Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Der Glöckner von Notre-Dame by Friedrich Bremer, Victor Hugo

8 reviews

m1neava's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Violence, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Ableism, Bullying, and Classism

maiahhtratchh's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

1.75

I’ve always wondered how this book got turned into a Disney movie and passed all the different layers of people to become produced… and then I read it. There is no way ANY sane person can get through and read this book. It made me feel illiterate. I don’t know what happened. Supposedly a chapter was not in the original publication and was viewed at the time to not add anything to the story… honestly that could be ANY of the chapters. I’ll stick to the Disney movie and musical from now on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Classism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Abandonment, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Cannibalism

Harmful racialized tropes

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

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

voyage_of_a_time_wanderer's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Xenophobia, and Torture

Minor: Stalking, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, and Antisemitism

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

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

ok7a's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, and Ableism

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Minor: Death of parent