While this was all too frequently a tedious read, I am, on the whole, very glad I stuck with this novel. Hugo's witty humor and overall tone made even the most superfluous scenes moderately enjoyable, and the plot, once firmly established, proved to be rather gripping. The strongest aspects of this book, however, were the characters. Hugo's characters showcase the wide capacity for contradiction within human nature by being alternatively commendable and ignoble, pitiable and disdainful. Even when they have the best intentions, they are immensely and authentically flawed, making them exceptionally intriguing and occasionally loveable. ( )

Hugo gives us Quasimodo, a deformed hunchback bellringers, Esmerelda, a kind-hearted gypsy, and evil Frollo. These characters are set against a backdrop of medieval Paris with its Gothic architecture. Hugo includes themes of prejudice and societal injustice. ( )

I’ve been intrigued by Victor Hugo’s books—especially Les Miserables—for a long time, but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. But when I found The Hunchback of Notre Dame in audio format, I decided to try it. After all, if Les Mis was good—and every version I’ve seen or read of the story so far has seemed to be that way—then this should be good, too, right?

I wish I had known before going into this story that it’s a tragedy. That’s something I’ve discovered that I don’t handle so well if it’s foisted on me, and honestly, if I’d known that, I probably wouldn’t have finished the book.

The first part of this story is SLOW. I don’t mind slow reads, and if they’re in audio, I can usually manage them—but with this book, even as a sped-up audiobook, I felt like I was dragging my way through the first half of the story. It does take off after around the 50 or 60% mark, but that first half…there are chapters I wish I’d skipped. Hugo wandered off into several tangents that really made no sense to me, and although I know that’s a part of old books, I still struggled with them.

As a whole, the story is interesting—the last half, anyway. I struggled with the way characters hated and feared the poor hunchback man and called him names, but at the same time, I do not doubt that that’s the way they viewed people back at the time this story is set. It was interesting to see how he made his way in the world, even though he came up against a lot of opposition. I fell in love with Esmerelda and her goat, and hated the archdeacon. There’s a decent amount of action in the story, and this story is also a good commentary on human nature in general—and especially what happens when people let their feelings and thoughts get out of hand. In some ways, this book felt almost like a commentary on the story of Prince Amnon and Princess Tamar in the Bible!

As far as content, this isn’t the cleanest of reads. There’s a lot of language in the story, and multiple times, there are references to people sleeping around.

Overall, while I found the story interesting, I’m not planning to ever read it again. I’m glad to know what it’s about, but if I’d known what I do now about the book, I wouldn’t have pushed myself through to the end. It’s not a bad story; it’s just not the kind of thing I generally like to read. ( )

Not sure how they made a Disney movie of this book, seeing as how the entire thing is about sex. Good book, though. ( )

3.5* based upon my unabridged Kindle edition:
Hugo will never be one of my favorite authors because, while I can tolerate his lengthy digressions, I don't really like them. I found myself surprisingly angry by the end of the book; I guess my tolerance for men obessessed with a woman and making it all her fault has substantially diminished.

It is an excellent book and the characters are all well portrayed - I think it is because Claude Frollo was so believable that he made me so mad! ( )