The Hunchback of Notre Dame

SPOLIER WARNING
I decided at the beginning of the summer that while on vacation I would attempt to work my way through a number of classic books that I felt might be interesting. This was inspired by my reading of A Tale of Two Cities earlier this year. Of course, I really only got this one done because it was so long, then I moved back to a few books on my shelf.
Anyways, back to the book. As already stated, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Notre Dame de Paris) by Victor Hugo is fairly long. To make it worse there are two simultaneous chapters, the second about three times larger than the first, that talk extensively and exclusively about the architecture of Notre Dame and the history of Paris respectively. As if that was not frustrating enough, the last pages state that the author originally published the book without those chapters and one other that came with it. The other had plot, but was not necessary to add to or advance the story. Hugo says that when he went to publish the book, he had lost those three chapters, but seeing that they had no real relevance to the story, he had it published without them. Oh, but thankfully he found them years later and published the new copy with them included for those that might enjoy it or feel that it adds to the story. He also seems to in this last sections state a huge obsession with architecture and it being the way that people used to document history and ideas before writing. Ironic, coming from an author.
The story moves at a halting pace. There is plot, then plot that moves nowhere fast, then no plot at all. Even near the end, I feel that it gets a little unnecessarily lengthened. However, what plot is there is fairly good. An abandoned, deformed child is taken in by an orphaned priest raising his little brother. He is blind in one eye, and it has a huge lump over it so it can barely open, his back is crooked, and he would later go deaf from the sound of the bells. The toddler, Quasimodo, becomes attached to his parent figure and is given the position of bell ringer of Notre Dame de Paris where his adopted father Claude Frollo lives and works.
Everything is fine until the Feast of Fools when Quasimodo goes out. He is feared, but for one day people love him and praise him for his imperfection. However, the event that really sets everything in motion is the entrance of La Esmeralda. She becomes a part of every one of the lives of the men introduced as main characters in this novel. Pierre Gringoire, the failed playwright, would find himself sentenced to death by the thieves, only to be rescued by the gyspy girl with a huge heart. She is willing to marry him for four years only to save his life. The are friends, not lovers. In fact, Gringoire has more of a connection with her goat, Djali. Claude Frollo falls into great lust for the young girl and can find no help from his religious or academic knowledge, and so he is driven to a lunacy that is rooted in his so-called love for the girl and a fascination with alchemy. Quasimodo will learn that she fears him, but will still extend her kindness and love to him, and so he falls for her. Captain Phoebus de Chateaupers and La Esmeralda will fall in love, to the point that he is willing to break off his engagement to a women he loved. That is until Claude screws the whole thing up. It appears that the gypsy, rather than the priest, attempted to kill the captain and so she goes to trial.
There are other main characters, but I do not feel that they have enough significance to the basic plot to need mentioning.
The ending is both tragic and somewhat satisfying. Phoebus, never knowing the truth, rediscovers his love for his fiancé and the two are married. Esmeralda seeks sanctuary in the church until the day she is finally driven out, once again thanks to Claude Frollo. However, the girl, who was orphaned as a child, meets her mother in the moments before she is killed for the crime she had been framed for. I began to realize as it got closer to the end that he mother was the poor Sister Gudule who has spent most of her life in a tiny room in prayer for her stolen child. When the girl is hung and Claude gets his wish, Quasimodo pushes him from the cathedral roof in anger. The hunchback himself would die wrapped around the corpse of the poor girl.
The plot was satisfyingly complicated. The way that so many story lines seemed to come into play all in one event, and the fact that most of the people were connected is exactly how I like my books to be. You understand everything completely, yet at the same time you are constantly guessing about what will happen or how it is all part of the same story. One qualm I have is that each character seemed to go by so many names that I sometimes got lost as to whether or not the statement was still being made about the same character. This last comment is neither negative nor positive: the author takes great time to describe all the details and background information necessary to provide a clear picture of exactly who and what everything is.
Overall, a good book, but a hard read.