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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!
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.
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."
Nice, Starling. Thats dynamite!
Thankee. *Bows*.
Actually, I'm just pumped that I finished it before the end of the month... :)
oh, wow...brilliant...considers opening it again. decides to take online exam and study after foruming, however.
Man, I wish that I could just sit and read. I havn't been able to do that in sooooooo long. Stupid school!
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*
Here it comes!!!! YARGH!!!
:confused:... What was I suppoesed to onslaught you about again??? :confused: :confused: :confused:
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.
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
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:"
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.
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.
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?