The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Les Miserables

by Victor Hugo

The Hunchback of Notre Dame story begins in Epiphany January 6h 1482, the day of the Feast of Fools in Paris France. Quaismodo, a deformed hunchback who is the bell-ringer of Notre Dame, is introduced by his crowning as the Pope of Fools. Le Miserables - Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion in , the novel Follows the lives and interactions of several characters, particulary the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption.

Genres: Classics

763 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1991

About the author

After Napoleon III seized power in 1851, French writer Victor Marie Hugo went into exile and in 1870 returned to France; his novels include The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).

This poet, playwright, novelist, dramatist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, and perhaps the most influential, important exponent of the Romantic movement in France, campaigned for human rights. People in France regard him as one of greatest poets of that country and know him better abroad.

Reviews

[Sohvi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd recommend reading some other edition of these books. This one has a difficult old font (the two stories actually have different fonts, both pretty bad ones) and it is so small that it's honestly difficult to read. Or I might need new glasses.

I've never really cared all that much for the story of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Most characters annoy me to no end. Les Miserables is a far better story.

[Alger Smythe-Hopkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

So Much Delicious Tortuous Melodrama!
So much words...

Every couple of years I pull down this volume to re-re-re-read Les Mis and every time I find myself captured by Jean Valjean's decades long struggle for dignity and a reason to hope. Sure, the repetition of a supposed mystery about who Hugo is describing gets a little old, but that is more than made up for in the seething indignation Hugo feels for how the system just keeps grinding away at these people striving to just survive. The barricades are earned. Even the remarkably small world in which these few people move about, where Javert just happens to be assigned to whatever location in which Valjean is hiding, doesn't distract from this parable of an unjust world. Valjean is a living saint, a martyr to his past crimes, and uncomplainingly accepts that the only response is to return good for evil, yet the hounds of the law unrelentingly pursue him for a minor offense.
It's just really great and moving.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was two stories--they were OK. On Hunchback, I honestly didn't read it well. I started to, then read a decently long plot summary. It was really hard to read. The plot is pretty twisting, but with the writing style, it's very hard to see that.

Les Miserable is one of my favorite stories--I love both the new and old movie. Always makes me teary. But the book loses some of that emotion. There is a TON of random stuff in there. So it was okay, but I'll stick to the movies.

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories are incredible, and Victor Hugo has a talent for pulling you into the story. There are great lessons about acceptance and love, even if the endings are a little sad. But when I read his books, I feel like I am walking the streets of Paris myself, I can imagine exactly what people are feeling... He's just an amazing author.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disney es como el azúcar canderel: te endulza la vida pero también te chinga. Nomás hicieron lo que les dio la gana con este clásico. Es el segundo libro que me aviento de Victor Hugo y neta no me ha defraudado.

[Jburns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hugo can get very wordy but some of the best literature ever.

[Brady]

An ADULT BOOK by far

[Nicole Baratta]

The Works of Victor Hugo. The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les miserables by Victor Hugo (2001)

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does anyone know if the "Hunchback" part of the Works is abridged? (I've only read Les Mis.)

[Alasdair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I preferred Les Miserables but nevertheless this is a very fine novel and the ending is truly sadenning. I would recommend it but not highly.

[Steve Hartman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Les Miserables remains the only book I have read in the original French.

[Fatima Alawadhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great classics