Les Misérables
Acceptable with guidance. Age: 16+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Jean Valjean went to prison for stealing bread. When he gets out, a kind bishop forgives him and gives him a second chance. Valjean spends the rest of his life doing good, and he raises a poor orphan girl named Cosette as his own daughter. This is one of the great stories of mercy. A holy bishop's forgiveness turns a hardened convict into a man who lives for others. The book also has faults a parent should know. Plugged In says Hugo "paints the established church as corrupt and hypocritical, though he also shows that some priests love God and serve the poor". He also cheers for revolution. The Church once listed the novel on the Index of Forbidden Books. Today Catholic educators recommend it for high school. It is very long, and it deals with prostitution, suicide and street fighting without graphic detail.
For parents
Read aloud from about fourteen, in an abridged edition if needed. Independent reading of the full book from sixteen or seventeen. Plugged In says 14 and up, and the Cardinal Newman Society lists it for grades 9 to 12. Know before you hand it over: Fantine is an unwed mother who sells her hair and teeth and becomes a prostitute, a boy is shot at the barricade, and Javert drowns himself. Plugged In reports that Hugo "paints the established church as corrupt and hypocritical, though he also shows that some priests love God and serve the poor". Ask: what changes Valjean, the law or mercy? Why can't Javert accept being forgiven? How is Bishop Myriel like Christ? Correct two things. The Church is holy even when churchmen sin. And the Church allows armed resistance only under strict conditions (Catechism 2243). Tell your teen the book was once forbidden to Catholics and talk about why.