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franklekens 's review for:
De Klokkenluider van de Notre-Dame
by Jan van Aken, Willem Oorthuizen, Victor Hugo
What a terrific novel this is – and what a crazy one too! A far cry from the sanitized children's versions I grew up with or the despiccable happy end drivel that Disney probbably made of this when it decided to screw over another literary classic. This book is as weird and wonderful as a church full of gargoyles, fittingly. And, contrary to Hugo's reputation for grandiosity, pomposity and verbosity (don't really know where I got that from, but I'm pretty sure I didn't make that up), what struck me most was how incredibly funny and tongue-in-cheek this story often was. It often had me laugh out loud. Hugo is having his weird gothic cake and eating (i.e. mocking) it – with an irony that may be typical of the romantic era that he came from, I don't know. In any case, a hugely enjoyable read, even if the first hundred or so page (and the second book about Paris building) are a bit of a slog. Just keep on going: it's more than worth it!
The excellent Dutch translation could have done with a bit more historical background information, be it in the form of annotations or a proper introduction. (As it is, *all* bibliographical information is lacking, even to the point of which edition of the text was used as a source text.)
The excellent Dutch translation could have done with a bit more historical background information, be it in the form of annotations or a proper introduction. (As it is, *all* bibliographical information is lacking, even to the point of which edition of the text was used as a source text.)