Poor Eponine. She has the Thernadiers for parents. She doesn’t even have a transformative supporter figure. And yet she is still able to become a good person. Her action to stop her dad from robbing the house shows true selfless love. It wouldn’t have hurt her personally. In fact if it scared Cosette away it could have benefitted her. But it would have hurt Marius. And she takes her father’s wrath to do it.

I love that you specified the broadway version over say the most recent movie. They certainly sacrifice song quality for emotion.

Unabashedly human may be the wrong choice for Mr. Wong:)

It’s that damned voice.

He’d be crazy to keep flying those missions.

Perhaps my least favorite of the pilgrims, but one of the best stories.

Jean Valjean from Les Mis. There is just so much to his story. Jean Valjean’s transformation from the misanthropic convict who is (perhaps justifiably) angry at the world to a caring father and genuinely good man is beautiful in more ways than I can rightly express in a Reddit post.

The book is by no means an easy read, but few stories have caused me to return again and again to the characters, their lives and motivations like this one.

I like to buy my books slowly. If only because I love to pick carefully. Different versions, different printings. Different translators.

For example, I want Les Mis. But I want the Donougher translation. In hardcover. Unfortunately that combination is very inflated in price. So I’m waiting. Half hoping for a Folio Society version. Translation can be a huge issue and many classics have many translations.

When I’m selecting books, I want the right version for me. One I’ll be proud to have. In the selection process I tend to find versions I like, those I don’t and sometimes it switches. For example I was looking for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I want the folio society version (but am unwilling to pay the hundreds it goes for these days. But I found the First Edition Library version with slipcase that I like a lot and was able to find cheap-ish.

I feel like if you just go to Amazon or b&n and add and purchase en masse you miss out on the selection process and may not get the best picks for your money.

If you’re going to just pick quickly either way, then getting them all at once sounds fun.

The sharp downward slope after achieving "success" paints a less rosy long term picture.

I’ve heard them called divergences of genius. There’s also one that is basically a 50 page blow by blow retelling of the principal actions in the battle of Waterloo that is only barely tangentially related to a story.

Sometimes direct.

Are you part of the Facebook groups? For Folio there is Fans of the Folio Society as well as two buy/sell/trade groups (one “fair trade”).

There’s also a signed limited awesome group for misc editions and a fine press group that specializes in smaller publishers that are out of my price range. I can’t afford the amaranthine and Lyra and even curious king (maybe base level for king). Nice to see though.

I check eBay once in a while. Rarely buy cause I frankly am unwilling to pay a premium most eBay sellers demand.

You can strike gold on Amazon marketplace on occasion if you check regularly. I got folio LOTR (the green one) for $45, 1984 (sealed) for $15 and the newer Hemingway 5 book set in the red slipcase for $25.

I have also bought maybe half a dozen books from Amazon listed as folio that I took a gamble on and turned out to not be. Amazon is thankfully easy with returns. “No, I did not pay $35 for the softcover penguin copy of Amerika by Kafka.” And I get my refund.

No, not intended to be a criticism at all. It is a beautiful book. Not one of my favorites, but an excellent book, especially on the first read.

My point was simply that, to a degree, the characters themselves are tools for that emotional impact the book is building towards.

I like Lenny and George. But they don't feel alive to me the same way that Lee or Sam Hamilton or the Joads feel.

Ultimately, my point is merely that if OP likes the characterization in Mice and Men, where the characters are hampered by their need to fit in the box, if you will, of serving the sharply defined goals of the book, then he or she should like the characterization from Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden even more.

Of mice and men is a great book, and you do come to appreciate Lenny and George, but my take on it is that the for the entire book, essentially every choice is narrowly tailored for the emotional impact of the ending.

Both of Steinbecks other most popular works, East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath are much, much grander in scale. I think East of Eden was a great pick based on your criteria because the book is all about the characters, and there are many as the book spans a generation.

The Grapes of Wrath is exceptional too, his depression era novel. Over the course of the book you alternate between these generalized depiction of these okies heading west and the ongoing tale of the Joads, a down on their luck family fleeing the dust bowl.