It's not that I don't enjoy tragedies. I mean, this is the person who has seen nineteen different versions of Hamlet, many of them multiple times. I like a good, sad story.
So it's not the tragicality that made me dislike this book. It's the fatalism. The bleak flavor that permeates it. Hugo seems to be saying that fate dictates how everything will turn out, what everyone will do, and that is absolutely the opposite of my belief in the gift of free will. The characters become puppets for the author to move around, and Hugo uses them to try to convey the idea that all people are puppets, jerked and shoved about by fate.
If fate dictates everything, there are no consequences for actions, no accountability. Right and wrong are sapped of their meaning, and everything is dictated by the whim of some made-up, nameless, uncaring power. Feh.
Even with the fatalism aside, this is a book full of people doing really stupid things that ::surprise!:: lead to bad results. I hate that kind of tragedy. I only enjoy tragedies that feel inevitable, where the events set in motion by the villains lead to sadness and badness that the heroes mitigate the best they can, but which eventually overwhelm them because they're flawed themselves.
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| (From my Instagram) |
So, yeah. I loved Les Miserables when I read that twenty years ago, and I'd like to revisit it one of these days. But I have no desire or need to revisit The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Ever.
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: R for lascivious desires and intentions and behavior, scenes of torture and violence, and voyeurism.
Some happy news!!! This is my 50th book read and reviewed for my second go-'round with the Classics Club, which means it's my 100th book for the club as a whole! I have sent up a third list of 50 books and will embark upon it in July.
This is also my 24th book read for #TheUnreadShelfProject2020.
Your the third person that I know to read this in 2020. I absolutely love the Disney movie, it's one of my favorite movies, so I do plan to read the book. But, I have been informed that I will probably hate it. Congrats on your Classic Club list completion!!
ReplyDeleteMC, how interesting that you know several other people who are reading it! I read it as part of a readalong group on Bookstagram.
DeleteI have not seen the Disney version, but I quite liked the Maureen O'Hara version.
Thank you!
Whoops! Typo! I meant "you're" not " your".
DeleteAh, the Disney version is spectacular. The colors, the animation, the songs, all so good! It definitely is more mature, but I still love it to pieces.
Oh boy, now I'm really looking forward to reading this for literature class next year...not. 😊
ReplyDeleteSamantha, um, well... it wasn't a hard read, if that helps?
DeleteYour opening line cracked me up. I didn't mind the fatalistic pessimism (Hugo was known for it :P) so much as the 100 page detour in the middle of it to go on about... alchemy or something? I forget what. Or maybe I'm confusing that with his 100 page dissertation on the Paris sewer systems in Les Mis.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, my opinion about Hugo is -- he needed happy pills or therapy, since all his books are incredibly depressing.
I saw the Maureen O'Hara film ages ago and I don't know if they made the ending happier or not -- but the Disney version was one of my favorites growing up and is still a favorite as an adult. They were gutsy and had the never to explore lust, genocide, and desire... in a kid's cartoon. o.O (AKA, not for little kids. My sister about had a heart attack when she took her 10 year old.) But yes, Disney gives it a happy ending. ;)
(Sorry, this is Charity. Blogger logged me out. oops!)
DeleteCharity, yes, this is the one with a massive chapter about how Gothic architecture is the best architecture, another detour about the history of alchemy, and then one about how books are replacing architecture as the record of history. They were shorter than the sewer system history from Les Mis, at least. But I did much skimming.
DeleteThe Maureen O'Hara had a happier ending, though I can't remember now how it ended, just that it didn't depress me. I actually had to set this book down for about a week because I was getting into a really dark, depressed mindset and needed space. Haven't seen the Disney version, tho I would like to, I think. Maybe.
Interesting review! I read this earlier this year. You have the same edition!
ReplyDeleteI completely understand not liking this book (although I loved it), I have warned several of my friends that they would hate it.
I love the way Hugo speaks to the human condition, however. I related to some of the characters immensely (not the ones I expected), which is perhaps why I take more of a lesson from it - that even when we are as high as we can go, we can fall, even when we are powerless our decisions change the world around us.
It definitely doesn't have some of the Les Miserables themes, but not every story should be the same; it kind of flips the coin on the same issue.
Congratulations on 100 Classics club books! That's amazing.
Pioneer Girl, how cool you have the same edition! I've been semi-collecting these (though I'm not keeping this one).
DeleteI do like what Hugo had to say in this one about appearances being deceiving. It was all a great illustration of "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart."
And thanks! It's a reading accomplishment that I'm quite pleased with :-)
Oh, glad I read this then! I just finished Les Miserables and really enjoyed it (despite skimming for the first time in my life, because I really can't deal with all those extra facts about sewers and the Battle of Waterloo's artillery).
ReplyDeleteI've seen the Disney version of this and also a YouTube video of a community theatre performing the musical of it... the story is very strong, but I don't like it half as much as Les Mis. It seemed to contain much less hope and more darkness, in some way.
I will avoid this book, unless my to-read list is completely exhausted, but somehow, I doubt that will ever happen in my life time haha. ;D
Gabby, um, yes, I skimmed those parts of Les Mis too. Definitely a LOT more darkness in this, and no hope at all. So bleak. Not at all my thing. At least Les Mis isn't all, "Everyone died for nothing at all and the world is meaningless, just go sulk in a corner for a while."
DeleteI've read The Hunchback of Notre Dame twice. Once in high school, and again three or four years ago. I can't say that I enjoyed it, so much as it intrigued me. Perhaps it was Hugo's depiction of the human condition. I don't think I found it fatalistic, but there was an aura of despair about it. I thought the Disney version captured some crucial elements, but completely rewriting the ending and the Phoebus character (that's if I'm even remembering it correctly) sort of soured me to it--I've got more complaints about the Disney version (can you say gargoyles?), but I didn't drop by to discourse on the movie. My biggest complaint about Hugo's work is the length--and the detours which add needlessly to the size of the book. I'll probably read it again someday, but not soon.
ReplyDeleteStanley, I can see how it could be really intriguing, especially if you don't mind the despair. I haven't seen the Disney version -- the only movie version I've seen is the 1939 one starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara. Which I remember enjoying, so I suspect they changed the ending up.
DeleteAnd yes, WHAT is with Hugo's 20-page detours into history, which stop the plot in its tracks??? Blech.
I hope you don't mind a comment on a 4-year-old post, it's just that I recently finished reading this one for Classics Club and it was such a struggle to finish and I've been looking for reviews from like-minded readers who might sympathize, haha.
ReplyDeleteYour statement "But I have no desire or need to revisit The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Ever." is EXACTLY how I feel about it!
Looloolooweez, I love getting comments on old posts! (Even though sometimes it takes me a couple days to reply to them.)
DeleteIt's always nice to know you're not the only person with a specific reaction to a book, isn't it? This book is just not for me. And that's okay. No one reader loves every book, and no book is loved by everyone.