Is Les Miserables book by Victor Hugo inappropriate for a just turned 13 yr old?

[apple]

Thank you :o)

[mommytobees]

That depends....

How strict are you on context?

Les Mis' is not a nice book. There is quite a bit of, um, questionable content. Most of the questionable content is NOT detailed, and it is in context, BUT it can get graphic. I'll go into details at the very bottom of this post under the stars *** if you want a spoiler.

Also, the book is NOT an easy read. I read it years ago and have ZERO intention to read it again. (I'm one of those people who reread books on a regular basis.) It was a hard book for a college student to read. So the question needs to be asked, what level does she read at? If she reads below 10-12th grade reading level, then no she shouldn't be reading it.

I won't be allowing my children to read this book until the end of high school and ONLY if they really really want to read it.

Kris
Go down for some content spoiler...
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*** Les Miserable is not a fun and enjoyable book. Translated Les Miserable basically means the low-lifes. The miserable people at the bottom of the barrel. The wh*res, the prostitutes, the criminals, the thieves, the people who only survive at the edge of society. This book is their story.

Things happen to the main characters that are not pleasant. One character sells not only herself (in the prostitute sense), but sells her hair, her teeth, her self. She gets to the very end of her life to support an illegitimate child. This child is being raised by less than scrupulous tavern owner who treat her like a slave and treat their own children like royalty.

[Eliana]

That really depends on your family's standards.

Here's Wikipedia's page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Miserables) with a brief plot summary.

The concerns I can think of off hand:

1) Fantine has an illegitimate daughter (and is fired from her job when this is discovered).

2) Fantine, in an attempt to continue to provide for her daughter, becomes a prostitute.

3) There are *a lot* of rambling digressions (detailed descriptions of the sewer systems, for example) which can be either fascinating or mind-numbingly boring to a kid, depending on temperament.

4) It's a very long book with a lot of characters and side plots and the pace is rarely brisk. Some kids, especially if they've had a lot of exposure to older literature, relish this, others drown in it.


Although the text clearly states that Fantine had given herself to her lover as to a husband and was with child, and that, after she had sold her hair and some of her teeth she became a woman of the streets, that is as explicit as the texts gets. The words prostitute and prostitution are used as well, but unless those were familiar terms or concepts, it wouldn't be clear, from the text, what that meant.

Fwiw, we are very conservative in screening our children's reading, and my 12 year old son read Les Miserables this year... though I would not have given it to my eldest at that age given her temperament. Ds read it with great enjoyment, but the specifics of Fantine's situation went completely over his head. (He read it for pleasure, not as part of "school" - I would never have assigned it to him at this age.)


Does that help at all?

Fwiw, I will not take my kids to see the musical because of some very explicit sections (I have shared an edited version of the soundtrack with them and it is a great favorite.)

[Kareni]

My teen, a great lover of the musical Les Mis, chose to read the book in 9th grade from a number of choices that I gave her. It was the first book that we read that really made us aware of the fact that a translator can make a significant difference. The first translation we read was like wading through mud; the book dragged and dragged. Then we tried the translation by Norman Denny which made the book so much more enjoyable. We recommend that translation.

My daughter feels that the issues in the book are not graphically presented.

Regards,
Kareni

[apple]

Thank you all for your posts. My son is taking an acting class this summer, and he saw a poster on Les Miserable at the theater. He asked me if he could read this book, and I really wasn't sure for I have never read this book.

I will encourage him to find some other summer readings. Thank you all so much for your help :001_smile:

[Eliana]

Thank you all for your posts. My son is taking an acting class this summer, and he saw a poster on Les Miserable at the theater. He asked me if he could read this book, and I really wasn't sure for I have never read this book.

The book and the musical tell very different stories - the flavor, the message, and the overall style are drastically different. (I am very, very fond of both, and don't mean that as a criticism!) ...so if a poster for the musical is what interested him, the book is probably not what he is looking for!

As I said above, I think the musical is *much* *much* more problematic than the book... there are some very explicit prostitution scenes with some equally explicit lyrics (not X rated level very explicit, btw, but, well here are [/URL][URL="http://www.angelfire.com/ms/shows/LesMizScript.html"]the lyrics (http://www.lyricsondemand.com/soundtracks/l/lesmiserableslyrics/lovelyladieslyrics.html) (you have to page down a little bit to the "Lovely Ladies" song - the line I quote below is part of the scene just afterwards if you want to see it in context) the staging, as I understand it, didn't underplay them at all (I spent most of this number with my eyes closed every time I saw the musical, so I can't describe it from personal experience, only from the descriptions of less prudish friends.) ..and the toff whose conflict with Fantine on the streets precipitates some important plot does so by damaging her gown with snow in the book and by trying to purchase her favors in the musical (and then telling her that "it is not for a wh*re to say yes sir or no sir it is not for a harlot to pick or to choose" when she finds him distasteful)

[apple]

I have seen the movie before and the part about Fantine is the very reason I hesitated. I did not know how the book would portray her life or how explicitly it detailed her story. I will have to read it myself first and we shall see in about couple more years.

Thanks again for your input :001_smile:

[PollyOR]

Apple, I know that you've made a decision, but I thought I would add my experience.

I did not know the story (hadn't seen the musical or movie) when I decided to read Les Mis (http://www.amazon.com/Mis%C3%A9rables-Signet-Classics-Victor-Hugo/dp/0451525264/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247030111&sr=1-1) a few years ago in my early 40's. I found it to be tough going at times. For example, the Battle of Waterloo took 60 pages to get through and by the end the words were going in one eye and out the other :D.

Also, I think the story meant more to me as an adult. Probably many lessons would be missed by a youth.

I am glad I read it though I'm not sure I'll ever be able to talk myself into reading it again.

[Karin]

Les Mis, as some have mentioned, is not an easy read. I have only read the abridged version, and that is still very long (but saves pages and pages on Paris sewers.)

This story is better understood in light of its historical context, too. There are some great points made. Yes, these were the low people, but you see such wonderful things. You see how the protagonist (sorry, I'm having a brain jam and can't remember his name) is sentenced for stealing a loaf of bread, how he escapes, how a merciful act of kindness inspires him to change, how he becomes a just man, how he helps the dying Fantine, and more. You see how Jean Valjean (sp) who represents the mind of many at the time, cannot fathom how a man can change, etc.

The musical and the book ARE very different, as Eliana mentioned. I also like both of them, but I hate that ghost part they added to the musical and thought it unnecessary. There are some brutal things, I suppose, but some hope and promise the way some of the revolutionaries thought. The musical made the young hero more sensitive than the one in the book was to the girl who dies to save him (can't believe I've forgotten her name because I liked her song about being in the rain in the musical.)

As for reading it at 13, that really depends on the dc. My eldest still wouldn't be interested, but my 11 yo might be when she gets to be 13. At some point I think my dc need to see things that are questionable, to see how hard life can be, and to read things that aren't necessarily squeaky clean. I think Les Mis can fit that, but even in the abridged version there is a lot of "lecturing" as I call it by the author (his name also escapes me at the moment.)