2020 EDIT: Yeah, this is more description, history lesson and tour guide than a novel. The plot and characters are barely present; they don't stand a chance against Victor Hugo's salivating and masturbating over buildings, streets, and town squares, and their history. Not a single detail is spared. Not a strong case for classic literature, in my opinion, for something so dense and old fashioned. But my younger self was patient enough to get through this exercise of a book to appreciate the atmosphere and the themes, and to admire the characters. So the soft spot for 'Notre-Dame de Paris' remains. It just requires having too much time and the patience of a saint to read through, let alone enjoy, I suppose.
Final Score: 3/5
Original Review:
In the end, a beautiful novel that is hard to get into in places, but is worth it.
I love how each of the characters - Quasimodo, Claude Frollo, La Esmeralda, Grigoire, Phoebus and many others - is a victim of his or her own passions. They mistake love for lust, and get mixed up in foolish and dangerous situations because of their emotions and lack of world view. Victor Hugo writes about how the people, as well as the places they inhabited, at the time of the 1400's were like, based on their refusal to move on or change for the better of society. Some cannot help it, like the isolated deaf hunchback Quasimodo, because he looks monstrous and is ridiculed and feared for it. He can behave barbarically, but that is only because he has only known hatred directed towards him. When he does show compassion and love, it is towards the bells of the Notre-Dame cathedral, the archdeacon and Esmeralda; all who cannot or do not return his kindness or human needs.
While I wouldn't call the characters wholly three-dimensional, or even likeable at the best of times, they are still interesting because of their flaws; their naivety or lechery or cowardliness are treated as such in this tragic novel.
And Djali the goat is so adorable, and is as magical as her owner - the enchanting young gypsy dancer Esmeralda.
The courtroom chapter, about the "hearing" (sorry) of Quasimodo before an equally deaf judge, is funny. Hard to believe but this book did make me chuckle a few times. For every tear shed there is laughter and wit to be found.
I admit it didn't make me really, properly sad until the ending, which is what I would call close to being perfect. But I did enjoy reading 'Notre-Dame of Paris'.
Though of course Hugo over-describes details when it comes to the setting - he even spends over 30 pages writing about the history of Paris architecture which has not a lot to do with the plot (he was a self-proclaimed historian). But, strangely, after I'd finished reading about it I felt the author did a good job creating a believable picture and atmosphere to the book. A three-dimensional world to a story is important, especially in one such as this. Hugo was clearly passionate about the Notre-Dame cathedral and its history, and the "preaching" about the state of human nature in the 15th and 19th centuries I didn't mind. Hugo also knew how to describe the depths of human emotion, which is vital to make a reader care about the characters and their circumstances.
A moving piece of classic literature. I may check out Hugo's other book, 'Les Miserables', soon, even if I have a phobia of books over 800 pages long. And I've heard the author writes more about history in that book than in 'Notre-Dame of Paris', but I'm sure that won't put me off if the ending result is as beautiful as in Hugo's earlier work.
Final Score: 4/5
PS. I still love the Disney version.
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