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katiehicks 's review for:
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
by Victor Hugo
This book is so beautifully balanced between character, plot, and setting. Each one of these elements added to the story in such a memorable way.
Characters
I did not have any neutral feelings about any of the characters, I either loved them and wanted so badly for them to escape the fates I knew were coming (Esmeralda and Quasimodo), or I wanted them to die in a fire (Frollo and Pheobus). The only exceptions to this were perhaps Gringoire and Jehan, who I thought were just mildly annoying but since they were important connective tissue between the goings-on in the church and the Cour des Miracles, I never really minded when they were "on screen."
There were, obviously, racist connotations to many of the characters, and Hugo's consistent use of the g*psy slur and obvious ignorance about actual Traveler culture was problematic to say the least (not to mention his obvious disdain for anyone who was not French and Catholic in the first Cour des Miracles scene). At times this was pretty pronounced, and it became hard for me, in the 21st century, to ignore it- but I did appreciate that both the introduction and the translator's note of this edition addressed these issues and contextualized (but didn't apologize or make excuses for) them. Also, Esmeralda is a pretty classic damsel in distress character who would literally rather die than be without a man that she literally just met. This was particularly disappointing to me, who grew up watching the amazing and bad-ass Esmeralda in the Disney animated film. Again, there were times when this was easier to ignore than others, but overall this is one of those "product of its time" books which should be viewed with a critical lens when it comes to representation of race, ethnicity, and gender.
Plot
It is true, there are times when Hugo kind of trips up the flow of the story-- the large chunks about Paris are perhaps the most egregious example, but you can also see it when, literally in the middle of the climax of the story, we get an entire chapter where the king is going over some receipts and whining about his advisors. Still, the pacing is great and pretty well balanced throughout. The slow burn of the first half really (really) lets you settle into the setting, thoroughly describing time and place, and establishing the city as a character in an of itself. Then the second half hits you with the "murder", the trial, the first escape, Quasimodo's half-crazed and triumphant "sanctuary!", then the siege of the cathedral, the second escape, and finally, the parallel deaths of Esmeralda and Frollo.
Setting
Although the setting is such an important part of the story, and in fact the most important part of the story according to Hugo, I never felt like I was fully appreciating the long chapters on the layout of Paris. I think Book 3, particularly "A Bird's Eye View of Paris" was the worst one for me. I really tried to get on board, but when he starting listing every gate in every wall, giving me the history of each important building and business, and describing in detail how a prince might set up his palace, I was lost. It was such an overwhelming amount of really minute detail that my eyes starting glazing over. It felt like reading a map, and made me feel like Hugo could have saved about 50 pages by just drawing a map of Medieval Paris and including that in the beginning (it probably have even helped me visualize the setting better anyway). I understand that these sections were very important to Hugo, are big part of why this book is what it is, but after a certain point, it started to take away from the story for me.
Conclusion
Overall, I really loved this book and I will probably be returning to it in the future. The dry, overly-descriptive chapters on the layout of Paris, as well as the problematic aspects of Esmeralda's character, will keep this from being a 5 star book for me, but I would still recommend reading it keeping those things in mind.
Characters
I did not have any neutral feelings about any of the characters, I either loved them and wanted so badly for them to escape the fates I knew were coming (Esmeralda and Quasimodo), or I wanted them to die in a fire (Frollo and Pheobus). The only exceptions to this were perhaps Gringoire and Jehan, who I thought were just mildly annoying but since they were important connective tissue between the goings-on in the church and the Cour des Miracles, I never really minded when they were "on screen."
There were, obviously, racist connotations to many of the characters, and Hugo's consistent use of the g*psy slur and obvious ignorance about actual Traveler culture was problematic to say the least (not to mention his obvious disdain for anyone who was not French and Catholic in the first Cour des Miracles scene). At times this was pretty pronounced, and it became hard for me, in the 21st century, to ignore it- but I did appreciate that both the introduction and the translator's note of this edition addressed these issues and contextualized (but didn't apologize or make excuses for) them. Also, Esmeralda is a pretty classic damsel in distress character who would literally rather die than be without a man that she literally just met. This was particularly disappointing to me, who grew up watching the amazing and bad-ass Esmeralda in the Disney animated film. Again, there were times when this was easier to ignore than others, but overall this is one of those "product of its time" books which should be viewed with a critical lens when it comes to representation of race, ethnicity, and gender.
Plot
It is true, there are times when Hugo kind of trips up the flow of the story-- the large chunks about Paris are perhaps the most egregious example, but you can also see it when, literally in the middle of the climax of the story, we get an entire chapter where the king is going over some receipts and whining about his advisors. Still, the pacing is great and pretty well balanced throughout. The slow burn of the first half really (really) lets you settle into the setting, thoroughly describing time and place, and establishing the city as a character in an of itself. Then the second half hits you with the "murder", the trial, the first escape, Quasimodo's half-crazed and triumphant "sanctuary!", then the siege of the cathedral, the second escape, and finally, the parallel deaths of Esmeralda and Frollo.
Setting
Although the setting is such an important part of the story, and in fact the most important part of the story according to Hugo, I never felt like I was fully appreciating the long chapters on the layout of Paris. I think Book 3, particularly "A Bird's Eye View of Paris" was the worst one for me. I really tried to get on board, but when he starting listing every gate in every wall, giving me the history of each important building and business, and describing in detail how a prince might set up his palace, I was lost. It was such an overwhelming amount of really minute detail that my eyes starting glazing over. It felt like reading a map, and made me feel like Hugo could have saved about 50 pages by just drawing a map of Medieval Paris and including that in the beginning (it probably have even helped me visualize the setting better anyway). I understand that these sections were very important to Hugo, are big part of why this book is what it is, but after a certain point, it started to take away from the story for me.
Conclusion
Overall, I really loved this book and I will probably be returning to it in the future. The dry, overly-descriptive chapters on the layout of Paris, as well as the problematic aspects of Esmeralda's character, will keep this from being a 5 star book for me, but I would still recommend reading it keeping those things in mind.