I confess never to have loved reading the hardline literature - I started too young to read and I was disgusted ... Well here is a true masterpiece of Victor Hugo as follows: first I loved it, I read it almost in one go ... (as it was for my French class!), Secondly : it's a beautiful book, beautifully written and transcribed accurately the thoughts, feelings, hopes for a death sentence. At first his bravery facing death - "that rather than being sent to the galleys for the rest of my life!" - And then, gradually, death infests his body and he is surprised to want to live and to envy which leaves for life imprisonment. The psychological journey of "I" - for we know neither the name of the narrator or his crime - is described very well and it is with evident pleasure that this book contains. Notice to all those who are like me, this book is for you!