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?

M Gillenormand is so scathing about and disdainful of women, it’s not very nice to read 😟 At least, I think it’s the character, not just Hugo’s own opinions showing through.

There’s a bit of an “aha!” moment in today’s chapter, if I’ve understood it correctly! The meandering detour seems to be paying off at last 😄

Yes I’m hoping I’ve understood properly too! Hugo does seem a bit conflicted about women it has to be said, I’m getting a touch of the Madonna or whore thing going on. Or old and useless or young and good for nothing but sex, both categories can keep house for him!

I am very bored of M Gillenormand and for all the singing of his praises that Hugo did I now dislike him a great deal after today’s chapter. I know this is giving us background for Marius and who he becomes but dear lord all the names and dates are so irrelevant, Hugo could have given the father wasn’t a brigand he was a great martial hero info much less tediously! (I admit to skim reading a lot of that chapter!)

I did enjoy reading about the Brigand of the Loire and his tearful watching over his son in church. I also had a surge of rage when I checked back that Thenardier stole his silver Legion d’Honneur which is why he is left with only the rosette to wear. I think Hugo is taking the time to get us to despise Gillenormand. It could have been shorter. The descriptions of women are awful, they are either sweet and pretty (fuckable) or prudes and shrews (not fuckable).

I admit I am not enjoying this overall as much as I thought I might. It has none of the verve or momentum of Monte Cristo or even the sometimes light relief of War & Peace. However I am kind of enjoying the French language and turn of phrase, and I am determined to keep reading and get to the end, for the experience of such a monumental tome. I sort of wish I had access to lectures on it so someone could explain all the nuances (have looked at couple of online study guides but they are very basic).

I am not coming out of this with a favourable view of Hugo vis a vis women. A bit like Dickens I suppose.

It's a bit up and down for me as a book. Some bits I really enjoy, others just seem superfluous. Did we really need to know about all the random people attending the salon in today's chapter? I think not. Hoping it picks up again soon!

I agree. It gets a bit ridiculous when you find yourself thinking "and now we return to the plot" after one of his massive detours! I think that makes it a good one to read over such a long period - I am more tolerant of the detours than I would be otherwise!

I’ve skimmed quite a lot of the last few chapters too, and don’t think I’ve missed anything important! So sad about Pontmercy and his little boy. And it sounds like Marius has taken on the bad influences he’s grown up with, based on the last sentence of today’s chapter…I hope he turns out better than he sounds!

I think I found the salon stuff frustrating because Hugo has proved he can set scene so well that I’m sure he could have given the feeling of the people who attended and the general air of the salon in a fraction of the words and still made it work. It just feels like he likes name dropping!

Hugo is a waffler. He likes the sound of his own waffle. I'm okay with it because it's a chapter a day and not every chapter is a waffly chapter. Even when there is waffle, there are some good lines at times. The turn of phrase is good, even if it is at times baffling (French version).

Next week’s schedule, hurrah the plot appears to recommence, but brace yourself for Friday’s chapter it’s long!
According to my Kindle by the end of today I’ll be 39% of the way through the book…

Book Three cont’d……
Mon 22nd - Ch5 - The Usefulness of Going to Mass to Become a Revolutionary (Marius had kept up)
Tue 23rd - Ch6 - What Meeting a Churchwarden Can Lead To (Where Marius went)
Weds 24th - Ch7 - A Bit of Skirt (We have mentioned a lancer)
Thurs 25th - Ch8 - Marble Versus Granite (It was here that Marius had come)
Book Four - Friends of the ABC
Fri 26th - Ch1 - A Group That Came Close to Becoming Historic (In those days)
Sat 27th - Ch2 - Bossuet’s Funeral Oration for Blondeau (One particular afternoon)
Sun 28th - Ch3 - Marius Bemused (Within a few days)

As a historical context , it is interesting to see how all these Napoleonic heroes were discarded by France. I suppose that's a little like Vietnam vets.

'Let us end our brief summary there', says Hugo, fifteen pages into the chapter! 🙄

Yes it’s very sad @Piggywaspushed (especially after reading today’s chapter), there must have been so many veterans left with nothing. Similar after WW1 in the UK, I think.

@Pashazade good point - Hugo could have chosen to bring the salon to life but took a different approach for whatever reason, and it makes the world that Marius has grown up in feel quite closed off to the reader.

Yes, I think WWI was similar but I drew the Vietnam analogy I guess because of the idea that the country became ashamed of the war whereas at least with WWI we were supposed to have been the Goodies. I suspect the same may have happened to German soldiers after WW2 especially.

Good point @Piggywaspushed , I hadn’t thought of that nuance.

Thank you for these chapter updates each week @Pashazade - sometimes I’m ahead, sometimes behind, so they are really helpful for keeping me on track.
39% of the book, but a huge chunk at the end will be the footnotes.

Oh yeah really good point about footnotes! So my Kindle is telling me after today's chapter, I'm on page 566 of 1304 non-footnote pages, so 43% done

Like some others here I'm struggling a bit with this, but partly it's because of the chapter a day format: some days it's barely more than a paragraph or two, and other days, it's a longer chapter but one which doesn't move the plot on directly. Normally I'd read on a bit until something happened, but I am trying to keep as close as possible to the schedule lol

Thanks for the updated chapters. I am a bit behind and in danger of falling off. Was hoping Valjean would return soon.

I sort of agree with the waffle... would be nice on occasiok if you just got on with it, Hugo! Yesterday's chapter could simply have been the final paragraph and we'd still have got the jist 😁

But I'm really enjoying myself - I do love these big, epic reads and the real sense of the period they're set in.. he might digress somewhat, but he paints a very vivid picture of the society and the people within it and the payoff when you return to the story always (so far) feels worth it to me.

I mean, that old crook Thenardier makes another appearance 😁 and we all know he's not worthy of any of the respect given to him by the old colonel!

Thanks in spades to @Pashazade for the weekly summaries. They are massively helpful and keep me nicely on track!

I must admit to having missed Thenardier reappearing however briefly (I started skimming when it seemed largely irrelevant, Hugo doing names and places that don’t mean much to me, should have known he would drop some little nugget in the middle) so it’s handy to have people who actually read the whole thing properly! 😁

I am caught up, there or thereabouts! Have been reading the thread where I can, avoiding either posting spoilers myself when ahead, or reading them when behind!

I am going to watch the show next week though so the whole plot will be spoiled for me. Very exciting (late birthday treat).

I really enjoyed the nuns and the convent, but have struggled a bit with this latest onslaught of new characters and endless lists of historical personages. I enjoyed the way that Hugo introduced us to the Bishop (gosh that seems like a long time ago) but to be honest, it's wearing kind of thin now. I wish someone had told him that you can just bring in a new character, you don't need to write 20 chapters talking about lots of people who that character may or may not once have interacted with and who will never appear again.

Interested to learn more of Marius and what his relevance is to the characters that we have already come to know. I think I spy some familiar faces amongst the waffle of these last few chapters - waiting to see whether I am right!

@VikingNorthUtsire the show is the plot stripped back, whilst it is still long in musical terms it’s very concise compared to the book! I hope you enjoy it, seeing it at the theatre was I found fab just because it immerses you so much, some of the ensemble pieces are very tingly. When we finish the read if I remember I’ll share a carpool karaoke from James Corden when he presented the Tonies which is awesome, also features Lin-Manuel Miranda. It’s one of the ensemble pieces from Les Mis.

You mean there aren't various hour long sections where they introduce each character, and their landlady, and someone they once met at a party, and then set it within a song about the history of Paris in "We Didn't Start The Fire" style?

I am devastated 😂

Yeah, no there isn’t. Sorry about that. 🤣🤣

Hope you have a lovely time @VikingNorthUtsire!