Sooo... Les Mis.

[ladyadeone]

Due to the upcoming movie (which I plan to see with my mom), I gave in to my slow-burning interest in reading Les Miserables. Upon receiving the hold at the library, I was pretty much floored by the sheer size of this book. It's the size of my dad's The City of God, for goodness' sakes

Comments

[ladyadeone]

It does give a wrong impression! I'm still not entirely sure why it wasn't edited down by quite a bit.

Having read about 1/4 of the book now, I can see from watching the trailer that they've changed the movie somewhat - or maybe the play changed it first, I don't know - but it does look interesting and very well done, aesthetically, at least. I'm looking forward to it. :)

[birdienl]

The sheer size of this book is also something which keeps me from picking it up, for now!

[ladyadeone]

If I had seen it on the shelf rather then putting it on hold from another library, I probably wouldn't have checked it out, yep. It's crazy big. I do have to say that, long side-passages aside, it is a pretty intense book, though.

[birdienl]

Maybe they should print it in parts, like Lord of the Rings. It might feel less imposing then and you can say: I've read part 1 of Les Mis! And go on with part 2 the next year without feeling you haven't finished a book (I hate the feeling when I don't finish a book)

[ladyadeone]

That's a good idea - Les Mis does have some pretty natural break points. And imagine the boxed sets! ;D

[meltintall3]

From the trailers and various other snippets I've run across, it looks like the movie is a straight up filming of the musical with extra nods to the book.

There are differences between the two, though at the moment I am blanking on what they are and I don't want to accidentally spoil anything either. :)

But hurrah! I'm glad you're reading it and enjoying it. :)

[valiantarcher]

The biggest change I've heard of from book to musical is the kind of downplaying of Cosette and the upplaying of Eponine. And I won't say any more than that for now for fear of spoiling something for Adeona. ;))

[ladyadeone]

Thanks for the spoiler-free information! :) Innnteresting. Unfortunately, from what I've read of the movie's content, though, I won't be watching it in theaters, if at all.

[valiantarcher]

No problem; I try not to spoil things for other people whenever possible. ;))
Oh, I'm sorry---are there some objectionable scenes? I didn't think there was much in there, but maybe there was. I know a couple of my sisters went and saw it, so maybe I'll have to ask them... At any rate, at least when it comes out on DVD, maybe you can rent it and skip any bits as needed? (My mom does/did that with movies for us sometimes...)

[valiantarcher]

If you keep working through it, I think you'll like it. :) But, yes, there are a number of slow bits. I think Victor Hugo was another author who may've been paid by the word? ;)) At any rate, I read it over my first Christmas break from university---I've been trying to replicate the feat with other classics, but haven't accomplished it yet. ;))

I don't really like the music from the musical and I have major issues with one of the changes they made (...okay, the only real change I know about), so I have no plans to see the film. That said, I'm impressed by how they shot it (the songs were sung on location, and in one take), and it looks like it's well done. :) My sister is planning on seeing it and a number of my friends, so I'll probably hear about how good it is from them. ;))

[ladyadeone]

Heh, I wouldn't be surprised if he was. You read it over Christmas break?! Truly impressive!

[valiantarcher]

Not that incredibly impressive, I think, but thanks! I made a lot of free time for it and, actually, as soon as I was done with my last final, came home and spent the rest of the afternoon lying on the couch reading it. ;))