In this book, as in Le Mis, Hugo goes off on long tangents. Like the time a family I know about was on vacation and one of the sons was out fishing with the father. The rest of the family were on shore, and when it began to rain, they expected to two in the boat to come it. But the boat didn't move. One of the sons on the shore said to another family member, "I sure hope Larry knows what he's doing. You know how much Dad hates to get his bum wet." Anyway, back to the review ... None of the characters were worth much, except Quasimodo, I guess. Esmeralda was innocent but stupid. All the others were evil or self-centered. Good writing and a great plot but somehow it didn't come together as a satisfying whole.