Disney's the Hunchback of Notre Dame This instant

Just a friendly warning: this book does not have a happy ending. It's a heartbreaking, frustrating, deeply upsetting book that will leave you feeling dazed and overwhelmed long after you've finished it.

So why read it? Because it's amazing, that's why.

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame", also known as "Notre Dame de Paris" in the original French edition, is a story of contrasts. On the one hand, it describes the beauty and majesty of medieval Paris, while at the same time it exposes the ignorance and cruelty of its people. It shows that those in power are sometimes the ones who are the least qualified to possess authority. And it introduces characters who, while sometimes exaggerated, are incredibly well-developed, and what's more, are never really what they seem.

Archdeacon Claude Frollo, for example, is made up of contradictions: he is quiet, cold, and serious, and yet he is deeply attached to his little brother Jehan and feels pity for the orphaned Quasimodo. He is devoted to God and to the church, but is obsessed with science and with accumulating knowledge. He shuns the society of women, but is secretly consumed with passion for Esmeralda. He is respected for his piety and his great learning, but he has a dark side that frightens even himself.

Quasimodo, on the other hand, is so feared and hated because of his appearance that he has turned his back on humanity, until an act of pity bestowed on him by Esmeralda softens his heart. After that moment, ugly and deformed as he is on the outside, he proves to be a tender-hearted, tormented, and deeply sympathetic character. The chapter "The Bells" was one of my favorites, which showed the degree of his affection toward the bells which had made him deaf. Though he is viewed by society as a monster, in reality he is the only person in the story who seems capable of real self-sacrificing love.

Esmeralda, the beautiful gypsy girl, is not what she seems, either. Sweet, innocent, and chaste in the beginning, she soon shows her true colors when she becomes infatuated with the young, empty-headed, licentious Captain Phoebus, and is willing to give up her chastity and (so she believes) any chance of finding her parents, simply to be loved by him. In the chapter entitled "Earthenware and Crystal", in which Quasimodo presents her with two vases - one a beautiful crystal vessel containing dry, withered flowers, and a crude earthenware vase full of fresh blossoms - Esmeralda chooses the crystal vase with its faded flowers, proving how shallow and superficial she is by showing she is only capable of appreciating outer beauty.

There are a few chapters which diverge from the plot and can get a little tedious - namely, "Notre-Dame", "A Bird's-Eye View of Paris", and "This Will Kill That" - but oddly enough, the author's intimate, conversational narrative style keeps them from becoming boring(at least to me). Walter Cobb, who was responsible for translating the story so brilliantly into English, certainly deserves some of the credit for this.

All in all, as depressing, infuriating, and heart-wrenching as this book is, it's also impossible to forget. And it's the only book I've ever begun re-reading immediately after finishing it the first time.Get more detail about Disney's the Hunchback of Notre Dame.