Deanna
05-24-2005, 06:07 PM
After hearing Les Miseables on CD then reading the whole works, I was interested in other books by him and read this book. It was an incredible journey. I didn't know what would happen at the end. I really liked Claude at first and was shocked at his moral decline. Of course I always liked Esmeralda. The book has many thrills and suspense-filled moments, such as when Claude gives Esmeralda a choice - marry him or die...when Quasimodo brings Esmeralda to safe refuge...when the chase is on and Esmeralda finds her mother, but then, like Leisel in the Sound of Music, calls out when she sees her love. That moment is her downfall. The last chapter is such a whirl of tragedy - every main character comes to a tragic end - that I didn't know what to think. "It could have been different," I thought, as with every other classic (Les Miserables, The Count of Monte Christo, Uncle Tom's Cabin, ect.), but then I realized that the ending which the author wrote was really the best ending of all.