Notre-Dame de Paris - Aftermath

This book, probably read by millions of people, has so many senses, so many meanings, that it is hard to say, which is the one, the most important, the key meaning. There is love for Paris, love for Notre-Dame, love for love ....

But the thread I want to tell about in this review is that of morbid love. It is represented by the lust of Claude Frollo - the priest, to the young girl. The lust that ultimately takes her to her death under Paris's gibbet. The lust, that was not true love, that brings only unhappiness, grief and finally the death. And this thread of the book, the slow and deep analysis of this morbid feeling is what gives the book its universal meaning - how often we meet such cravings in our life - even if not in us, but around us....

And there is also a counter-tone, the tone of true, deep and unspoken love. Love that does not search for its fulfillment, for its satisfaction - the love of Quasimodo for Esmeralda. The love of ultimate care for the dead body of living soul - the love that seeks for its end in death - but the death in the eternal embrace of her body, thrown into Montfauçon - the common grave for people lost like her - in the dark ages of Paris ...

All - read this book, Victor Hugo is one of the greatest ....

Notre-Dame de Paris

After so many visits in Paris, I finally started reading Victor Hugo "Notre-Dame de Paris", which in many translations is called "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" or (in my native language) "The Bell-ringer of Notre-Dame". So many people read the book, so to write one more "typical" review does not make too much sense. What makes this book great, is the atmosphere of middle-age Paris, and almost physical imaginative power. Listening to this book today, made me first time ever walking around Paris' Cité for hours and to contemplate the cradle of the one of the largest and the most important cites of the world...

And, like the sign from heaven, when I entered the cathedral itself, there was a movie played on a huge screen - a movie about Notre-Dame history - in which Hugo's book was described as one of the most important events.....

And the very next day I visited The Archeological Crypt the most astonishing place on the Île de la Cité.


It's really amazing to be so many times on the big plaza at the cathedral and finally after years no notice the huge underground crypt, that shows ruins of old Paris, and the passage of time. Everything thanks to Victor Hugo, at elast in my case.

For all who love Paris - that's recommended reading.