Author: Victor Hugo
Published: 1831
Year I read it: 2005
One sentence summary: Hugo's classic tale of love vs. list, inward vs. outward beauty, appearance vs. fact - the Hunchback of Notre-Dame tells the Gothic Romance of the detested hunchback Quasimodo, the mysterious Gypsy Esmerelda, the dark priest Claude Frolo, and of how all their lives interconnect.
Interesting fact:
Three reasons to read it:
- You can't beat Hugo's language - it's cadence, it's poignancy. His words just soar.
Through the eyes of several different characters in search of it, Hugo's fleshes out what love is and what it looks like. - If you're not up for Les Miserables, try a 500-page Hugo. No, it's not the same. It's not as epic. But it is still amazing!
- Gorgeous ending!! Another fantastic - tragic, but fantastic - ending.
One reason you maybe shouldn't:
- "A Bird's Eye View of Paris." It's a chapter in the middle of the book with no characters and no dialogue - just a meticulous tour of 15th century Paris. I hate to admit this, but this is the first and only chapter from a classic that I've completely skipped. [désolé, Monsieur Hugo!]
“Nothing makes a man so adventurous as an empty pocket."
“Love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin. The inexplicable fact is that the blinder it is, the more tenacious it is. It is never stronger than when it is completely unreasonable.”
“Spira, spera." ["Breathe, hope."]
