About this title: Victor Hugo's romance is set in the middle ages, largely in the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, where Quasimodo is the hunchbacked bellringer. Quasimodo silently loves a gypsy dancer named Esmeralda. She is accused of witchcraft and seeks refuge in the cathedral, where Quasimodo cares for her. But when she is executed in spite of his efforts, he ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9780679874294ISBN:0679874291
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Ex-lib. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 112 p. Stepping Stone Book Classics (Paperback). Audience: Children/juvenile. read more
"The Hunckback of Notre Dame, under the original title Notre Dame de Paris (because the plot really centers around the cathedral, not Quasimodo) is like a twisted Romeo & Juliet story sans star-crossed lovers. The *real* protagonist (in my opinion) is Esmerelda, the 16 year old gypsy dancer. She falls in love with the chauvanistic peacock Captain Pheobus who takes advantage of her love, meanwhile courting a rich young noblewoman. Quasimodo the deaf bell-ringer, and Claude Frollo, the fanatical archdeacon of Notre Dame, are the ones who fall for the gypsy. So naturally things get quite chaotic when the gypsy girl is sentenced to death for "murdering" the Captain.
The action is spectacular, especially the siege of Notre Dame, and hopefully I don't give anything away when I say that there's a lot of dying going on...
This book does have its long, slow parts too...such as the beginning. and unless you are an ardent scholar of medieval architecture, go ahead and skim chapters with the titles "Notre Dame" and "A Birds Eye View of Paris".
My favorite parts: Poet Pierre Gringoire's "marriage" to Esmerelda (whom Captain Phoebus calls "similar" because he can never remember her name), and also P.G.'s unhealthy obsession with Djahli the goat."
"This is a beautiful novel of hope, prejudice, history, love, philosophy, and...architecture.
In fact, the entire story centers not around the extraordinary main characters, but the cathedral itself (as is more evident in the original title, Notre Dame de Paris). As strange of a concept as it sounds, Hugo is able to pull it off with ease, creating the perfect atmosphere for such a novel.
A good rule of thumb with Victor Hugo is to pay the utmost attention to what you are reading; the man is a master with dark and clever puns, metaphors, and personification. There is no sentence that the book could do without, and it is best to give The Hunchback of Notre Dame the effort it is worth.
There is not one thing I could find fault with in this book, but if you are one to get uneasy with novels with cruelty, misery and death as a factor, you may find yourself shifting in your seat a bit."
"ok... i'll be honest. i hated the first 150 pages and had i not been reading it for book club i would have abandoned it. about 300 pages in i started to think it was okay. around 400... i really liked it. at page 450 i couldn't put it down. i stayed up till 2am last night finishing it.
so... is it worth the painful first half to get to the second half? now that i've done it... i would say so.
victor hugo could have used a good editor. pages and pages of diatribes and descriptions that made me feel like pulling my hair out - but the story is chilling and wonderful. i understood after reading it why there are so many abridged versions. :)
of course its a piece out of history... melodramatic and predictable... but one expects that.
all in all... i felt satisfied going to bed last night having read such a great book. still... next time i read Hugo... i will be prepared for a big front end investment."
"Amazing book! Loved the author's view on things. I really felt like I was getting glimpses of a great mind by reading this book. You might want to read it with a highlighter for good quotes. I'm reading Les Miserable right now and again I really like Victor Hugo's writing. There are times where he really goes into depth about history, or something and it is hard to read but if you can get past those parts you will thank yourself because he has some great writing."
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