Les Miserables

Adaptations and abridgments of this, Victor Hugo's magnum opus, have been legion. The musical may never close. But according to Matthew Gurtwitsch, the novel - all 1400-plus pages of it - "is" Les Miserables and he says "you must wrestle it as Jacob wrestled the angel, hanging on for the sake of your very soul. On an epic journey like this one, a reader's attention is sure to wander from time to time. But every shortcut is a loss."