The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Notre Dame De Paris

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: 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.