The Last Days Of A Condemned : With Observations On Capital Punishment (1840) (Paperback)

from runningbeardbooks

The cold rain, the shackles, the dingy cell, the blood-thirsty crowds, and of course the galleys. If you haven't read Hugo, this slim volume is a nice place to get your feet wet. Further reading suggestions: 1. The beautiful prose, and dark humor of Nabokov's "Invitation To a Beheading." (Nabokov...

from john257hopper

This short psychologically powerful novel concerns the thoughts running through the mind of a man in prison and condemned to the guillotine in the early 19th century. It was first published anonymously in 1829, then reissued three years later with a preface by Hugo denouncing the death penalty, b...

from WorldInColour

Likely to have had an impact at the time, and written with the mandatory flair and self-pity. Yet not as gripping today as it was before.

from janemarieprice

Hugo's polemic against the death penalty is crafted as more of an emotional reaction than a political rant (though that appears in the preface). At first the condemned man believes that "death is infinitely to be preferred" to a life of hard labor; however, as his diary continues, we journey thro...