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A review by emileeandherbooks
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
4.0
What an engaging, tragic story. The story of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a familiar one; the outside doesn’t always match the inside. The societal “monster” might have a heart of gold. Maliciousness, obsession, perversion, cruelty, desire, and fear are all very prevalent in this book, yet Victor Hugo handled those topics masterfully by creating a strong humor throughout the story that actually made me laugh a few times. Hugo is a very skilled writer and storyteller. I was highly engaged ~most~ of the time.
There are many ‘tangents’ about architecture or cultural changes, or how Paris/France was run back in the 1400s. I personally loved those chapters because I found them fascinating. Victor Hugo also shared his opinion on how time changes historical buildings and landscapes and that was interesting too. But Hugo also had random chapters where he focused on total side characters like King Louis XI or on a failed play and that felt pointless. It made the story drag.
I am obsessed with this whole topic of medievalism and its decline and how people lost value in its glory and beauty. But how that change was necessary because the Medieval Ages were so freaking brutal - mass killings and torture. And a very corrupt government with tyrannical leaders. But Hugo laments the loss of that beautiful time of religious devotion/architectural magnificence that the Medieval era brought us and he has hope that we can regain a respect for that time and appreciate its importance. And I think we have??? At least us nerds???
Quasimodo was constantly breaking my heart with all his self-hating comments. I kept waiting for someone to show kindness to him and it seriously only happened like once or twice and very halfheartedly. Disappointing.
The end was so dramatic and epic. I had “Down Once More/Track Down This Murderer” from Phantom of the Opera stuck in my head while I was reading. Claude Frollo and Quasimodo both reminded me of The Phantom a few times.
There are many ‘tangents’ about architecture or cultural changes, or how Paris/France was run back in the 1400s. I personally loved those chapters because I found them fascinating. Victor Hugo also shared his opinion on how time changes historical buildings and landscapes and that was interesting too. But Hugo also had random chapters where he focused on total side characters like King Louis XI or on a failed play and that felt pointless. It made the story drag.
I am obsessed with this whole topic of medievalism and its decline and how people lost value in its glory and beauty. But how that change was necessary because the Medieval Ages were so freaking brutal - mass killings and torture. And a very corrupt government with tyrannical leaders. But Hugo laments the loss of that beautiful time of religious devotion/architectural magnificence that the Medieval era brought us and he has hope that we can regain a respect for that time and appreciate its importance. And I think we have??? At least us nerds???
Quasimodo was constantly breaking my heart with all his self-hating comments. I kept waiting for someone to show kindness to him and it seriously only happened like once or twice and very halfheartedly. Disappointing.
The end was so dramatic and epic. I had “Down Once More/Track Down This Murderer” from Phantom of the Opera stuck in my head while I was reading. Claude Frollo and Quasimodo both reminded me of The Phantom a few times.