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Rating:  -
I have now read four books by Victor Hugo. The Last Day Of A Condemned Man, Les Miserables, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and recently I finished The Man Who Laughs.
I will spare the usual props I throw Hugo's way about him being the greatest author and yada yada yada. Although, as far as classics are concerned, I was dissappointed to go to my local library and in the Hugo novel section there were only two books (and a small gap where Hunchback was). Walking over to the D's for Dickens. There were at least 50 books, multiple copies.
I love Dickens and Hugo, but I don't think Hugo gets near enough attention for the quality he puts out. Dickens can fill just as many pages as the French master, but it seems that the substance is lacking in comparison. What a shame. Does America hate the French that much?
The Man Who Laughs or By Order Of The King was a very fast read. Considering she was 550 pages, I made it through in a couple of weeks, which says a lot for me, I am extremely slow at reading. An excellent plot and a strong mystery involving many characters keeps you interested. If he were alive today, Hugo would no doubt be a writer on Lost. Although, as one reviewer noted with a bright red mark, that you don't find out the lead characters name till almost 200 pages into the book, I found the back story behind the character one of the most fascinating aspects of the book. Homo and Ursus, a mountebank and his aide/wolf introduce the book, and shortly you are introduced to a group of strangers who abandon a boy on a shore. First it follows the boat and its destination then it retraces its steps and tells the story of this boy.
Many lengthy passages are devoted to writing about nobility and lands, and law officers of the day, and there's enough death and deceit and debauchery to keep you entertained (the seduction scene with Gwynplaine and the lady he is to be betrothed to is intense and hilarious). Hugo is still Hugo, and apparently this books was written while he was in exile. So there aren't the usual 30 page essays in the midst of his tales, but it's just a wonderful story.
The ending of Hugo's books are something wonderful, and you can guess and you can guess, but you never can tell. I thought I had the ending figured out, but alas, I was wrong and it took me a good half an hour while the ending sank in.
I think my favorite book of Hugo's so far has been Hunchback, but this story does not dissappoint, and I recommend it over any Dickens or Hardy any day. It's twenty bucks for the paperback, forty for the hardback, but I'd say for anyone who likes a classic, it's worth the price.
Rating: -
The Man Who Laughs is even better than Hugo's better known Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. A compelling plot filled with suspense and interesting characters, the novel deals with the most fundamental issues of humanity, including the nature of love, integrity, and justice, and integrates them superbly with the masterful plot.
The introduction by Shoshana Milgram is penetrating and thought-provoking.
Rating: -
Do not be fooled by the fact that you have never heard of this book. Do not be put off by it, either.
I'm not going to say that The Man Who Laughs (TMWL) is better than either Hunchback or Les Mis, or worse than them--I find the question itself unnecessary. What TMWL is, is a tour de force by one of the best writers, ever. It features incredible characters (Gwynplain, Ursus and Barkelphedro are my favorites) in a fun little plot suffused with biting, acerbic running commentary throughout. Some complain at Hugo's moralizing--that the "essays" get in the way--myself, I find these asides to be so well-written (and so on-point) that I enjoy them just as much as when he's advancing the plot. But, I do understand that there are those who can't take very much political discussion....
In the end, it helps if you have something of a philosophical and/or political bent to get the maximum out of this great work, but even if you don't, the cast of characters will keep you entertained as is befitting such a collection of mountebanks. This work is particularly recommended to those familiar (or who would like to be familiar) with the works of Ayn Rand; she mentions this book in her writings, and it is plain to see how they reflect one another.
Rating: -
This is Hugo's most complex and fascinating work. The plot itself is bizzare take on the Beauty and the Beast theme. He had already explored that theme in "Hunchback of Notre-Dame", and he revisited it, almost 40 years later. But, unlike in "Hunchback", where the beast remains lonely and unloved, the beast in "The Man Who Laughs" is in fact happily involved with his childhood sweetheart. Conveniently, she is blind, so she can't see his physical ugliness. Their platonic engagement goes on for years, until the appearance of a certain jaded duchess, who can see the deformed protagonist and still is attracted to him.
What surprised me is that Hugo went to such extent to research the lives of all 180+ peers who existed in England in the early 1700s, yet he gave such clumsy and unconvincing names to the main characters. I know that they are supposed to be memorable and exotic, but could they at least be English? Yes, I understand that Ursus (the main character's foster father) had a "mania for Latin names", so he called himself Ursus "bear", his dog Homo "man" and his adopted daughter Dea "goddess". Ursus is supposed to be an eccentric scholar. But why is the main character named Gwynplaine? What kind of a name is it? It sounds vaguely Welsh, but it doesn't appear as a legitimate name in any name directory. Same with Lord Linneas Clancharlie, Gwynplaine's biological father. Same with Gwynplaine's real name - Fermain. Oh, and don't forget Duchess Josiana (we know she's a duchess, but we don't know what estates she's a duchess of), and Lord David Dirry-Moir. I've never heard of those names until I read the novel. They sound artificial. Was this an oversight on Hugo's part? Or did he give such strange names to the main characters on purpose?
This book is not a summer read. Save it for a snowy January night, when you are stuck at home with a debilitating respiratory virus, when your fever is so high that reality and fantasy blur. Then you'll get the full effect. You'll experience something similar to what I experienced 12 years ago. I actually had a dream that I was Dea (the one of the female protagonists), freezing in the snow, and a courageous boy took me in his arms and rescued me.
"The Man Who Laughs" is like a dark, sweet, blood-chilling dream (think cherry liquor on rocks). I recommend that you also play some English baroque music in the background.
Rating: -
TMWL by Victor Hugo
We talk about magnificent writing, we redefine our understanding here. Victor Hugo's The Man Who Laughs is one of the best novels I have ever read and and most likely, one of the best I ever will read. Written in the mid 19th century, the story ties together history and commentary, philosophy, comedy and tragedy, it contains all the things one can ask of good literature. Hugo has surpassed many writers in his ability to set a scene. Vivid descriptions give readers an understanding of time and location (early 15th century England). The story is so engaging, unlike anything I had ever read before. V.H. is most well known for The Hunchback of Notre dame and Les Miserables, but it seems a mysterious to me how TMWL, conceivably his best work, has faded into the unknown.
I will not ruin the excitement you will receive reading the novel, I will only tell you about the writing and a bit about the plot. It is the story of a man who placed in hard circumstances turns his problems into advantages, not in a way to dominate, nor for greed, but because he is a good person. His life is an odd one and is quite amusing. He lives with his mentor and a beautiful lover. There is much philosophy in characters discourses which is silly and intriguing. And circumstances which harp on the emotions.
Another reviewer had written that TMWL descriptions that were too thorough and that the reader should skim when arriving at something resembling a diatribe, I would not suggest this. Though Hugo does reinstate the same ideas every few chapters, he sheds more light in each description. I have been tempted to skip the page length imaging of character reactions but am glad that I have not. There is much to be gained reading Hugo's lyrical and thought filled sections.
Summed up, this is a story of a good man rising because he is good, though he has a dilemma that would make any other person commit suicide. The character is placed in a time which Hugo presents as full of horrible people, but the good characters do not falter. TMWL is written eloquently, chock-block full of words which you may need your dictionary and even Latin-English dictionary for. TMWL has renewed fictions vibrancy. This is what we want the novel to be.
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