Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

18 reviews

sarah_speaks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

laurenleigh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a SLOG. I thought it would be an interesting read while I was getting ready for our trip, but it took forever to get through. Normally Disney adaptations are watered down, but in this case, I think Disney actually did a good job of distilling and updating the text for a modern audience. Hugo is a great writer, but he’s a terrible editor. In addition to feeling bored often during this reading, I found myself very frustrated by Esmeralda’s portrayal, which was made even weaker with this audiobook narrator. As I kid, I loved the Disney Esmeralda’s spirit and independence, but that was often missing in the original text. I also hated how Quasimodo was framed, and Disney did a much better job in my memory of showing that disability or disfigurement does not make one less of a person. I suppose I should try and judge the text on its own merits outside of my childhood memories of the movie, but I can’t quite untangle my expectations from what I found in the novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Torture, and Sexual harassment

hot_water's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, and Body shaming

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, and Torture

Minor: Death

upthestairs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

hattiefrankie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The relationships between the characters in this story evokes a strong empathy in the reader aswell as contempt. Hugo is the king of context and paints Paris in so much architectural, political and cultural detail that you can vividly picture the setting and time-period of this story. As a musician I found Quasimodo's connection with the cathedral bells heart-rending. Some contextual passages felt a little too slow-paced, but the storyline was so important and kept me engaged until the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Ableism and Stalking

Minor: Torture

gemstone's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Ok this book was so frustrating BECAUSE when Hugo was writing about the plot and driving the plot forward it was fantastic. He created the most awful male protagonists to reflect the absolute depravity of Paris at the time (looking at you Claude Frollo) and he really angers you at points by showing the injustice of the judicial system and how innocent people were often those who suffered most. The contrast of Quasimodo with Phoebus also challenges the idea of beauty, and what beauty really is, whilst showing that people aren’t ready to accept these ideas. The way I don’t like a single man in this book (maybe except Quasimodo) shows how brilliantly Hugo has done his job - they’re all so toxic in completely different ways. Frollo is absolutely the worst though

super glad about his fate in Book Eleven

. There were even parts of the book that made me laugh out loud - and I can’t tell if it was intentional by Hugo, or if the bluntness of the writing is due to the French-ness of it . Either way I love it. Esmerelda deserved better, she and Djali should have left all the men behind and gone to live together in the country. Maybe with Quasimodo

and my girl stop pining over Phoebus. He is trash. Scum of the earth. So sad you couldn’t see that

. My only issue with this book - and the reason it’s 4/5 not 4.5/5 or 5/5 - is the chapters that don’t drive the plot forward - and these are some excruciatingly loonnnnnggggg chapters about… architecture. My word, this man really has a bee in his bonnet about Gothic Architecture. I have a particular hatred of ‘A Bird’s Eye View of Paris’, and I recommend to either skim read it or skip it completely - it nearly made me DNF it and that would have been a real shame. I wasn’t surprised to learn that this chapter and a couple of others like it were actually removed from the original version. Anyways, overall I really enjoyed this book. It made me laugh, cry, shake with anger and grin with triumph. 4/5.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Kidnapping

linnylionheart's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Confinement and Kidnapping

ninjasunknown's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Torture, and Murder