Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

19 reviews

cambrand's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Hugo's "Notre-Dame de Paris" is the first French Romantic novel and a great representation of it. The original title represents the story better than "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame", given the the cathedral is the real center point and symbol of his novel rather than Quasimodo. A great illustration of middle-ages France - its people, politics, religion, and architecture. If you're reading this book based on the Disney's movie, you might be disappointed. Knocking off a star because of the mixed narration in the book that shifts from novel to almost essay-like in some chapters.

I'm sorry to say Frollo is actually the most interesting character and Esmeralda is actually painfully boring and mildly infuriating. Phoebus isn't a knight in shining armor and Quasimodo is somehow both heroic and pathetic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Torture, Xenophobia, Death, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Ableism

masha__me's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Confinement, Self harm, Stalking, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Gore, Death, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Rape

Moderate: Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Hate crime, Incest, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Bullying

Minor: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Infidelity

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

If you’ve not read the book and you think you know the story, you don’t. There’s never been an entirely accurate adaptation. A deeply felt and deeply charged story about xenophobia, fear of the future, and both of their deadly intersection with politics.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Violence, and Ableism

sarah_speaks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Death, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Racial slurs, Body shaming, and Torture

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Confinement

Minor: Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Animal death, Child death, and Abandonment

hot_water's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, and Body shaming

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, and Racism

Minor: Death

upthestairs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Torture, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Hate crime, Death of parent, Gore, Classism, Blood, Alcohol, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

seullywillikers's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I'm not sure how to rate a book like this. It is obviously a classic, and for very good reason. It is funny, dark, sad, and suspenseful. But I find it very hard to enjoy something so filled with racism, sexism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and ableism. Overall, I'm glad to have read it. I'm also fairly amazed at how much the Disney movie kept from the original story-it actually follows the book pretty closely. And, as tragedies are such an important part of human story-telling, this one is true to form.

At times I wasn't sure if the author was denouncing all the above-mentioned isms, or agreeing with them. Maybe both, for different things? I'm not sure. I'll give this a star rating to reflect my enjoyment of the reading, and not so much to reflect that it is a classic. When reading stories like this I try to maintain cultural relativism-it is not my time, my culture, my society, therefore I can't judge it the same way I would my contemporary stories, even as I disagree with so much of the wrongs of that time and place.

Ultimately, I'm glad to have read it.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Suicide, Antisemitism, Classism, Death, Racism, Ableism, Body shaming, Violence, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

hattiefrankie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The relationships between the characters in this story evokes a strong empathy in the reader aswell as contempt. Hugo is the king of context and paints Paris in so much architectural, political and cultural detail that you can vividly picture the setting and time-period of this story. As a musician I found Quasimodo's connection with the cathedral bells heart-rending. Some contextual passages felt a little too slow-paced, but the storyline was so important and kept me engaged until the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Ableism and Stalking

Minor: Torture

linnylionheart's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Confinement and Kidnapping