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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
Once I got used to the style of language, I couldn't stop reading. I can't wait to read more of Victor Hugo's work. This book had me gasping and crying and left me with such sadness that I had to read a few light books to feel better. This is a beautiful, and profoundly sad book.
it's been some time since a book made me feel so much
I have a love, loathe relationship with this book. It took me an incredibly long time to read because a lot of it was so boring. Pages upon pages upon pages of descriptions of the various views of Paris from the towers of Notre-Dame that I ended up skipping because it was just too much. The book often went into long endess descriptions of Paris, buildings etc. Which I find tedious and boring. The actual story to be honest was somewhat predictable, but also weird and a bit unhinged. Deceit, obsession, murder, love, innocence, Naivete, tragedy, surprise, loss and more are all contained in this book. I've been made aware there are "tweaked" versions that are simplified and maybe if I had that version I would have enjoyed it more. It was interesting and the climax of the book did keep my attention and was well written. It was an adventure to finally finish.
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I feel like this book had a lot of filler that was unnecessary (I'm looking at you 30 pages worth of Paris architecture history). When the plot got going though, especially in the last half of the book, it was extremely interesting and even hard to put down at times. I would recommend this book with the caveat of if you're bored, skip some paragraphs. Even whole pages. I promise it won't make a difference to your understanding of the story if you cannot recite the placement of every building as seen from above in Paris during the 1400s.
Jesus H. Christ, this is one of the most depressing things I have ever read. But, it is also a very good, very deep read, once you get past the tangents, tirades, anecdotes, and long monologues about Hugo’s philosophy of architecture, which he discusses ad nauseum. The story follows the beautiful young gypsy Esmarelda, who falls for the drunk, raucous, brash, womanizing uberdouche Phoebus, but is punished for catching the eye of the creepy, brooding, sneering, horny priest Dom Frollo, and is also adored by the “half formed” bell ringer of Notre Dame, Quasimodo, who has a heart of gold and a face not even his mother loved, apparently. All of this leads to a very well-written, but very heavy, tragic romance by Hugo, who knows how to really tug at the heart strings. I hope that those who go to read the original are not even kind of expecting the happy, sing-songy, feel-good version of Hunchback that Disney released – though don’t get me wrong, that is probably one of my favorite Disney movies. This is much more of a Gothic tragedy than a feel good story, but it is definitely worth the work and pains. It’s my fist exposure to Victor Hugo, but most certainly not my last.
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
My friend stared at me when I said I was going to read The Hunchback of Notre Dame and asked how I was going to be able to get through it. Well, I did. There were definitely areas in the book where I wondered if Hugo's seemingly-endless asides would ever end (building description, for one), and others where I wanted to knife Phoebus because Disney was really really nice to him from what I remember. Really he's just a spoiled brat. You could foist some of the fault of that on the times, but Phoebus is a jerk. Quasimodo is interesting, Frollo is fascinating, and Esmeralda's history is pretty clear almost immediately.
I did enjoy the book, in the end, but I think I would enjoy a retelling more than this version.
I did enjoy the book, in the end, but I think I would enjoy a retelling more than this version.
dark
slow-paced