Comment by mauvehaus | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mauvehaus | Hacker News Reader

A contract that paid by the word, perhaps? I got 700 pages in one year over winter break when I was in college. A (mostly, it was many years ago now) complete summary of the events that had happened that would be familiar to those who have seen the musical:

1. Jean Valjean acquired some silver from the bishop. 2. It was established that M. Thenardier looted the deceased soldiers at the battle of Waterloo. 3. The existence of Fantine and possibly Cosette had been established? 4. Perhaps Valjean had become the mayor of some town after using what was formerly the bishop's silver to become an honest man?

Note that Javert, who is the other major character besides Valjean has yet to put in an appearance, despite showing up in perhaps the first 10 minutes of the musical. M. Thenardier is, at best, a minor player in the musical, and prior to his introduction, we get ~50 pages on the history of the Battle of Waterloo.

The Princess Bride gently mocks the genre by advertising itself as "abridged". I can't help but feel it's justified.

Why would you write so many sentences to simply say that you couldn't finish a great novel? There's nothing wrong with The Princess Bride... but it's for children.

Try reading it again. It's worth it, I assure you. It's vastly better than any of the film adaptations or the musical.

> Why would you write so many sentences to simply say that you couldn't finish a great novel?

He used the sentences to explain why he found it not great. Not every great novel is great to all readers and I found his comments informative.

> informative

There was no information to be informative -- it was an admission of the lack of information. If you haven't read the book and don't remember what little you did read, saying you "found it not great" has little value.

I'm not going to claim to be a connoisseur of literature, so perhaps I've just overlooked the greatness. The point I was trying to make is that the book takes a great many pages to advance the plot relatively little. If you're familiar with the musical adaptation and are expecting a more plot-driven novel, you probably won't find that the book meets those expectations. I have not seen any of the movie adaptations, and cannot comment on them; on the basis of your recommendation, I probably will not.

As I recall, structurally, the novel is somewhat like The Grapes of Wrath, with expository sections interspersed with sections that directly advance the plot. I quite liked that about the Grapes of Wrath. I'm not sure if I take issue with the exposition/advancement ratio in Les Miserable, or if I feel less of a connection with the period Les Miserables is set in.

For children or not, I certainly won't hold The Princess Bride up as example of greatness. I would claim that the fact that it works as a send-up of a genre, including the alleged abridgement, is illustrative of something.

Les Miserables as a novel is a massive oeuvre, with perhaps only Tolstoy's War&Peace as its equal. The novel succeeds in painting the story on a much larger canvas and does so superbly. The part about Waterloo however is needlessly French-patriotic, although still a valuable account. An excellent, more accurate and detailed book about Waterloo is the one written by Bernard Cornwell. It is words that still convey abstract reflexions or concepts/method more aptly and concise than VR or multi-media I think.

> perhaps I've just overlooked the greatness

You have. Hugo takes his time because great artists don't tell you, they take your hand and lead you somewhere so that suddenly you open your eyes and you're in a place you never expected to be.

I understand you, of course. The book is longer than War and Peace. It's huge. When he spends the entire first book just on the Bishop, you're forgiven for thinking, "Why?" That's answered immediately, however. The great scene that follows between Valjean and the Bishop feels utterly natural, rather than stilted or artificial if done another way.

The same is true with Fantine. Her story is light when it starts. Hugo spends a lot of time so that you will feel the lightness of her situation so that he can then turn the lights out, and now you're with her in the dark. She's not some loose woman who should have known better; she's you.

He does this again and again. For the entire novel he doesn't tell you anything, he doesn't even take your hand later but simply grabs you by the collar and shows you, immerses you in these characters. It's the greatest novel I've ever read and I would recommend fully reading it to anyone.

> For children or not, I certainly won't hold The Princess Bride up as example of greatness.

Of course.

> I would claim that the fact that it works as a send-up of a genre, including the alleged abridgement, is illustrative of something.

But it's a send-up of fairy tales -- not great fiction.

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