The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo

A band of gypsies (or Egyptians as they are called in the book although they doubtless have never seen Africa) lives in the heart of Paris. The King Louis Eleventh is not particularly well liked but he has the support of the church and the military. Anyone who is not Catholic is viewed with suspicion and often put to death.

Paris is still a walled city but the walls have had to be expanded three times. This writing style seems well suited to listening to rather than reading as I have also noted with Dickens works.It is the latter part of the 17th century. using 10 words where one would have done.

Of the book itself I was suitably impressed once I got over the custom of the time of writing which Hugo emulated in spades i.e. I had also listened to Les Miserables which Case narrated and I wasn’t very impressed with him then but for whatever reason this book seemed better. I listened to this classic narrated by David Case who I thought did a fairly good job of narration. The soldier survived and marries (fate worse than death for him).I wish I could call this a caricature, but that would imply that it's exaggerated - this is the depth of absurdity that society had reached and the descent continues.But apparently it's really about the importance of preserving architecture from earlier ages. The hunchback pushes the priest off the ramparts of Notre Dame then finds and cuddles up with the corpse of the gypsy, rotting together. The guard catches up with her - her mother's skull is bashed in while the gypsy hangs. The gypsy ends up 'escaping' the church to find her long-lost mother grieving in a self-inflicted, weather-exposed dungeon (prayer cell). The hunchback (saved and raised by the priest) is also infatuated with the gypsy girl - he at least respects her bubble and moreso seems to recognize her as a human being - and thus rescues her from the scaffold temporarily protecting her with the sanctuary of Notre Dame ('cept that's the priest's crib!). The gypsy girl is arrested and sentenced to hang as a witch.

The soldier is about to get lucky with the gypsy girl when the priest intervenes and stabs him. (except when compared with the priest then he comes out favorably). While reading, I was considering the merits of abridged versions of classical works, but at the end - FUCK.My only experience with this tale was Disney - I knew their version was rot-your-teeth, sugar coated but duuuuuuude.SPOILER ALERT:In the late 1400s, a priest is infatuated with a gypsy girl who is in love with a soldier who is a P.O.S.

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo