Les Misérables
Victor Hugo
24 people recommended it in 12 threads, 2009–2024.
What people on Hacker News said
It was a beautiful, touching piece. Not only did it tell a story, but also it presented the whole cultural background upon which the story occurred. Every time I read the book, I learn something new.
People probably typically view me as "isolationist, individualist, and just a little bit of an asshole" but reading that book definitely made me "warmer, kinder, more sympathetic/empathetic."
Les Miserables has quite the diversions (80 pages or so describing the battle of Waterloo) but it returns consistently to the characters and resumes their previous connections.
The book rambles a bit, but it's wonderful. In parts uplifting and crushing. I don't communicate well enough to express how much I think of it.
Runner ups - Les Mis - helped me love the less fortunate
Hugo is an absolutely genius at dropping what seems at the time like the most inconsequential seed into the plot and then having it flourish into a great reveal a hundred or so pages later.
Where it comes up
- Ask HN: Great fiction books that have had a positive impact on your life? 2020 · 5 recommendations
- Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago? 2019 · 5 recommendations
- Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011 2011 · 3 recommendations
- Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read? 2024 · 2 recommendations
- Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models? 2017 · 2 recommendations
- Ask HN: Which book/essay changed your life? 2021 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once? 2020 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything? 2019 · 1 recommendation
- YC's 2015 Reading List 2015 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: What is the best fiction book you've ever read? 2013 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Books that changed your life? 2010 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books. 2009 · 1 recommendation