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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
I wanted to like it more than I did. Reading Les Miserables was a transformative experience for me and it ranks in the top bracket of my greatest of the “great works of literature” list, flanked by War and Peace and Moby Dick. I was bound to be disappointed by Victor Hugo’s earlier work after reading his magnum opus. I felt the same when I read Anna Karenina after War and Peace. Don’t get me wrong. It is a good book and there is a lot to love about it, but I think what bothered me the most was how unformed the character of Esmerelda is. Her part in the narrative merely requires her to serve as an object of lust for the male characters. She has no agency and not much of a personality. That sort of thing bothers me.
This story will always have a special place in my heart. I loved the Disney movie, and decided to read this book. It was a beautiful love letter to gothic architecture, and brings back the majesty of the Notre Dame Cathedral. Also, Victor Hugo, are you ok? Why did everyone die?
قرأتُها لأني فقط أردتُ أن أقرأها !.
ويبدو أني سأعود إليها ثانية :)
ويبدو أني سأعود إليها ثانية :)
Never ever read a tragedy without knowing from the outset that this is what you’re getting yourself into.
Notre Dame De Paris is a better name for this novel than the common one, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. Even so, a better name would have been The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. Strangely enough, I’m not certain that the Ugly in that title would be the hunchback, though he is continually described by the author and the populace of Paris as a demonic blight on the eyes that would sour the milk at a look and cause miscarriage or birth defects just by proximity.
The Good - Esmeralda, a girl of such exaltant beauty that everyone immediately thinks she is an angel or a demon in female form. She is pure in heart and body but romantically blighted to the point of idiocy. Hard to root for.
The Bad - Archdeacon Frolo starts out helping orphans and gets so caught up in alchemy and the study of magic that he is already half gone when he sees Esmeralda and goes mad with lust. After he corners her and threatens her life if she won’t belong to him a half a dozen times in this novel, one begins to think the shame is on the other characters rather than him for allowing this to go on so many times over.
The Ugly - Maybe the hunchback, who is deaf and prone to good intentions and bad luck could fall in this category. He keeps accidentally killing people who are trying to help his cause and helping the people who he should know are evil. His mind is lucid, though his motives are waffling and shallowly expressed. Better put in this category is Captain Phoebus, the handsome naive who chases every pretty woman until it becomes inconvenient. (Spoiler) After trying to take Esmeralda to bed and finding she only wants to get married, he’s done with her and finds his way back to his actual fiancee, never to acknowledge her in public again.
In Les Mis, Hugo spends half of this book talking about the history of Napoleonic battles and the need to update the sewer systems of Paris. In The Hunchback, he spends his literary energy on the history of the economic growth of Paris and lamenting the architectural changes that have supplanted the once beautiful buildings which are no longer existant. When one starts the book, these feel like distractions. Get back to the story, the reader decries. When the story comes to a conclusion, the reader is left feeling that the architectural history was the best bit of the whole experience.
Notre Dame De Paris is a better name for this novel than the common one, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. Even so, a better name would have been The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. Strangely enough, I’m not certain that the Ugly in that title would be the hunchback, though he is continually described by the author and the populace of Paris as a demonic blight on the eyes that would sour the milk at a look and cause miscarriage or birth defects just by proximity.
The Good - Esmeralda, a girl of such exaltant beauty that everyone immediately thinks she is an angel or a demon in female form. She is pure in heart and body but romantically blighted to the point of idiocy. Hard to root for.
The Bad - Archdeacon Frolo starts out helping orphans and gets so caught up in alchemy and the study of magic that he is already half gone when he sees Esmeralda and goes mad with lust. After he corners her and threatens her life if she won’t belong to him a half a dozen times in this novel, one begins to think the shame is on the other characters rather than him for allowing this to go on so many times over.
The Ugly - Maybe the hunchback, who is deaf and prone to good intentions and bad luck could fall in this category. He keeps accidentally killing people who are trying to help his cause and helping the people who he should know are evil. His mind is lucid, though his motives are waffling and shallowly expressed. Better put in this category is Captain Phoebus, the handsome naive who chases every pretty woman until it becomes inconvenient. (Spoiler) After trying to take Esmeralda to bed and finding she only wants to get married, he’s done with her and finds his way back to his actual fiancee, never to acknowledge her in public again.
In Les Mis, Hugo spends half of this book talking about the history of Napoleonic battles and the need to update the sewer systems of Paris. In The Hunchback, he spends his literary energy on the history of the economic growth of Paris and lamenting the architectural changes that have supplanted the once beautiful buildings which are no longer existant. When one starts the book, these feel like distractions. Get back to the story, the reader decries. When the story comes to a conclusion, the reader is left feeling that the architectural history was the best bit of the whole experience.
Overall, I’m glad I read it and I enjoyed the story. I’ve probably only seen the Disney movie once, a long long time ago. It was easy to see why it was turned into an animated film. But I still had the experience I did with Les Miserable and Moby Dick, where the authors interject interesting parts with pages of history lessons whose relevance is not apparent until later and kind of interrupt the exciting parts. Like two pages explaining why there’s non police force, right when they’re trying to break down the doors of Notre Dame. Also, Frollo is an !ncel creep who kills the lady who doesn’t return his interest. Even Quasimodo is possessive of Esmeralda. Is there a feminist retelling from Esmeralda’s point of view?
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
For some reason, I own this in French, but have only read it all the way through in English.
Jemig, wat een bevalling. De eerste helft vond ik echt héél saai. Veel, heel veel architectuur en beschrijvingen van het Parijs van vroeger. Pas richting het einde was het boek vermakelijk, spannend en emotioneel. Maar vond ik dat die hele worsteling waard? Nee.
Omdat ik Les Miserables prachtig vond, had ik nu ook hele hoge verwachtingen, maar het was voor mij teleurstellend.
P.s. lijkt totaal niet op de Disneyfilm mocht jij je dat ook afvragen haha.
Omdat ik Les Miserables prachtig vond, had ik nu ook hele hoge verwachtingen, maar het was voor mij teleurstellend.
P.s. lijkt totaal niet op de Disneyfilm mocht jij je dat ook afvragen haha.