Thoughts on 'The Last Day of a Condemned Man' by Victor Hugo
I don't think I've ever cried so hard reading a book as I did towards the end of this one. Obviously, with a title like that I didn't think it was going to be all fun and games, but usually I'm not moved by written words in this way- I had to take off my glasses and go wash my face to be able to finish the last few pages.
After I finished I looked up the context for this book and it turns out that Hugo wrote it as his sort of white paper on why he thought the death penalty should be abolished. God damn, I don't think he could possibly have got his point across more eloquently (it should be said that I read it in the original French, but am not a native speaker, so I probably still missed things!). This book is pure, morose, pathetic poetry from start to finish.
I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to stop thinking about this book for a long time, and I was wondering: what do you think of it? And what do you think of the rest of Hugo's work? Bonus question, because I'm curious: which book has had this effect on you before?
