The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)

May 04, 2010 Gaijinmama rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, classics

Well, first and foremost, this is not a Disney movie!
The title is a misnomer. The original French title is Notre Dame de Paris and the cathedral itself is the star of this show. The unfortunate hunchback is only in maybe a third of the scenes.
I actually wept at the end of Hugo's Les Misérables ...the book not the musical...so I was expecting the same level of brilliance and connection. It didn't happen. This story was sad and violent and just so terribly unfair, but the characters did not touch ...more

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Mar 31, 2020 Brenda rated it it was ok

Shelves: classics, french

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I’ve finished, is what I am finally glad for. It is a beast of a book that took me nearly a year as I kept putting it down. I don’t think I have a great translation which added to the misery.
Parts of the story I really liked, parts I loathed. It is a dark story for the most part to me, some of the most repulsive parts of people and to the nth degree. Most of the characters were genuinely unlikeable. The only one I rooted for was Quasimodo who is not in the book much. Even the cathedral, which I ...more

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Apr 20, 2020 Maggie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, european, fiction, boxall-1001, romance, historical-fiction, gothic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I started reading the 1993 Krailsheimer translation, then switched to the 2002 Liu translation as I found it more readable. The Krailsheimer translation does, however, use the original French title, Notre-Dame de Paris, which is more accurate than The Hunchback of Notre-Dame as the cathedral is more of a main character than Quasimodo is.

Originally published in 1831, Hugo wrote this novel to celebrate Gothic architecture and to decry the damages wrought to these buildings, partly through natural I started reading the 1993 Krailsheimer translation, then switched to the 2002 Liu translation as I found it more readable. The Krailsheimer translation does, however, use the original French title, Notre-Dame de Paris, which is more accurate than The Hunchback of Notre-Dame as the cathedral is more of a main character than Quasimodo is.

Originally published in 1831, Hugo wrote this novel to celebrate Gothic architecture and to decry the damages wrought to these buildings, partly through natural disasters and revolutions, but mainly by restorations made in poor artistic taste. As such, the building of the Notre-Dame cathedral itself features significantly in the novel, and plays a large part in the final battle. There are a few chapters, particularly in the first half, in which Hugo expands on architecture and the set-up of Paris that can get a little dull. These however do provide an important background for the rest of the story, and the second half of the book is fast-paced and plot-driven.

Besides the architecture of France, Hugo also explores the social set-up of France. He dives into the hypocrisies of politics and the church, the unpredictable yet powerful opinions of the public, the farcical judicial system and the possibly more sensible judicial system of the tramps, and class differences. There is plenty of satirical commentary, and Paris is portrayed as anarchy within a monarchy.

The love relationships are basically this: Quasimodo and his guardian the archdeacon Frollo both fall in love with the gypsy Esmeralda. Esmeralda is disgusted by Quasimodo's deformed appearance and Frollo's stern countenance, and is infatuated with Captain Phoebus, who saves her at one point in time. Phoebus organises a one-night stand with Esmeralda, deepening her infatuation, but is engaged to and ultimately marries Fleur-de-Lys, though there are hints that the marriage is loveless. Esmeralda also marries the struggling poet Pierre Gringoire to save him from death, but refuses to consummate their marriage, and Gringoire loves Esmeralda's goat Djali more than Esmeralda herself.

In these relationships, there is the question of who truly loves whom. Frollo violently lusts for Esmeralda, yet his lust displays itself in violent ways, including kidnapping her, denouncing her, and ultimately bringing her to her death on the gallows. Esmeralda is deeply infatuated with Phoebus, but she barely knows him as a person, and his name appears to create an idolised but untrue image of him in her mind. The only real love seems to be Quasimodo's for Esmeralda. His one desire is for her to be happy, even if he has to endure her revulsion. Her repeated rejection of him, based purely on his looks, is heartbreaking, as is his exclamation when Esmeralda lusts after Phoebus: "Damnation! That is how one should look, then! One only has to be handsome on the outside!" Quasimodo kills his beloved guardian Frollo when Esmeralda is hanged, and he dies embracing Esmeralda's corpse.

There is great tragedy, but there are moments of comedy in the book as well. Pierre Gringoire and Jehan Frollo, though both rather annoying characters, create moments of amusement, and there are plenty of ludicrous scenes that are absurd but amusing.

This book encompasses the whole life of Paris, from the king to the animals that roam the streets, with a tragic love story embedded within. It is ambitious and powerful, and even inspired a massive restoration work on the Notre-Dame cathedral. ...more

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Apr 20, 2017 Nola Tillman rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction-drama, 1001-books-to-read, fiction-historical

I'll admit I got off to a slow start; the first 45 pages or so left me bored. I set this classic down briefly for another book, then returned to it. Once I did, however, I found myself involved in a page-turner that I had a difficult time putting down. Far be it from me to critique a classic, but this was a fantastic book and one I wish I had read a long time ago. I knew the Disney movie probably messed up quite a bit, but I didn't realize just how much.... ...more

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