Review: Notre-Dame de Paris

Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

One of those rare cases where I find that I prefer the adaptations over the original, although I don't regret reading it.

Some aspects of the story haven't aged well (really not a fan of Esmeralda's characterization in the book) and were thankfully changed by the time Disney's adaptation came around. And Victor Hugo probably could've used an editor here cause some of the rambling digressions can get a bit much (...doesn't inspire me to read Les Mis anytime soon).

The strengths that make this story stand out though are still there: the focus on preservation of Gothic architecture (which honestly wasn't a thing till Hugo called it out here); the role that architecture plays in society and persists through pivotal human events; the chilling nature of villain so high up in the church like Claude Frollo; and the final sequence in general.

Now excuse me while I go searching for clips of the stage musical that got robbed of a Broadway run.