NOTRE-DAME de Paris - Victor Hugo

Or The Hunch Back of Notre Dame as its known in English.

Firstly, this novel is nothing like the many film and television versions that have been made over the years.  It is set in medieval Paris, a very tough time to be alive, and although Quasimodo plays a central role he is by no means the central figure.

The central figure is Notre Dame itself ,all the human characters are involved with it and the story revolves about it.

I found that there are very few remotely likable characters in this story, Quasimodo is probably the closest but he gets much sympathy because of his deformity which has made him totally rejected by society.

Esmeralda is a rather silly little girl, which she is of course she is being in her mid teens and then there is Archdeacon Frollo, who even though he saved Quasimodo as a baby and raised him is evil.

In the middle of the novel, Hugo digresses into an essay arguing that prior to the invention of the printing press architecture was how man expressed his learned knowledge from other cultures to the masses  i.e incorporating  designs noted on travels and brought back from military campaigns. ( This explanation is mine and is wildly simplifying what is argued)

He then states that the invention of the printing press is the greatest of all inventions. (An argument that still stands today).  With the printing press knowledge became available to more than the religious orders, observations from afar were able to be described simply,ideas were argued,messages spread and therefore the demise of architecture across Europe began to decline.

After this essay the story returns to the characters we have have been introduced to, as stated the majority are unlikable and their fates didn't elicit any sympathy from myself with the exception of Esmeralda who was treated rather harshly which is probably a wild under statement

My fun fact from the novel was learning the true meaning of "Truant" -i.e. someone who chooses to be a beggar rather than someone who begs out of necessity.

This is a great novel, uplifting its not probably because the characters are so obviously human with all their faults and vanities its like looking in a mirror.