Book review -93 by Victor Hugo

This is the last book ever written by Victor Hugo, ( 1802 – 1885 ). 

He was a poet, novelist, and dramatist who was the most important of the French Romantic writers.

Although regarded in France as one of that country’s greatest poets, he is better known abroad for such novels as Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).

This is a challenging book to read because it’s written in that typical poetic style that Victor used. It was originally written in  french, and occassionally there is a french word that doesn’t have an english equivalent. It’s still fairly easy to work out what he means though. It sort of makes the book into a sort of puzzle that needs solving, but it’s very rewarding to read in the end.

It is set in 1793 in Northern france during the French revolution, and follows the actions of several commanders on opposing sides and their do or die philosophies.
The royalists are attempting to secure part of the coast, so the British can land and help them. The republicans are trying to stop them.

life is hard and uncompromising in 1793, which reflects on the characters involved. It’s a very black or white world to them (live or die), and they have no time for the ancient equivalent of political correctness (whatever that might have been).

An excerpt is below..

I was lucky to find it in a secondhand bookshop, because it can be expensive to buy new.