The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

Fourth or fifth reading; first read when I was 15


When I first encountered this book at age 15, I thought it was the best book I had ever read. Now, all these many years later, I still find it to be one of the best. It's not that I now find faults with it which I didn't see earlier, to now say it is not the best; quite the contrary, I see so much more to admire from a mature viewpoint. It's just that I have since read additional books which are equally admirable, for a variety of reasons. Still, I consider this to be one of the best of the best.

Many people believe that they know the plot of the novel, because multiple film treatments have been made, unfortunately including an animated one for children from Disney. To all those who have not read the novel itself, I would say, "YOU DO NOT KNOW THE STORY AT ALL."

Yes, this is a love story, but the true unselfish lover of the gypsy girl Esmeralda is not the handsome Captain Phoebus, who is admirable in the novel only because of his exterior, but instead the deformed and visually repulsive Quasimodo. Esmeralda and Phoebus are not star-crossed lovers, but instead the deceived and the deceiver. The story has a villain, Archdeacon Dom Claude Frollo, but he is not the one-dimensional evil portrayed on film, but instead a complex man who descends against his will into the madness of sexual obsession. And the story does not end happily-ever-after. Esmeralda and Phoebus do not ride off into the sunset with a smiling Quasimodo looking on.

Criminally, Hollywood has evidently decided that viewers cannot stomach tragedy. Film makers saw a terrific plot, except for the actual character portrayals and ending. So they adapted it all to the tastes of their perceived audience, because they could. Shame on them. (We are lucky that the movies have not yet, as far as I know, contrived for Romeo and Juliet to ride off into the sunset together.)

Here are just some of the parts the movies missed:

* A major theme is the working of fate or destiny. So many times events could have transpired to thwart the tragedy, but fate ruled otherwise. If only Quasimodo had not been deaf, he would have known that the mob was trying to save Esmeralda. If only, if only...there are many "if only's."

* This is most probably the earliest literary example of a journey through the mind of a sexually-obsessed stalker, one who would rather the loved one be dead than with a rival. Hugo is so insightful in presenting this aspect of the personality of his "villain" that Frollo becomes almost a sympathetic character as the reader observes how his madness escapes his control.

* This is probably not something that film can easily portray, but the cathedral itself is a major character. In fact, the title of the novel, in the original French edition, was Notre Dame de Paris, or "Our Lady of Paris." Much attention is given here to architecture, and how before the printing press it served to report the beliefs and history of an era. I did not much appreciate this aspect the first times I read this book, but this time I found it very insightful, although I do not have the background to fully understand it.

As with all really, really great books, this one can be read time and again with new insights each time. If you are a new readers to the novel, even if you skim-read some parts (which I did in some previous readings), you will find this one of the best books you have ever read.