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A review by romankurys
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
2.0
So finally I was able to make my way through the boring maze of a large collection of unnecessary words, Hugo called: "Notre Dame de Paris."
I really wanted to like this book. In fact, I enjoyed Bug Jargal and Hans of Iceland, he previous books but this...this was just torture. (And I'm no stranger to classics.)
2 stars is as high a rating I can honestly give it.
Characters: 2
I kept thinking it would get better, there would be better characters coming along. As a matter of fact Gringoire is the most sensible of them all. Maybe Quasimodo after but the rest behaved in such unrealistic manner that it was just a pain to read.
Esmeralda...I kept secretly hoping that the priest would just kill her and have it all over with. (No spoilers, that's just what I wanted him to do).
Just not impressed at all by any characters.
Plot: 2
While plot had very good potential, it really got quagmires by tens of pages of unnecessary information that was randomly and for no reason at all put as full chapters in between the actual story chapters. Just when I found myself getting immersed into the story. BAM! Let's talk about how the printing press killed architecture. For a WHOLE chapter. No connection to anything. Just a very random immersion killing technique.
Setting: 1
I just could not make myself care for the setting. There was something there, but the level of descriptive details ruined it.
There is absolutely no reason to spend 30 or 35 pages talking just about every street Paris has...
Or another 20-30 pages talking about architecture and art. It literally felt like Hugo felt that his PhD thesis was being wasted and decided to just randomly plug it into a book. It's just not needed and destroys the whole mood, making me want to just stop reading.
Overall, books should be a fun time spend. This one wasn't. I'll probably try Hugo's another work as I liked his other books I've read, but I need to go into Hugo detox after this travesty of a book.
Would absolutely not recommend. Unless you maybe get an abridged version? Do yourself a favor and skip a full one.
Roman "Ragnar"
I really wanted to like this book. In fact, I enjoyed Bug Jargal and Hans of Iceland, he previous books but this...this was just torture. (And I'm no stranger to classics.)
2 stars is as high a rating I can honestly give it.
Characters: 2
I kept thinking it would get better, there would be better characters coming along. As a matter of fact Gringoire is the most sensible of them all. Maybe Quasimodo after but the rest behaved in such unrealistic manner that it was just a pain to read.
Esmeralda...I kept secretly hoping that the priest would just kill her and have it all over with. (No spoilers, that's just what I wanted him to do).
Just not impressed at all by any characters.
Plot: 2
While plot had very good potential, it really got quagmires by tens of pages of unnecessary information that was randomly and for no reason at all put as full chapters in between the actual story chapters. Just when I found myself getting immersed into the story. BAM! Let's talk about how the printing press killed architecture. For a WHOLE chapter. No connection to anything. Just a very random immersion killing technique.
Setting: 1
I just could not make myself care for the setting. There was something there, but the level of descriptive details ruined it.
There is absolutely no reason to spend 30 or 35 pages talking just about every street Paris has...
Or another 20-30 pages talking about architecture and art. It literally felt like Hugo felt that his PhD thesis was being wasted and decided to just randomly plug it into a book. It's just not needed and destroys the whole mood, making me want to just stop reading.
Overall, books should be a fun time spend. This one wasn't. I'll probably try Hugo's another work as I liked his other books I've read, but I need to go into Hugo detox after this travesty of a book.
Would absolutely not recommend. Unless you maybe get an abridged version? Do yourself a favor and skip a full one.
Roman "Ragnar"