Book Review: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo

Translated from the French by Frederic Shoberl‎
1833
940 pages

I finished "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" by Victor Hugo. Overall I enjoyed the book very much; I thought it was completely worth it. Very characteristically French, I think, with lots of drama and human passion in it, a lot less realistic than later British novels, but it was a delightful and captivating read. Hugo certainly has a flair for the dramatic. Descriptions of architecture interested me little, I don't have too much interest in what a balustrade was or any Romanesque vs. Gothic features. If I had visited Notre-Dame myself, I may have felt differently. Still, I could feel Hugo's deep regard and affection for the venerable building.

(*Spoilers ahead*)

What really impressed me, however, was the depth of the characters (or in some cases, lack thereof.) There is not one sensible person, I think, in the entire book... which makes it all the more appealing, once you consider that sensible people in the world at large are rare indeed (I know enough to say I'm not one of them, at least.) The character of Claude Frollo was a particular disappointment to me. I related to him on rather an intimate level, being a compassionate sort of creature myself, a protective older sibling, loyal to my religion, and intellectually curious. His descend into lustful passion and immorality was particularly vexing. At every point in the book I expected him to make the right decision and turn back from his evil ways, but from his lips issue forth even more profound absurdities. His death was in equal measures gratifying and regrettable. He most certainly deserved it, and it was wholly his own fault, but he was such an eloquent person I felt it was a shame. Another death I feel strongly about was that of his brother, Jehan. He was such a vivacious youth, and provided most of the comic relief to Claude's character, and he didn't quite know better, and the death was of his brother's account. He was purely a victim, I think. He was also most cruelly cut out of the Disney movie version, which itself glossed over other important details. Quasimodo's character was not so human as the Disney movie made him out to be. In the book he was more beast than man. The book itself is ill-named after him, because it was mostly about the escapades of Esmeralda. The original title, "Notre-Dame du Paris," would have encompassed the novel's symbolic cornerstone much better, but it is just like the English to disregard meaning like that and simply pick the most fanciful detail (that of a disfigured hunchback) and make that the title of the book... Now, Esmeralda herself I thought was a silly, simple girl, like her mother but without the long years of suffering to temper it. Captain Phoebus was probably the villain of the whole piece, as he does not have a charitable bone in his body, but somehow Disney fixed all the blame on Claude and did not once mention his honorable qualities. It was disagreeable to me that Phoebus lives in the end when all the other worthy people have died, but that is life I suppose. I like Pierre Gringore and the goat, the pair was very funny.

(*End of spoilers*)

I rate this book 8/10. I took off one point for lack of realism and another for sheer frustrating stupidity of all the main characters. I'm probably going to write a full book review on my blog and not brain dump everything here.