Les Misérables by Victor Hugo “The classic story of the triumph of grace and redemption, adapted for today’s readers” by Jim Reimann W Publishing, 2001. 288 pages. Many years ago my mother received in the mail, every month or so, a volume of the “Readers’ Digest Condensed Books” series. Each volume contained abridgments of recent books. I never quite grasped, back then, the reasoning by which one might justify reading a shortened version of a …showed first 75 words of 1010 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1010 total…fully realized portraits of Jean Valjean, Javert, Cosette, Thenardier, and Marius, as well as of important characters Reimann inadequately acknowledges: Bishop Myriel, Fantine, Éponine, and Gavroche, to name a few. Rather than settle for a tale of one man’s salvation, readers should strive to experience the novel’s full scope as a “social and historical drama” and a “vast mirror” of the human race, of societal norms that may very well be beyond redemption.