggles to redeem his past, we are thrust into the teeming underworld of Paris with all it's poverty, ignorance, and suffering. Just as cruel tyranny threatens to extinguish the last vestiges of hope, rebellion sweeps over the land like wild fire, igniting a vast struggle for the democratic ideal in France.

Personal note from Mom:  We're still figuring out this whole 2 blogger thing.  I've added Boo as a blog author, but she apparently can't edit posts that I've started.  So for now....  we're going to be doing this one at a time.