Help Wanted: a good editor

Whew! I made it! This weekend I finished the unabridged version of Victor Hugo’s lifelong work, Les Miserables.

What can I say about this story that has not already been said? Not much. The character of Jean Valjean, imprisoned for 20 years for stealing bread to feed his starving family, is familiar to most of us. When he is finally freed, Valjean finds mercy in the home of a poor clergyman and lives the rest of his life in the light of that gift. Valjean gives freely to the poor, rescues and adopts the abandoned child of a prostitute, and risks his life to save a wounded man he hates. But all his good works are overshadowed by Javert, a police inspector who has devoted his life to sending Valjean back to prison.

The plot of the story is brilliant. The chase scenes between Javert and Valjean are riveting. Victor Hugo was a human thesaurus – a master of word and phrase.

However, this book is not for the faint of heart. The length is intimidating – over 1400 pages. The dark story and heavy social commentary often made my head spin. But most frustrating to me was the pace of the story. In one section, Valjean is again on the run from Javert through the streets of Paris. The situation looks hopeless; in desperation Valjean lifts a manhole cover and drops into the dank and dangerous world of the Parisian sewer system. Then, Hugo goes completely insane and spends SEVEN CHAPTERS discussing the sewers of Paris: what is in the sewer, the history of how they were constructed, their layout and design, and the various creatures living there. Absolutely ruined the tension and mood of the whole section.

Help Wanted: a good editor.

Victor Hugo was a brilliant wordsmith, philosopher, and social commentator. The theme of Les Miserables shouts in every page of the book. “The Miserable Ones” – who are they in 19^th century Paris? The poor, the sick, the elderly, the abandoned children, all deserted by those in power; Jean Valjean, trapped his whole life by bad decisions he made as a young man; Fantine, the beautiful young woman forced into prostitution to care for her child; Cosette, the child found living in an abusive foster home; and most of all Javert, imprisoned in a morality based on the judicial system and rule of law.

As a writer, I learned a lesson in reading this book – most readers don’t care about how brilliant you are or how many words you can string together. They want a good story. Stick to the story.

I recommend reading an abridged version of Les Miserables. Then watch the musical or a movie adaptation. This is a story not to be missed – but the novel, not so much.

Has anyone read the unabridged version? How long did it take you? (Almost 4 weeks for me!)

Moviesblog.mtv.com reports a new movie version of Les Miserables will be released Christmas 2012, with Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean and Anne Hathaway as Fantine. What do you think of the casting? And do we really need another movie version?