The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Post Your Thoughts

[La Tonya]

I am excited to announce we have a winner for our monthly selection for November 2018. It is The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Post your thoughts and comments about this book, let's start a conversation. Enjoy Reading.

[Linda R,]

I found that Victor Hugo has an unparalleled ability to get into the"mind" of a crowd. His description of large assembles of people is epic, particularly the opening scene.

[Zofia]

I happened to be reading this book anyway, so I'm glad it won! I haven't finished yet, but it's really good.

[La Tonya]

Zofia wrote: "I happened to be reading this book anyway, so I'm glad it won! I haven't finished yet, but it's really good."

Make sure you post a review. Enjoy Reading. 📚

[Angela]

I read this book for a horror reading group about 10 years ago. The mood/atmosphere was incredable. but I just really couldn;t get into the story. I felt such empathy with Quasimodo but the style of writing was hard to get thru

[Maureen]

What I love about Victor Hugo is how human he makes all of his characters. Reading The Hunchback of Notre-Dame I've noticed he does the same thing with Frollo that he did with Javert in Les Miserables . They aren't evil for the sake of being evil; they are very, very human. Even though their actions may be horrible and monstrous, you can 100% see how they arrived where at the point(s) they did, and why their next actions make sense to them. And even though they aren't the choices most (decent) people would make, you can kind of forgive them for it. Not that you want them to be happy per se, but you do kind of want them to find peace. And yes, what Frollo did at the end was appalling and heinous, but he's hardly the villain Disney made him out to be. (I think that was a great disservice to Hugo on their part.) He actually had quite a bit of compassion which makes him a much more interesting character and it makes his ending and tragic flaw all the more wretched.

As a side note, about halfway through the first chapter I was kicking myself for not getting the abridged version. I do understand Hugo's actual purpose in writing the novel, but good grief. . . . the architecture descriptions were dull.

[Diane]

I started this yesterday - so a late start for me. So far Victor Hugo makes sure you can visualize everything that is going on!

[La Tonya]

Diane wrote: "I started this yesterday - so a late start for me. So far Victor Hugo makes sure you can visualize everything that is going on!"

Awesome - Post a Review When You Finish 🎉 Enjoy Reading, La Tonya

[Kate]

I just started reading (library had a wait list - interesting) - Hugo paints a vivid image of place, atmosphere, engaging the senses, making me want to keep reading ^_^

[La Tonya]

Kate wrote: "I just started reading (library had a wait list - interesting) - Hugo paints a vivid image of place, atmosphere, engaging the senses, making me want to keep reading ^_^"

Awesome - Post a Review When You Finish 🎉 Enjoy Reading, La Tonya