The Hunchback of Notre Dame
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- €8.49
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- €8.49
Publisher Description
The story of a love triangle from the Middle Ages. The young girl falls in love with the captain of the guard, who once saved her. But an aged priest falls in love with her. Both feelings are perverted, the priest pursues the girl, rolls his life downhill for the sake of „love.” The feeling of his religiosity is even more distorted. The girl is madly in love, she is also ready to give everything and die for the sake of a man who is absolutely indifferent to him and doesn’t care when they want to hang the girl because of an attempt on him.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Children who have had a taste of Hugo's 18th-century epic through the animated film may find this version, with its absence of song, rather sobering. Wynne-Jones (Some of the Kinder Planets) makes no attempt to soften the harsh story of the hideously deformed, big-hearted Quasimodo, who escapes ridicule only in the sanctuary of the cathedral. Although the narrative is fluent and conversational, children may need guidance through some of the more challenging vocabulary and occasional wordy passages. The irony in Hugo's novel is preserved here, as when Wynne-Jones draws a delicious parallel between church and state: Quasimodo is deaf because "the bells of the church had made him that way"; the judge who sentences the deformed man to a flogging "is as deaf as Quasimodo. The court had made him that way." Still, the deeper implications of the story will likely be lost on children. Dramatically framing the text are Slavin's (Extra! Extra! The Who, What, Where, When and Why of Newspapers) subtly hued, skillfully composed paintings. His mastery of detail, especially in period dress and architecture, makes turbulent medieval Paris appear real--sometimes frighteningly so. This polished, thoughtful collaboration may serve as an authentic preview to Hugo's classic, but may be best appreciated with an adult standing by. Ages 5-8.
