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Title: The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, Bill Slavin, Tim Wynne-Jones ISBN: 0-531-30055-2 Publisher: Orchard Books Pub. Date: September, 1997 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.51 (69 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: One of the best 19th Century novels
Comment: Yes, the many misconceptions about the book have been highlighted by other reviews so I'll only mention them briefly. The original title was Notre Dame de Paris. As such, the book does not focus on Quasimodo but on the cathedral and medieval Paris and the stories that have intertwined there. The book is not about not judging people by their looks.
Having said that, let me add that this is one of the richest and best novels I've read. The book is everything that the movie versions seem not to be (I say seem as I only know of them from reviews). It focuses on obsession, passion and revenge. The main plotlines are Frollo in his obsessive quest for both the arcane knowledge and Esmerelda, Frollo's brother in his tomfoolery, Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire - an unlikely addition to the events.
The book has a lot of philosophical viewpoints. There's the mysticism and theology of the passages of Frollo, with his reading of the cathedral as a grail of arcane wealth to be uncovered. As such, his views reflect many bizarre philosophies of the middle ages.
One of the greates aspects of the book is its descriptions of medieval Parision life in all of its unsplendour. There's the public performances, executions, thieves, raids, brawls and the like. And out of all of that, Hugo still manages to pull images of beauty like Esmerelda with her pet goat.
Hugo's digressions are something that nerages many readers but I liked them. Firstly, what he's saying is of interest - his view on the aesthetics and ethics of the Gothic movement and the development of civilisation are certainly impassioned. As to those who think they don't belong in a novel, that seems to be a very constricting and removed-from-art view of what a novel is. Yes, it slows down the story but so do words. The only one I skimmed was the detailed description of the streets of Paris but again that's because I've only been once briefly and if I'd known more it would have spoken more to me.
Read this book! You'll learn so much about medieval life, the Gothic movement, the nature of obsession and evil and the quest for knowledge that the cathedral of Notre Dame will gain a whole new significance.
Rating: 4
Summary: for when you have time on your hands
Comment: I still do not have the faintest idea why Disney could possibly make this book into a children's video. First of all, the book itself is rated about PG-13...
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 natually things get quite chaotic when the gypsy girl is sentanced 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 mideival 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.
Rating: 1
Summary: Victor Hugo Lane is a very bad person
Comment: I read many of his books, all of them reflect hate to arabic religion. This man is not afraid of the god and shadinda allah mashta ehonte. No good, he will pay to mikahi dyumi in full. Don't buy his books, don't support this man.
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Title: Les Miserables a New Unabridged Translation (Signet Classics) by Victor Hugo, Lee Fahnestock, Norman MacAfee ISBN: 0451525264 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: March, 1987 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas ISBN: 0140367470 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: November, 1995 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens ISBN: 0812580036 Publisher: Tor Classics Pub. Date: 15 August, 1998 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Great Expectations by Monica Kulling, Charles Dickens ISBN: 0679874666 Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 19 November, 1996 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: Treasure Island (Signet Classic) by Robert Louis Stevenson ISBN: 0451527046 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: December, 1998 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
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