Rating: 
Summary: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Review: 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' is a wonderful story. On the outside, and even after a careless first reading, it may seem like nothing more than an obvious melodrama, a horror classic, or a nineteenth century version of a bodice-ripping potboiler. But it is a deeper, more fulfilling tale than any of those three descriptions suggest. The novel achieves the power of tragedy through its titular character, Quasimodo, the hunchback.That's not to say, however, that there aren't points of obvious melodrama. There's a lot of tearing clothes and long speeches, and if you don't know who the crazy beggar woman is immediately, you've probably been asleep. It's true that you can see most of the plot twists coming, but Hugo works that to his advantage. It makes the tragedy even MORE tragic, because you can see how everyone's fate could've changed for a happy ending, but you can't stop it. What causes Hugo's novel to be heartbreaking, and to remain fixed in the minds and hearts of readers for hundreds of years, has to be Quasimodo. The only character truly capable of love in the book, he is also the one who remains forever misunderstood, and forever unable to voice his own opinions. (Notre Dame's bells have made him deaf; there's a metaphor in there somewhere.) He's torn between love for the man who is the closest he has to a father, Frollo, and the beautiful gypsy girl Esmarelda. He tries to protect and care for both, and when he is unable to, tragedy ensues. Hugo describes sixteenth century Paris in loving detail, painting a vivid picture of Notre Dame cathedral and all of its belltowers and buttresses. His characters are all interesting creatures who want to find happiness but are forever screwing themselves up. Hugo makes the good choice of having his characters fuel the tragedy. They aren't just caught in bad circumstances, they make their bad circumstances. (You'll want to kick Esmarelda several times before the end of the book.) Melodrama it may be, but what in nineteenth century literature wasn't? At least it's pretty good melodrama. Just as you must look past Quasimodo's forbidding appearance to discover his tender heart, so must you look beyond the novel's sensationalist subject matter and occasional emoting and find the meat of the story; the tender tragedy of unrequited love, the destruction of repression and lust, and the impact people's choices have upon others and themselves, all bound up in a fascinating historical drama.
Rating: 
Summary: You need to look past the surface
Review: 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' is a wonderful story. On the outside, and even after a careless first reading, it may seem like nothing more than an obvious melodrama, a horror classic, or a nineteenth century version of a bodice-ripping potboiler. But it is a deeper, more fulfilling tale than any of those three descriptions suggest. The novel achieves the power of tragedy through its titular character, Quasimodo, the hunchback. That's not to say, however, that there aren't points of obvious melodrama. There's a lot of tearing clothes and long speeches, and if you don't know who the crazy beggar woman is immediately, you've probably been asleep. It's true that you can see most of the plot twists coming, but Hugo works that to his advantage. It makes the tragedy even MORE tragic, because you can see how everyone's fate could've changed for a happy ending, but you can't stop it. What causes Hugo's novel to be heartbreaking, and to remain fixed in the minds and hearts of readers for hundreds of years, has to be Quasimodo. The only character truly capable of love in the book, he is also the one who remains forever misunderstood, and forever unable to voice his own opinions. (Notre Dame's bells have made him deaf; there's a metaphor in there somewhere.) He's torn between love for the man who is the closest he has to a father, Frollo, and the beautiful gypsy girl Esmarelda. He tries to protect and care for both, and when he is unable to, tragedy ensues. Hugo describes sixteenth century Paris in loving detail, painting a vivid picture of Notre Dame cathedral and all of its belltowers and buttresses. His characters are all interesting creatures who want to find happiness but are forever screwing themselves up. Hugo makes the good choice of having his characters fuel the tragedy. They aren't just caught in bad circumstances, they make their bad circumstances. (You'll want to kick Esmarelda several times before the end of the book.) Melodrama it may be, but what in nineteenth century literature wasn't? At least it's pretty good melodrama. Just as you must look past Quasimodo's forbidding appearance to discover his tender heart, so must you look beyond the novel's sensationalist subject matter and occasional emoting and find the meat of the story; the tender tragedy of unrequited love, the destruction of repression and lust, and the impact people's choices have upon others and themselves, all bound up in a fascinating historical drama.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful
Review: Although a loosely-based Disney movie has been made and the Simpsons have parodied Quasimodo a couple of times (what haven't they parodied?), surprisingly little of this story has made it into the realm of American popular culture. This is surprising based on its gripping plot and rich character development that really make the reader empathetic to the plights of the central characters while at the same time making them multi-dimentional enough to show their rough edges as well. The comic relief provided by of the Court of Miracles, Pierre Gringoire, and the antics of Jehan are truly hilarious and are lyrically intertwined at the right times to offset the weight of what is otherwise a heavy tragedy -- I wouldn't go as far as to call the story as a whole a love story though several types of love are explored and left to the reader to contrast.
Hugo writes this tale of fifteenth century tragedy from his perch in the nineteenth century which provides some interesting observation and perspective. There are a couple of chapters in particular which consist solely of drawn-out descriptions of the young city of Paris, how it developed, and how it is changed from the fifteenth century to the time the account was written. Hugo even weighs in and gives his own architectural critique of several buildings and monuments that survived to his time. While other reviewers have suggested skipping these chapters, I would suggest reading them (however hard it may seem at the time) especially if you have been to Paris and are familiar with its current layout and some of the features that have survived since the fifteenth century including Notre Dame Cathedral. Skipping these chapters would leave omitted the introduction of what I believe to be the central character in the piece, the cathedral itself.
For lovers or architecture, history, and good stories, this is truly beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: Best Damsel in Distress Story Ever
Review: I don't know if the Hunchback was written to illustrate some social wrong - if it was, I didn't catch it. What it is is a well formed, complete and beautifully told tragedy. Archdeacon Claude Frollo starts out as an intelligent and committed scholar who longs for familial love after the death of his parents. He cares for his younger brother and the deformed foundling Quasimodo. Meanwhile, his younger brother holds him in contempt for his weakness of loving him and the townspeople view Quasimodo as some sort of demon in league with the archdeacon. Enter Esmeralda, an enchanting gypsy girl who sings and dances in the square before the cathedral. She captivates his heart and head but somewhere along the line, we find that he does not truly have the capacity to love. He wants only to possess. As he tries alternately to suppress his desires by destroying Esmeralda or possess her by force, the ill-formed and ill-fated Quasimodo does his best to protect her. He is the only character who possesses true love. Even Esmeralda's "husband" is more interested in her goat! This is well worth the read. You will laugh and cry, love and hate.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful creation
Review: I very highly recommend this story. This book is beautiful. It is written lyrically and the message it paints is utterly tragic. The characters, the plot, the meaning, everything about this story is wonderful. Quasimodo 's humiliaty and sadness is absolutely heartbreaking as the story unfolds through a variety of character's eyes. Gringoire, Esmeralda, Frollo, Jehan, Quasimodo, The Satchette, and Phoebus being a few. Victor Hugo is ingenious as he tells this story of woe and tragedy. From reading this I laughed, I cried, and I felt like I wanted to strangle some of the character's for their ignorance: this book is in every way very human in its mentality.
To be honest: it's a hard book to read, not hard in its writing, but in its meaning. Be prepared to be disturbed by it.
Do not go into the book assuming that it is like the Disney movie. Disney heavily basically cut every bit of violence, sexuality, and heart break that this story shows. Disney didn't ruin the story: it merely made it its own story using the same characters names and an entirely different idea and ending. This book is a tear-jerker by the end, but it is worth every minute of your time.
Rating:
Summary: Often Imitated: Never Duplicated
Review: Somebody once wrote that great books inspire great minds. Hugo's novel of the deformed, ugly, despicable Quasimodo is a tale of love, hate, revenge, and of a man <as producer Irving Thalberg remarked>, "God Made Different." The book is too remarkable to put into words. Yes, it's long. Yes, it's difficult to modern readers more used to Danielle Steele and others of that ilk. But "the Hunchback of Notre Dame" earns its mantle as a "classic" because of it's themes, it's timeless tale of love and honor, and it's unforgettable plot and story. Modern readers want slam-bang climaxes and chases. Modern readers want simple plotting, no charecterization, and little thought or planning. Hugo defies that, and makes the reader think, makes the reader pause, makes the reader reflect; then Hugo delivers a tale of horror, of humor, of love, and of grand thought and whopping entertainment. By the way, check out Lon Cheney's silent movie version. BUT READ THE BOOK FIRST!
Rating:
Summary: HOW NOT TO WRITE A BOOK
Review: The Hunchback of Notre Dame is beyond all doubt the single most boring book I've ever read (beating out both Aristotle's Ethics and Darwin's Origins of the Species). The book opens with an allegedly scene-setting description of a festival, wherein most of the main characters (and many minor and never-to-be-seen-again characters) are introduced. This would be fine and dandy if Hugo simply introduced them, but he feels compelled to spend an entire chapter (thankfully they are brief chapters) on each character -- even the walk-ons! The title character spends precious little time in the actual text -- his archdeacon foster-father/master, Dom Frollo is the real protagonist (albeit an antihero at best). Basically, Quasimodo is to Frollo as Igor is to Victor Frankenstein. The story picks up a bit after the festival (centered around an aborted play), although the plot is already stretching one's tolerance for corn: a dejected, penniless philosopher-poet follows a muse-figure through the Paris streets, fights with a one-eyed, hunchbacked dwarf, is kidnapped by an army of beggars (straight out of Brecht's Threepenny Opera), and is saved from hanging when the muse figure (a gypsy dancer with a 200 IQ'd goat) offers to "marry" him. Huge groan. Still this section is enjoyable corn. But.... Hugo then stops the action dead for 25 pages while he describes the architecture of Notre dame (5 pages) and that of the entire city of Paris (as seen from the roof of Notre Dame - 20 pages). I can imagine nothing more boring than a 19th century author's interminable description of the various buildings and streets of a 16th century city. This segment stands out as a textbook example of how NOT to write a story, and should be required reading for any wannabe author (or any lousy author needing a mild ego boost). When the story picks up again -- little by little, and inclusive of more life-stories on every 2-bit character who comes within 20 yards of the plot (I'm guessing Hugo was getting paid by the word-count), the hackneyed plot cliches start piling up thick and fast. (Does anyone NOT know from the get-go that the crazy old hermit-lady who screams curses at the gypsy is really her long-lost mother?) Stylistically, the book seems torn between being a satire and a tragedy -- with the end result that it is neither. Why Hugo feels a need to Satirize the Paris of 300 years before his day is beyond me (I mean, they did have a Revolution or two in the interim). Certainly the problems with a 16th century Parisian legal system have little bearing on the reader of today (the farcical interlude wherein a deaf judge gets angered by a deaf dwarf's inability to properly answer his questions would be bitingly satirical had it applied to Hugo's day (and not his great-great-great-great-great grandfather's). But the real trouble with the satire is that Hugo often (indeed 90+ percent of the time) seems to be sneering at his characters and their foibles. It is hard to feel much empathy for them when they serve merely as objects for their creator's scorn. Yet Hugo pulls out all stops (during several crucial moments) in an attempt to grab the reader by his heartstrings: characters cry and tear out their hair, rip their clothes, lavish tearful kisses on baby shoes .... The end result was that it took me nearly half a year to read this 225 page book. I put it aside several times (reading 2 Poe biographies, Wuthering Heights, Mark Twain's Autobio, and the complete works of Tennyson whenever the Hunchback became too boring to take). As to Hugo's supposed greatness -- well, I suppose the French had to nominate somebody and were, understandably, hard-up for candidates. Suffice to say, I shan't be reading Les Misb.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: This book is absolutely amazing. I don't know where to start... The characters are all amazingly well developed. This is a story of a Cathedral (Notre Dame de Paris) and how in unites all of the mismatched characters in the tale. It contains a few chapters where there are chapters that have nothing to do with the story, but they add to it-- you can tell how Hugo loved the cathedral. This book is filled with passion and true love and fate.
The musical (Notre Dame de Paris, the original French title) is amazing, too. The Disney movie isn't bad by itself, but it's an entirely different story from the book.
Rating:
Summary: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Review: This book is an excellent example of a style of writing that no has really duplicated in past years. How Victor Hugo slyly involves the reader in the story is ingenious. While the story does have its moments that lack action of any sort, the detailed descriptions of the scenes give you the impression that he was witnessing the events of the book and telling them to you firsthand. Also the characters are extremely well fleshed out and complicated. They are so engrossing because of their qualities, and made even more interesting because of their faults. An excellent, tragic read, and made even better if you have traveled to Paris in recent years.
Rating:
Summary: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Review: This book is an excellent example of a style of writing that no has really duplicated in past years. How Victor Hugo slyly involves the reader in the story is ingenious. While the story does have its moments that lack action of any sort, the detailed descriptions of the scenes give you the impression that he was witnessing the events of the book and telling them to you firsthand. Also the characters are extremely well fleshed out and complicated. They are so engrossing because of their qualities, and made even more interesting because of their faults. An excellent, tragic read, and made even better if you have traveled to Paris in recent years.
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