Les Miserables read-a-long 2026 | Deuxième Partie (2)

[Pashazade]

Welcome to the second thread of the Les Miserables Read-a-long.

I've taken over from AgualusasL0ver in trying to keep us all reading together, but have copied the below over from the first thread.

I'll also be using the Christine Donougher translation (on Kindle) for posting in the main, but it doesn't matter which translation you have, they seem to follow the same breakdown.
It's a bit sprawly in places, some people have entire sections in the appendices, so I've started adding the first line of the chapter to try and lock in exactly where we are for that day, hopefully it helps us all keep together!

The only rules
The plan is to read ONE chapter a day and contribute/follow the thread as you see fit. There are c. 365 chapters, so we plan to take the year to read slowly and really get under the skin. Sometimes we have clustered chapters in past read-a-longs, and people do sometimes read ahead. All fine - but No spoilers until the relevant day.
Notes from previous read-a-longs

• How you manage one a day is entirely up to you, some people prefer to store them and read all the chapters for the week at once, some read each day.
• Sometimes these books can go off on a tangent all their own (looking at Mr Tolstoy), stick with it :-)
• All formats and translations welcome. Sometimes the translation discussions are some of the most interesting conversations.
• You WILL get behind at some point, but don't worry, just catch up when you can.
• Tangents, things you discovered down a rabbit hole, articles, pod casts, clips of epic scenes when we get to them all very welcome on the thread.

Spoiler free summary , courtesy of Chat GPT below. Schmoop has book summaries so I will post those at the relevant points. ** Les Misérables is a classic novel by Victor Hugo that explores justice, compassion, and the struggle for dignity in 19th-century France. At its core, the book follows the lives of several interconnected characters from different social classes as they navigate poverty, law, love, and moral choice. Rather than focusing on a single hero or plotline, the novel paints a wide picture of society—showing how personal decisions are shaped by systems like the legal system, economic inequality, and social expectations. Key themes include:

• Justice vs. mercy — how laws affect people differently, and whether strict punishment leads to fairness
• Redemption and moral growth — the possibility of change, even after hardship
• Poverty and inequality — the daily realities of people living on the margins
• Love and sacrifice — care for others as a powerful force for good
• Social responsibility — how individual actions impact the wider community

The novel is known for:

• Deep character development
• Emotional intensity
• Philosophical reflections on society and humanity
• Detailed descriptions of history and everyday life

Overall, Les Misérables is less about a single storyline and more about asking big questions: What does it mean to be a good person? How should society treat its most vulnerable? And can compassion change lives?

I wondered that, but googling didn’t throw anything up. I don’t know if it was a well-known phrase before the film - maybe just a coincidence?

Today’s chapter is a bit sad - Gavroche hasn’t seen his two brothers again and the narrator says it’s common for children to disappear in the lowest ranks of society. Poor little mites, I wonder if we’ll see them again or if that’s it?

Finally got through the slang chapters so have a chance of catching up again. I find the digressions quite hard to read in French - it’s not the language as I can understand the words, it’s more that I find that I have read a page or so & have not retained any of the meaning (to be fair, I would probably do the same in English, but it is so much more noticeable when I’m not reading in my first language).

I did laugh when Hugo compared Marius to Romeo but had an easier time of things, but I found the description of Marius & Cosette excruciating in places. @VikingNorthUtsiresaid a while back that modern readers do still like yearning in relationships (which is true - I certainly do) but I don’t think modern readers put the same value on self-denial or celebrating innocence as the 19th century did.

Then again, Hugo does have a wonderful turn of phrase for things that makes wading through the digressions worth it - this is my favourite quote of the day:

C’est une erreur de croire que la passion, quand elle est heureuse et pure, conduit l’homme à un état de perfection; elle le conduit simplement, nous avons constaté, à un état d’oubli.

[It’s an error to believe that passion, when happy and pure, transports man into a state of perfection: it simply drives him, as we have observed, into a state of forgetfulness.]

Just like Valjean’s nephews & nieces. 😢

I was a bit confused by today's chapter. Gavroche seems not to know what happened to his brothers but also that the hairdresser had done something?

Apparently the hairdresser chased them away earlier. I don't remember it particularly.

I really like the description of these scenes; they are so vivid.

It doesn't have a hairdresser in my book??

So it looks like Hugo has shifted from calling him a barber to a hairdresser. In the chapter where Gavroche takes his little brothers in they ask for charity at the barbers shop which I’m going to assume is the same as the hairdresser we encounter in Thursday’s (tomorrow’s) chapter.

Ah thanks - sorry for the spoilers! I thought it was Thursday today (long week!)

Ooh. OK. I did think 'how has a rag and bone woman become a hairdresser in some translations?'!

I personally vote for today being Friday.

Seconded.

So I’m now trying to figure out who the last recruit was, it’s got to be either Epoinine or Cosette surely?

BOOK TWELVE, Corinthe
Mon 5th - Ch1 - The History of Corinthe from Its Foundation (Nowadays Parisians entering Rue Rambuteau)
Tues 6th - Ch2 - Preliminary Jollities (As we know)
Weds 7th - Ch3 - Darkness Starts to Descend on Grantaire (It was indeed ideally located)
Thurs 8th - Ch4 - An Attempt to Console Widow Hucheloup (Thrilled with the barricade)
Fri 9th - Ch5 - Preparations (Contemporary newspapers)
Sat 10th - Ch6 - Waiting (During those hours of waiting, what did they do?)
Sun 11th - Ch7 - The Man Recruited in Rue des Billettes (It was well after dark)

I guessed Epoinine but not sure

I guessed Eponine too. But who is the old man who also joined them? (Not Mabeuf from the previous chapter).

I thought it was Mabeuf? 🤔

Yes I think Eponine, and I think the old man must be JVJ - but not sure how that can work if he’s gone to England?

I reckon we might get a rewind on the JVJ timeline like we did earlier and they perhaps get caught up in things before they can leave. As it seemed like JVJ to me too.

That would make sense @Pashazade !

I've reread 'Recruits'. It's definitely not Mabeuf and very likely to be JVJ.

I'm a few chapters behind but I did get excited when Marius apparently presses Cosette up against a wall. Finally, some smut 😂😂

But, no, it would appear not. It doesn't quite explain what happened but it does all seem to be about the relatively chaste kissing.

I'm just reaching the riots and barricades. Interesting reading this while watching Parisian students in revolt right now.

Also assuming that the scruffy young man who looks kind of like a woman must be Eponine. And the brave grey-haired man most likely JVJ.

I’ve gone back and re-read the last chapter of the section and I think it’s Cosette, not Eponine - she’s run off to try and track down Marius and has disguised herself as a boy. And JVJ has gone after her. Or maybe I’m wrong! 😄

Yesterday’s chapter was witty, a pity about the casual misogyny (again) though…

Today's chapter was a difficult read, because every time Grantaire opens his mouth, my eyes glaze over.

I think Hugo has the same problem as writers of smut as such long chapters aren’t easy to write & there is a risk that the reader becomes bored / nauseated.

With Hugo, I can’t help wondering if he also has the problem that (thanks to the article @cassandreshared) we suspect that he wouldn’t have behaved in a gentlemanly fashion in a similar situation, so he knows what he is writing lacks credibility - certainly the Fantine - Tholomyés relationship seemed far more true-to-life. (Hugo really has no excuse for this as French 17th century drama had a strong theme of making relationships plausible & which led them to rewrite the plots of Greek myths so that they made emotional sense. He also had the option of being more concise).

I hadn’t linked the barricades to the currebt situation but that is a really good point. Hugo certainly spends a lot of time defining what is une émeute (riot) as compared to une insurrection.