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Title: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Classics Illustrated) by Howard Hendrix, R. Crandall, George Evans, Victor Notre-Dame De Paris Hugo ISBN: 1578400678 Publisher: Acclaim Books Pub. Date: September, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.55
Rating: 5
Summary: Review of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"
Comment: "The Three Musketeers", "Frankenstein", "Around the world in 80 days", all those samples of nineteenth century literature have become true icons of popular culture in our time. Acknowledging that, I decided to read the literary works that originated some of those cultural concepts, in order to better understand their true meaning. That's how I decide to read "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". This little review is based on my impressions on this great piece from Victor Hugo. Since the high quality of "Hunchback" is universally accepted, a text intended to prove that Hugo's work is a good book would be truly pointless. Rather. this review is meant to comment on why it would be interesting for readers going beyond the popular imagery generally surrounding this important piece of literature and actually reading it.
Though I've read an English version of the book, I know the original French title reads just "Notre Dame". That's probably because the focus of the story is not really Quasimodo, the deaf and deformed hunchback in charge of ringing the bells of Notre Dame. The true main character in the book is the cathedral itself. In the story, this edifice is in the center of a series of plots that help to portray medieval Paris.
In fact, one could approach "Hunchback" as a true history treaty, due to extensive descriptions of the medieval city and explanations on medieval culture that the scholar Victor Hugo included on his work.
However, in Hugo's romanticized portrait of a Paris of times gone by, it's possible to list some characters that stand out as true key figures in the drama. Those most outstanding in the book's plot are the aforementioned Quasimodo; Dom Claude Frolo, the taciturn Archdeacon of notre Dame and Quasimodo's foster parent; La Esmeralda, the gypsy girl, who seems to enchant all around her with her charm; Gringoire a foolish and impoverished poet and Captain Phoebus, a selfish and feeble spirited nobleman who holds a position of military officer.
Another misleading notion about "Hunchback" is the belief that it's some sort of gothic version of "Beauty and the Beast", staring the bestial Quasimodo and beautiful La Esmeralda. Quasimodo indeed falls deeply and thoroughly in love with the pretty gypsy, yet, the only feelings her beloved can offer in return are pity, gratitude and tenderness. Despite that, the lady never quite overcomes a deep feeling of disgust towards the bell ringer's hideous figure. Contrary to what many might think, this book is not some mild hearted fable about love and kindness overcoming exterior appearance. In addition to being a historical study about medieval Paris, this piece of literature is an amazing essay on human wickedness. The book is a powerful portrait of several manifestations of evil in the hearts of people. Because of some twists and turns in the story, all those samples of human cruelty portrayed end up being channeled against poor la Esmeralda, causing the complete undoing of she who is the only truly good hearted character in the whole book. Among the examples of how evil can manifest in human's hearts present in the piece's pages, there is the case of Dom Claude who, torn between celibacy and lustful feelings for the gypsy girl, nourishes a love for La Esmertalda stained by mortal hate towards her. There are the towns people who, while charmed at the little gypsy who make dancing performances on the streets to collect some spare change, also despise her for being a vagabond and supposedly a sorceress. There are the officials of law who ruthlessly and mercilessly ensue penalties of torture and deaf under the most improbable accusations. We also see Phoebus, a petty and vulgar man used to taking advantage of women for the sake of his own sexual satisfaction, who, although does not perform any evil toward others, is responsible for the most tragic events just for omitting himself in face of the distress of others. This huge gallery of malefice conspires to bring La Esmeralda her doom, and the only one who comes forth to protect her against such a dark state of affairs is the crippled hunchback Quasimodo. This book conveys a rich yet dark portrait o human psique. Therefore it is truly not advisable to draw from its story a script for some light hearted animated movie for children.
As a final remark, it's important to reinforce that though one might think that is well acquainted with the concept of the popular icon "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", the piece of literature that has given rise to it can prove to be much richer than any preconceived notions we might have about it. The purpose of this tiny review is to provide a very brief idea of what one can expect to find by actually reading this great book.
Rating: 4
Summary: Great Visuals.
Comment: This book is the literay edition of Disney's THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. It stays true to the Disney version of the story and has a lot of wonderful illustrations that you won't find in other book versions of the film. After all other than the music, the animation is the best part of the movie. As for story, if you're looking for the literary masterpiece written by Victor Hugo, you won't find it here. Disney totally butchered Hugo's tale (in Hugo's story: Phoebus isn't a hero, just a horny hunk who's filled with lust; Claude Frollo isn't evil, he is overcome by his lust and desire for Esmeralda; Esmeralda isn't the brightest person in the world; and the story doesn't end all that happily) and the book remains true to that movie.
Rating: 5
Summary: Much better than I thought it would be
Comment: The Hunchback of Notre Dame was a story that I thought would be a little bit adolescent and childish because they made a Disney movie out of it. But it wasn't. If your read the story, you realize that Disney obviously made the movie have more of a happy ending, because a sad ending is not characteristic of a child's film. Also, the Disney movie focused more on the moral of "Don't judge a person by the way they look", where the book obviously did not. The book just doesn't transfer well to screen.
As far as the actual book goes, it was a very powerful story. Even though it's not really a mystery, you just want to read more to find out what happens. You begin to feel inside the story, in almost another reality. Anytime somebody talked to me or disturbed me during my reading, I would come out of the fictional dimension feeling almost hypnotic because of being into the story so much. This story is very deep, and certainly more than the Disney film portrays. I guess the main thought that I'm trying to send here is that the book is so much different and focuses on so many different subjects that in order to UNDERSTAND The Hunchback of Notre Dame you must read the book.
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