Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Published 1862 · 636 pages · 562,645 words · about 51 hours at an average pace · Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction

How hard is Les Misérables to read?

Les Misérables scores 64 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it quite demanding. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.

Vocabulary: 75 out of 100
The text employs a rich, formal, and often archaic vocabulary, including specialized ecclesiastical terms (e.g., 'episcopate,' 'vicarships,' 'camail,' 'chasuble'), Latin phrases ('Nisi Dominus custodierit domum,' 'Vermis sum'), and historical allusions. While not as dense with invented words as 'Finnegans Wake,' it frequently requires readers to consult a dictionary, similar to 'Moby-Dick' or 'Ulysses' in its demands.
Sentence structure: 80 out of 100
Hugo's prose, even in translation, features exceptionally long sentences with multiple clauses, extensive subordination, and frequent parenthetical remarks that interrupt the main flow. Paragraphs often span hundreds of words, requiring sustained attention to track complex arguments and descriptions, placing it closer to the demands of 'Absalom, Absalom!' or 'In Search of Lost Time'.
Abstraction: 78 out of 100
Beyond the narrative, the novel frequently delves into profound philosophical and theological digressions, such as the Bishop's meditations on justice, sin, and the nature of God, or the senator's Epicurean worldview. These extended passages move far beyond concrete events to explore abstract concepts of society, morality, and human nature, akin to the philosophical debates in 'Brothers Karamazov'.
Information density: 82 out of 100
The text is densely packed with historical context, detailed descriptions of social conditions, and intricate character psychology, often presented through lengthy expository passages. Hugo interweaves narrative with extensive philosophical arguments and historical essays (e.g., the detailed account of 1817 or the nature of the galleys), demanding high attention and intellectual engagement from the reader, comparable to 'War and Peace' or '2666'.
Narrative indirection: 40 out of 100
Hugo's narrative is largely direct, with the omniscient narrator frequently explaining characters' inner states, societal critiques, and historical context rather than requiring readers to infer them. For instance, the detailed analysis of Jean Valjean's despair and transformation explicitly lays out his internal struggle. While there are moments of internal reflection, the author's voice consistently guides the reader, making it less indirect than books like 'Beloved' (50).
Symbolic density: 70 out of 100
The novel employs significant, yet generally accessible, symbolism to reinforce its moral and social themes. The Bishop's silver candlesticks clearly represent divine mercy and a call to redemption for Jean Valjean, while the yellow passport explicitly symbolizes society's condemnation. This density is higher than 'To Kill a Mockingbird' (45) but less abstract and multi-layered than 'Moby-Dick' (90), with symbols serving to amplify rather than obscure meaning.
Ironic distance: 50 out of 100
While Hugo's narrator often employs a direct, earnest, and didactic tone, particularly in social commentary, there are instances of clear, often gentle, irony. The Bishop's witty retorts to Madame Magloire or the senator's cynical 'philosophy after drinking' serve to highlight moral contrasts rather than create deep ambiguity about the author's perspective. This places it above direct emotional engagement like 'It Ends with Us' (35) but well below the pervasive unreliability of 'Lolita' (75).
Resolution withholding: 55 out of 100
The excerpt concludes with a pivotal internal transformation for Jean Valjean, offering a clear emotional and spiritual resolution to his immediate despair. However, the narrator explicitly leaves the precise aftermath of this transformation ambiguous ('No one ever knew. The only thing which seems to be authenticated...'), signaling that this is merely the beginning of a new, uncertain path. This creates a lingering open-endedness, placing it above a genre-expected resolution (25) but far from the pervasive ambiguity of 'Crying of Lot 49' (75).
Structural complexity: 70 out of 100
The text exhibits considerable structural complexity through its frequent and extensive digressions, which pause the main narrative for lengthy historical, philosophical, and descriptive essays, such as the detailed account of 'The Year 1817.' While the core plot is largely chronological, these substantial interruptions and shifts in focus from character to broad societal analysis create a non-linear reading experience, making it more complex than 'War and Peace' (40) but less formally experimental than 'Ulysses' (98).

How Les Misérables is regarded

Les Misérables holds a literary regard score of 92 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.

Where Les Misérables sits in Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism

Placed by a full reading of the text (1222 passages), not from reputation. Each verdict quotes the passage that earned it. On the axis from myth to irony, Les Misérables scores 55 out of 100. A second mythos, tragedy, pulls at it with a weight of 0.3. About the map of stories.

Mode: High Mimetic
The convict was transfigured into Christ.
Symbol: Mythical
Like the prophet, he was in the belly of the monster.
Mythos: Romance iii (the quest), closing in Tragedy iii (romance iii)
This produced upon him the effect of the first step in a staircase leading back to life.
Genre: Novel + Romance + Anatomy + Confession
Those persons who wish to gain a clear idea of the battle of Waterloo have only to place, mentally, on the ground, a capital A.

Where the story of Les Misérables takes place

  • France, 1815-1832 (1815 to 1832), the main setting
  • France, Digne to Paris, 1815-1833 (1815 to 1833)
  • Waterloo field, June 1815 (digression)

5 things that are true of Les Misérables, with the passage for each

  1. Fantine has two teeth extracted to raise money.

    The two teeth had been extracted.

  2. Valjean's hair turns completely white during the Arras trial.

    his hair, which had still been gray on his arrival in Arras, was now entirely white

  3. The Waterloo digression teaches the battlefield's shape by comparison with a capital letter.

    Those persons who wish to gain a clear idea of the battle of Waterloo have only to place, mentally, on the ground, a capital A.

  4. Gavroche sings a couplet as he dies under fire at the barricade.

    C'est la faute a Rousseau.

  5. The sewer essay opens with a statistic on what Paris casts into the water each year.

    Paris casts twenty-five millions yearly into the water.

Scenes in Les Misérables that Frye would name

78 sightings of Frye's terms in the text. The strongest:

Anagnorisis, passage 239
"You see plainly," he said, "that I am Jean Valjean." Public self-revelation proved by convict marks.
Anagnorisis, passage 1205
The young man was myself, and here is the coat! The torn coat-skirt reveals Valjean as Marius's rescuer and inverts Thenardier's blackmail.
Anagnorisis, passage 92
I gave you the candlesticks too, which are of silver like the rest, and for which you can certainly get two hundred francs. Why did you not carry them away The Bishop's lie transforms Valjean's understanding of grace.
Pathos, passage 249
Her head struck the head-board of the bed and fell forwards on her breast, with gaping mouth and staring, sightless eyes. Fantine's death at Javert's arrest.
Anatomy, passage 264
Those persons who wish to gain a clear idea of the battle of Waterloo have only to place, mentally, on the ground, a capital A. Geometric, encyclopedic Waterloo digression.
Senex iratus, passage 544
A baron like this gentleman, and a bourgeois like myself cannot remain under the same roof. Gillenormand blocks and expels Marius.

Books that share these scenes with Les Misérables

About the author

Victor Hugo