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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
So I listened to this on audio and I feel like I should just copy and paste my text commentary to my husband about it:
Me: So the story of notre dame is pretty good. But then we fucking take a side note rant on the fucking buildings! If there's an abridged copy, they fucking cut out the stupid rantings over buildings.
We just listed like 15 things that go in buildings.
Same day: Oh my god we are still talking about BUILDINGS! Quasimodo has tried to kidnap Esmerelda with Frollo, Esmerelda just saved some dude from being hanged and now they're married even though he's 35 and she's 16, She's met and fallen in love with Phoebus, and we are TALKING ABOUT BUILDINGS! The ART of buildings! How statues work! How religion works IN buildings!
Oh my god. NOW WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE VIEW FROM NOTRE DAME! Walking up the stairs and what you'd see from the top! A WHOLE CHAPTER!
He blue balls his own story. Cool shit starts happening and then all of a sudden Buzz Killington comes in and starts talking about buildings.
I'm wondering if I could skip this chapter.
We are on "book" 3, STILL on chapter 2, STILL rambling about whatever. I don't even know anymore
I skipped it. I couldn't listen to him ramble on about buildings.
Husband: no! You’re gonna miss something!
Me: too late and I didn’t
The next day:
OH MY GOD! He PROMISED to be going back to Esmerelda and Pierre and WE'RE DESCRIBING CELLS! A full fucking chapter. Now we're describing women's clothing to introduce three women who knew someone in one of the cells.
We just side tangented about a fat kid with cake.
I don't think I can finish this.
I've skipped again, and I think I'm back to Quasimodo
The NEXT day:
Not a single character in this book realizes how creepy Frollo is. And Hunchback of Notre Dame isn't a very good name for the book since I'm 55% in and Quasimodo has barely been in it. And Phoebus is a fuckin idiot. Like the biggest fuckin idiot. I wanna kick him in his dick.
Phoebus is creepy as shit too. He's scum. And Esmeralda is 16 and they all wanna bang her. He's gross.
So Frollo stabbed Phoebus. And then ran away and now Esmerelda is in jail, as a confessed witch and murderer after being tortured. And now Frollo has broken into her cell to tell her about how much he loves her. The narrator is breathing really heavily and weird and I'm suuuuuper uncomfortable.
He just said to her "take pity on me. Thou deemest thyself miserable, alas thou knowest not what misery is."
Fucking diiiiick. He's so gross!
The day after that:
So Frollo found out that Esmerelda is alive and in the church. She keeps telling him no. And he's still trying to rape her cause "he loves her"
So at 84% we are rambling on about Louie XI... We're describing the leather chair he's sitting in. We also listed every employee and how much they make working for him.
I have TWO HOURS LEFT! The gypsies are fighting to save Esmerelda, and WE. ARE. STILL. WITH. LOUIE XI!
FROLLO IS THE FUCKING WORST. He's so disgusting! He’s just the worst, I can’t even describe it.
So there you have it. My side of the text conversation about Hunchback with my husband. I did finish it. And talked to him on the phone about the last 10%. His biggest takeaway is “you have to listen to Les Mis now. I have to know.” Cool cool. Cool.
Me: So the story of notre dame is pretty good. But then we fucking take a side note rant on the fucking buildings! If there's an abridged copy, they fucking cut out the stupid rantings over buildings.
We just listed like 15 things that go in buildings.
Same day: Oh my god we are still talking about BUILDINGS! Quasimodo has tried to kidnap Esmerelda with Frollo, Esmerelda just saved some dude from being hanged and now they're married even though he's 35 and she's 16, She's met and fallen in love with Phoebus, and we are TALKING ABOUT BUILDINGS! The ART of buildings! How statues work! How religion works IN buildings!
Oh my god. NOW WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE VIEW FROM NOTRE DAME! Walking up the stairs and what you'd see from the top! A WHOLE CHAPTER!
He blue balls his own story. Cool shit starts happening and then all of a sudden Buzz Killington comes in and starts talking about buildings.
I'm wondering if I could skip this chapter.
We are on "book" 3, STILL on chapter 2, STILL rambling about whatever. I don't even know anymore
I skipped it. I couldn't listen to him ramble on about buildings.
Husband: no! You’re gonna miss something!
Me: too late and I didn’t
The next day:
OH MY GOD! He PROMISED to be going back to Esmerelda and Pierre and WE'RE DESCRIBING CELLS! A full fucking chapter. Now we're describing women's clothing to introduce three women who knew someone in one of the cells.
We just side tangented about a fat kid with cake.
I don't think I can finish this.
I've skipped again, and I think I'm back to Quasimodo
The NEXT day:
Not a single character in this book realizes how creepy Frollo is. And Hunchback of Notre Dame isn't a very good name for the book since I'm 55% in and Quasimodo has barely been in it. And Phoebus is a fuckin idiot. Like the biggest fuckin idiot. I wanna kick him in his dick.
Phoebus is creepy as shit too. He's scum. And Esmeralda is 16 and they all wanna bang her. He's gross.
So Frollo stabbed Phoebus. And then ran away and now Esmerelda is in jail, as a confessed witch and murderer after being tortured. And now Frollo has broken into her cell to tell her about how much he loves her. The narrator is breathing really heavily and weird and I'm suuuuuper uncomfortable.
He just said to her "take pity on me. Thou deemest thyself miserable, alas thou knowest not what misery is."
Fucking diiiiick. He's so gross!
The day after that:
So Frollo found out that Esmerelda is alive and in the church. She keeps telling him no. And he's still trying to rape her cause "he loves her"
So at 84% we are rambling on about Louie XI... We're describing the leather chair he's sitting in. We also listed every employee and how much they make working for him.
I have TWO HOURS LEFT! The gypsies are fighting to save Esmerelda, and WE. ARE. STILL. WITH. LOUIE XI!
FROLLO IS THE FUCKING WORST. He's so disgusting! He’s just the worst, I can’t even describe it.
So there you have it. My side of the text conversation about Hunchback with my husband. I did finish it. And talked to him on the phone about the last 10%. His biggest takeaway is “you have to listen to Les Mis now. I have to know.” Cool cool. Cool.
Victor Hugo once again demonstrates unrivalled mastery over the written word, but the story itself was grievous to experience. Shakespeare has nothing on tragedies in this case. I loved the descriptions, the in-depth details and creative examples that colour both Victor's characters and their emotions in this book. I awed at the author's ability to rend a reader's heart through poetic text. But normally, even in a tragedy, at least one character stands out as piteous—an ill-fated victim entirely deserving of sympathy given his or her altruistic, often heroic nature. These Notre-Dame characters, however, were all hard to pity. Even the hunchback, Quasimodo, who I believe was meant to be the hero in this case, through actions that caused pain and cruelty unbalanced by an attempt to protect Esmerelda, proved upsetting.
I wonder if this wasn't meant to be a cleverly laid out example of self-seeking, base human nature demonstrated from diverse stations and perspectives. Esmerelda, Claude Frollo, his drunkard brother, Quasimodo, Captain Phoebus, Gringoire, the King, and so on—every character, even the minor players, seemed controlled by selfish interests, none truly praiseworthy! It was difficult to read through these intertwining paths and root for no one. Lives tragically found their end in the same manner in which they elapsed, through spiteful and heartless misfortunes. It was a harsh and sad tale but a seriously insightful demonstration of the end results where selfish obsessions are concerned.
I wonder if this wasn't meant to be a cleverly laid out example of self-seeking, base human nature demonstrated from diverse stations and perspectives. Esmerelda, Claude Frollo, his drunkard brother, Quasimodo, Captain Phoebus, Gringoire, the King, and so on—every character, even the minor players, seemed controlled by selfish interests, none truly praiseworthy! It was difficult to read through these intertwining paths and root for no one. Lives tragically found their end in the same manner in which they elapsed, through spiteful and heartless misfortunes. It was a harsh and sad tale but a seriously insightful demonstration of the end results where selfish obsessions are concerned.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A classical is a classical and The hunchback of Notre Dame is a story we have grown up to hearing and seeing it in movies so it is something in our veins.
However reading it was a completely different experience; I have to admit that I enjoyed Les Misérables more. As in the Hunchback of Notre Dame the story itself was more tragic and violent than the movies specially the Disney colorful one, also the incidents would have been written in a much shorter book as there was a lot of descriptions for the french society and Paris at that time that could have been written in a separate distinct book.
However reading it was a completely different experience; I have to admit that I enjoyed Les Misérables more. As in the Hunchback of Notre Dame the story itself was more tragic and violent than the movies specially the Disney colorful one, also the incidents would have been written in a much shorter book as there was a lot of descriptions for the french society and Paris at that time that could have been written in a separate distinct book.
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism
W: Quasimodo, Esmeralda L: jeder andre
Faszinierend wie disney eine liebesgeschichte draus gemacht hat, eigentliche eine Geschichte welche Gräueltaten Menschen wegen der Liebe begehen, Hinrichtung, fast eine Vergewaltigung, Mord u name it. Dom Claude hat sein Ende verdient war sehr angenehm die Seiten zu lesen.
Faszinierend wie disney eine liebesgeschichte draus gemacht hat, eigentliche eine Geschichte welche Gräueltaten Menschen wegen der Liebe begehen, Hinrichtung, fast eine Vergewaltigung, Mord u name it. Dom Claude hat sein Ende verdient war sehr angenehm die Seiten zu lesen.
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Super boring which makes it hard to stay focused
adventurous
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What can I say? This classic work of fiction is phenomenal. It's not as great as Les Miserables, but it also doesn't take as many narrative detours. The last ~100 pages or so, in particular, are extremely engrossing. The climax at Notre Dame and the end of Esmeralda's story are almost perfectly written.