April-May Book: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

[Admin]

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

http://www.online-literature.com/victor_hugo/hunchback_notre_dame/

[Dick Diver]

And it's not like the Disney cartoon either. :-(

[emily655321]

LOL I've only seen the Lon Chaney version (and a couple 20 min cartoons when I was a kid), so this is really interesting. Hard to get back into that Romantic writing style at first (definitely putting down Dostoevsky till I've finished this one). All the allusions to French history are a bit irksome, aren't they? Sometimes they remind me of the "such-and-such begat such-and-such" pages of the Bible. I guess I just have to readjust my brain from Russia to France before I can remember how to appreciate the value of words that don't really forward the plot. :p

[IWilKikU]

I have yet to pick the book up before 1:30 am, so I'm having a little bit of trouble following it, but I'm still in Book I, so things havn't really taken off yet. But trying to figure out all the french pronunciations of words that aren't translated (proper nouns ect.) is really annoying me.

[emily655321]

Hehe I haven't gotten very far either. I've been having trouble pulling myself away from the computer (namely this forum) to actually do some serious reading. How's that for irony? :p My grandparents are coming to visit for Easter starting Thursday, though, and they will be making use of the guestroom half of this room's dual purpose, so I'll have some quality bonding time with Monsieur Hugo then.

[Miranda]

I am up to page 27. I don't know if I will get beyond it! There is more that one book? I have never seen the film and don't know what characters are important so can't even 'skim' it. Is is possible to skim? The writing is quite like Dickens but Dickens is more arresting and has suspense. Does it get any better later on in the book? It must be good or how could it have become so famous? So far I am bored.

[amuse]

the beginning is boring as hell. then it becomes marvelous, so stick with it! you're in for a treat. :)
i have a penguin classic, it took me until page 37 or so.

[IWilKikU]

I'm up to the Chapter (I think 5) called "Quasimodo". The beginning had charming languege, but in 41 pages the plot advanced about 15 minutes. That would be ok if those 41 pages were describing a character's feelings or something, but I can't for the life of me figure out what Hugo has been doing while I've been reading. Tonight I'm going to make myself read a big chunk though, so I'll probably get more into it... provided I get to it before 1:30. Right now I'm at 11:45. tick... tick... tick...

[amuse]

I'm on a "Bird's Eye View of Paris." Chpt. 2, Book 3. There are some beautiful turns of phrases he uses. Spoiler Ahead Like how temp of his body and the gutter water reach the same "equilibrium." And "After a time I realized I lacked something for everything, and finding I was good for nothing, I became of my own free will a poet and composer of rhymes." :D :D should've used a highlighter pen on everything that's caught my eye so far...

[IWilKikU]

If I wasn't a moron who couldn't read military time, I would have seen that it was only 9:45. NOW its 11:45 and I'm still here :mad:, and still havn't touched the book :mad:

[emily655321]

I think it got pretty interesting after Gringoire came on the scene on like page 20. It's helped me to understand the humor if I try to imagine how I would direct the actors to perform it in a movie (not a play, cause it's hard to be subtle on stage, but that's just my preference). Since I got into that habit of pausing I've discovered how absolutely hilarious some of the scenes are.

[fayefaye]

*gasping* brilliant thing about this is, without my even being here, you people keep choosing books I've already read! :D So I don't have to do anything!! :) :p :D I loved this book. It's really sad at the end. that's all I'll say.... FOR NOW. :)

[Dick Diver]

Yes, the ending is beautifully sad.:(

[amuse]

i'm very bored with a "bird's eye view of paris" :(
knowing there's a sad ending to look forward to helps. thanks! :D

[IWilKikU]

Gringoir does add some plot. I was also getting bored with the dragging "This is Paris" chapters.

SPOILER FOR BOOK II

I thought the whole situation with Gringoir and Esmerelda was hilarious. I don't know about you guys but I was pulling for him and was kinda dissappointed with her rejection and her mulling over Phoebus. But than again I havn't really read much about Phoebus so who knows, Maybe I'll like him too.

[amuse]

so, am finally(!) on book 4. book 3 ended on an exquisite, sublime note. wish it hadn't taken 'til nearly the end to appreciate...will have to reread at some point.

[IWilKikU]

Am having to put it on hiatus while school kicks my ***. I've got all sorts of essays and finals and what not, plus the play I'm directing/producing is in its final hectic stages. Sorry guys, gotta prioritize. Still, I'll finish it before May.

[emily655321]

This is a weird feeling -- having a deadline always makes me go slower. I keep having to remind myself I'm not reading this for school, it's not gonna jump up and bite me or anything. Poor book, not getting as much Em love as it should be :(

[IWilKikU]

Yeah, this is really crunch time for school, and its not wise to spend alot of time on an extraciriclur book, but at the same time, everyone else is going to finish first!!! We can't have that happening.

Oh yeah, and shame on anyone who has already read it and ISN'T rereading it. I reread Frankenstien for this club. There's no reason you shouldn't reread Hunchback! :mad: *Shakes fist at Faye and anyone else who doesn't reread* :mad:

sorry guys I'm on a mad kick today :mad: :mad: :mad: :D

[emily655321]

Rereading GOOD. Frankenstein BA-A-A-A-AD. (Shelley, sometimes you gotta turn off the tact and say, "Give it up and come to bed, dear. You aren't the writer in the family, just a Polidori to my Byron.")


I'm sorry, I just took us terribly off-topic. I can't figure out how to delete these, so if you want desperately to respond, why dontcha drop me a PM. ---Em

[amuse]

em, what we usually do is replace the post with an asterik - the delete mechanism is reserved for admin and logos.

[emily655321]

ohhhhh. No wonder that darn thing doesn't work. :p Thanks.

[amuse]

sho'.
btw, where is everyone in this book? before i rhapsodize or complain more that'd be helpful.

[emily655321]

Uhh... heh heh... yeah. I'm just at the end of Book II *winces* I believe I've reached the point I always seem to where I go, "Okay Em, computer off, we gotta read five chapters before dinner." And then after two or three days of that I get into it and finish normally. But, you can all go ahead discussing where you're at and I'll keep my nose outta here and in the book and I'll catch up with you later.

[IWilKikU]

I can't seem to labor through this damn Bird's Eye View of Paris chapter. It actually only like 20 pages long, but damnit if it doesn't drag! But yeah, Amuse, shoot away. Maybe that'll be insentive for me to get my read on.

[Miranda]

I can't get into this book at all, though I don't doubt it's a good story - if only it wern't so cluttered with other stuff. Perhaps it's all relevant to the story, but this is the crux of it: not knowing the story means that I dont know which details are important and which can be skimmed. I have no idea which characters are important and who can be ignored. It's all too complex and I suddenly thought 'why am I struggling with this when I don't need to?' So...I have abandoned the effort in favour of 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Tales' which I am really enjoying.

[amuse]

:) i've read The Sketch Book and love every single tale in it...enjoy!
yeah, kik the bird's eye view is a monster. i wish i'd read the last page of it first, lol. but there's a really cool bell-ringing scene that follows. and at the very end of "Bird's Eye View" all of a sudden i realized why hugo bored us to tears writing about it, and it made sense, and i saw paris as it was when fresh and dirty and uncluttered (i mean that in the modern sense), and also his point about architecture as books. and i realized he'd given a very great gift wrapped in the most awful paper.
what to do, hunh.

[IWilKikU]

Well, this week I can't possibly give it any more attention. I am procrastinating writing a paper even as we speak, plus I'm putting on my play this weekend, so I'm going crazy with last minute preperations. There are sooooo many :(. Then I have, count em, three essays due next week. :eek: :(. After all that crap, I'm going to read the freaking HB of ND like there's no bloody tomarow. But just so I don't feel so alone, now that Miranda is out, is it just you and me actually reading it, Amuse?

Please, someone else tell me your working on it too!

[amuse]

i guess so! it's like doing chin-ups sometimes but yes. i know, i hope there's someone else. hello? anyone else in paris with us?
and i'm back from break so will have to decide which way i want most to spend my little free time - typing out my spanish book, cleaning on my hands and knees, or reading hugo...hmm. :D
good luck with your play!!! :) can we say break a leg to the director?

[IWilKikU]

Amuse, I'm not going to let you be the only one reading it, so its 4:40 AM right now. Time for a break from the essay. I'm going to finish Bird's eye view RIGHT NOW. And you can say what ever you want to the director, just don't physically come and break his leg and we'll be fine ;) :D.

[IWilKikU]

Well I finished "Birds Eye View" and I'm not sure why you think Hugo was justified in making me want to dig my eyes out of my skull. To his credit, the entire book III was really well-written. The languege was beautiful, he did a great job of describing the local colour, I saw Paris. But it had no relevence. Going on and on about how this street used to have a spire and how this one didn't ect.. ect.. ect.. ect.. ect.. ect.. ECT...... was really irritating. He dropped us off at the end of book II, just getting into a significant storyline, and than all that boring ****. Grrrrr! It took me about 3 days to get up to book III, and about 7 to get through those 30 odd pages. Now I've completely lost any appreciation of the good stuff I was just getting into. Alot of it is just because I have NO time to give the book the concentration it deserves, but come on! Hugo should have seen that coming. He writes an awful lot about the architecture of the University, he must have known something about the people in it. ;)

[amuse]

thank you kik, but i think we're procrastinating. ;) at least i am (studied instead). hey, did? you just finish the chapter (the brain's temporarily running again).

[IWilKikU]

Sure did (see first sentence of last post ;) ). I'm trapped in a vicious cycle between procrastinating school work by reading Hunchback, and procrastinating Hunchback by working on school work :(. And procrastinating both by spending the whole damn night on this forum :mad:.

[emily655321]

Originally posted by IWilKikU
Please, someone else tell me your working on it too!

Okay, I'm wayy too curious to keep my nose out of here, so... that's why I saw that. :D Anyway... I'm working! Slowly but steadily. Okay, actually that's completely wrong -- more like in rapid spurts when no one else is in the living room. I CANNOT read in a room with other people -- drives me nuts. Again, anyway: I'm not to Bird's Eye yet, but I'm glad to have been warned. Plucking up my courage as I go. :p

[GapingStarling]

I'm reading it too - just not very far yet. Had seven Shakespeare plays to master for my last exam but **fanfare please** am now all finished exams! SO, will dive into Hunchback with determination and play catch-up... :)

[amuse]

hunh? do you mean the whole thing - i find his "vision" ponderous - and how have you managed to enjoy his millstone-around-your neck ;) style?

[amuse]

do any of you have lines that you really like? i didn't use a highlighter until "bird's eye..." but 'specially enjoy "like an elephant carrying a castle on its hindquarters" and in the "this will kill that" chapter: "every civilization begins in theocracy and ends in democracy."
also, just before that line, "finally they wrote books."
AND like yes, and true and so apt, but here??? why couldn't he have written it into the story line (i agree) and shown, not! told? why, vic, why???

[IWilKikU]

I came across alot of phrases that I liked, but Hunchback is my one book that looks smart, so I don't mark in it. Its a bright red, leather bound, paperback sized hardcover with lots of gold patterns enlaid in the cover and spine. It would look beautiful on a shelf covered in dust. I marked a bit in Dorian Gray until I got an overload of witty lines and couldn't take anymore. I think that was around page 10. :D

[emily655321]

Ouch, I hate it when I get a book someone's marked in. It's distracting to read. I usually switch the bookmark to a piece of paper and cite the lines on that. Moby Dick had a lot of unintentionally funny ones.

[amuse]

this is interesting - i just looked at the book online - i'd no idea this was based on a true story, or that quasimodo was in love with esmeralda, and all of a sudden there's pathos and next time i'm going to read the comments here (though honestly a few irked me) before beginning.

[fayefaye]

hmm.. I didn't know it was based on a true story. :( poor modo. I didn't like esmerda at all... skank. And I wanted Phoebos to die. ps, kik, you're just jealous that I am oh-so-far ahead. :p

[IWilKikU]

*Shakes fist at Fayefaye* :mad::mad::mad:

[flier58]

I guess I must be quite sad really, it's been a while since I've sat down and read a novel. With two teenage daughters, a daughter aged 2 3/4 and several other projects on the go, there just doesn't seem to be any time left for reading right now. I used to read a lot of Sci-fi/fantasy when I did have time. Mind you it was so long ago now that I can't even remember the authors!:( :confused:

[CBW]

Okay, I haven't read most of this topic, because I haven't started reading the book yet and I don't want to "spoil" anything. But I want to know what chapter is everyone on so that I can catch up with everyone else.
I finished my other book last night and I am hoping to start reading Hunchback in the next few minutes. The weather is really bad, so it's perfect weather for reading.

[IWilKikU]

I'm on book IV, chapt. 3, but if I can come back down from these 3 or 4 pints I had I'll probably read some more tonight instead of working on my 3 essays that are do next week.

[emily655321]

CBW, at this point it might be best to wait for next month's book to start. I may in fact just cut my losses and drop Hunchback for a while if it's one I don't care to read simultaneously. Things aren't looking good -- damn, this book is slow going, even for this dork!

[CBW]

I started reading it last night since the weather was so perfect for reading (thunderstorms a plenty). A major problem was that I turned my computer off and the cable went out. So my 23 month old had nothing to play with (besides the thousands of toys in his room) so he decided that he did not want me to read. After 3 hours, I was just on page 17. I got a little further after I got him off to bed, but not much. I'm hoping to get much farther today. He's playing outside with his daddy. They are going to work on restoring "their" car together. So I am in the house, alone, with Victor Hugo and his tales.

[GapingStarling]

Amuse pointed out the quote about Gringoire's body reaching equilibrium with the water in the gutter -- as I've been reading I've noticed a lot of balancing and equilibrium imagery mixed in with all the chaos and plotting. Like how the girls (not Esmerelda) fighting for Phoebus' attention all have equal 'charms', Gringoire's new job is balancing chairs in his mouth, Gringoire refers to Frollo as being a disturber of his equilibrium as a philosopher, and even the scaffold itself -- "The scaffold is a balance which has a man at one end and the whole world at the other."

[IWilKikU]

Nice, Starling. Thats dynamite!

[GapingStarling]

Thankee. *Bows*.

Actually, I'm just pumped that I finished it before the end of the month... :)

[amuse]

oh, wow...brilliant...considers opening it again. decides to take online exam and study after foruming, however.

[IWilKikU]

Man, I wish that I could just sit and read. I havn't been able to do that in sooooooo long. Stupid school!

[fayefaye]

SPOOOOIIIIIIILLLLLEEEERRSS


What do you think of the whole prejudice thing? Quasimodo loved esmeralda for the same reason everybody else execrated him-looks. They're all just as shallow as everyone else. Where does challenging a society's ideology end and hypocrisy begin? And even though I didn't like esmeralda at the start, i did sympathise with her in the end, getting screwed over so badly, but stilll holding out against claude frollo. But there's this point where you can't help but think, 'honey, you idiot. Phoebus ain't gonna save you' then again, it's been years since I read the book. I can't remember that much of what it's about.

*waiting for oncoming onslaught from kik*

[IWilKikU]

Here it comes!!!! YARGH!!!

:confused:... What was I suppoesed to onslaught you about again??? :confused: :confused: :confused:

[IWilKikU]

Wow! Now that I'm actually getting somewhere this book is really shaping up. I like books where you can see all the little subplots coming together and building into somthing intense.

[verybaddmom]

okay, so i finally got a copy of this book last night! i guess i now have a month to catch up and get it done. i hope that i can get through both hunchback and atlas shrugged. at least im gonna give it a go! argh

[IWilKikU]

Alright guys, this book, and the discussion on it has gone waaaaaaaay to slow. Its summer now, everyone is done with school (except for poor Koa :() So lets see some discussion damnit!!! :mad:! I'll restart. Who's your favorite Character? I seriously dislike Esmarelda. What a stupid cow! She "loves" Pheobus on a totally superficial level. She's ready to die for him, but she doesn't even know him. Stupid girl. Than there's Quasimodo, He's a good guy, but he's practically nonexistant through the first half of the book. I actually sympathized with Frollo, what with having to remain celebate and having a stupid (if somewhat entertaining) little brother running around raising hell, until he stabbed Phoebus. The only character that I really like is Gringoire. The scene where he talks to Frollo about how great it is to be a vagabond is great. He's always so deep-thinking-but-ADD-attention-spanned. I also like how he is as fond of Djali as he is of Esmerelda. He's the only one who is smart enough not to be charmed to the point of stupidity by her beauty. She told him 'no' in the begining, so he let her go istead of killing, and *SPOILER* dying for her unrequited love. At least I THINK Q is going to die. I'm not quite done yet, but I don't see any other way out for him. His hearing is going to eff him in the longrun methinks.

Finally, I would just like to take this oppertunity to say "Damn Disney and their butchering of great pieces of literature! :mad:"

[GapingStarling]

Gringoire was one of my favourite characters too. I think he was interesting for his lack of passion, when many of the people around him were ODing on it. I also found that, for a man who was so excited about his writing but totally ready to spend his days balancing stuff in his mouth, he had some of the best insights in the book.
It is he that observes, "Alas, every human action has two handles and can be picked up by either one of them."
Also, I thought it was interesting the involvement he has in the various stages of the plot, even though he is not taken in by Esmerelda. First, he is a playwright himself. Then, it is he who actually instigates the rebellion. Finally, he ends up being paid for the staging and composing of a mystery play for which he must direct the cast, organize costuming and even "construct the necessary scaffolding" (note the nice word choice). I liked the parallel, and he struck me as a kind of involuntary or unwitting director of the action -- although he's completely oblivious to it and far more concerned about the fate of Djali.

[amuse]

ok i finally got to where La Esmeralda gives Quasimodo a drink, goes into the catty corner (Phoebus' wenches), and her goat spells out PHOEBUS.
i wasn't going to continue reading, because the chapter "This Will Kill That" nearly killed me (after two weeks finally decided to stop gagging, ignore it, and move on) but the story has become a story again, and i think i'll continue. i really like it at the moment.

[amuse]

moving on, that's gotta suck when your mom, and the reason for your chastity is cursing you from her cell.
and i like how she dances, and that her feet were such a focus earlier, and how phoebus was caught between two doors/worlds.
not sure what i think of the archdeacon; is he a pr***/does he have a crush on her that he can't handle, what?

[amuse]

nearing the end...am at the "become a truant" chapter.
can't believe:
1. that gringoire forgot about his wife!!!
2. that he isn't at least interested in saving djali.
3. why? did la esmeralda pick the wilted flowers from the gorgeous vase? is it because she feels wilted, or because she was truly shallow?
4. i feel so bad for quasimodo. :( he is truly, truly beautiful.
5. god what a freak that priest is!!! :mad:

[emily655321]

LOL I'm still trudging slowly through the very middle of the thing.

"A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read."
--Mark Twain

[amuse]

love that man!

[amuse]

well...i've not completed the very last chapter (too much dallying today) so june went forward without me finishing as planned.
but! i skimmed the last few pages - will reread tomorrow, and
oh, what pathos. beautiful, lovely quasimodo. :) and the part with esmeralda and her mom was too touching. damn idiot she, to yell after phoebus :rolleyes:.