This book surprised me. I don't know what I was expecting, but certainly not such an involved story of mining in the 1860's. It seemed extremely realistic and made me wonder if it really was. It made me curious as to how accurate the depiction of the mining process was. It definitely seemed real, and the writing is good enough to get a person very involved in the story and the lives of his characters as they suffer so much the miners choose to strike. Étienne Lantier arrives in a mining town and finds a job in the mines. He gets involved with the people in the city, particularly those on his mining team, including a young woman he falls in love with. There is a dangerous anarchist involved in the strike. He blows the mine when some of the miners go back to work and traps them in the mine. The story has a sad end, too, made more sad by the fact that the reader is very involved with the characters by the end of the book.
The story has many social implications. It also deals a little with genetic predispositions in our current behavior and choices. It is a rather long book and takes some time to read, but it is worth the time.
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