Notre-Dame de Paris

By: Victor Hugo

Narrated by: Mathurin Voltz

Length: 20 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Esmeralda, Quasimodo, Fleur de Lys, Frolo, autant de noms qui résonnent au-delà des siècles. Sans cesse incarnés sous toutes les formes possibles, les personnages de Victor Hugo appartiennent au patrimoine littéraire mondial.

©Domaine public (P)2013 Éditions Thélème

grand classique historisue

Ce livre est particulier dans son style car le fil de l'histoire est interrompu par de longs passages historiques sur Paris. Le format est celui de plusieurs épisodes qui tiennent le lecteur en Alexine parfois un peu trop longtemps.

Great book, narrative outstanding

I had read the book years ago and would like to hear it now. It’s a great book a great story, but what I was not expecting was such fantastic narrative from M. Voltz
Worth listening

elastic voice

his voice is so vivid and adaptive to process of the events of the story.

Une Tragédie Complète

Bien écrit et bien raconté, ce livre contient une histoire passionnante et, pour moi, il remplit les requis pour être une tragédie complète. Ça veut dire, il n'y a pas seulement une fin tragique, mais aussi beaucoup de choses à apprendre. Voilà une des meilleures œuvres d'Hugo, seconde seulement à Les Misérables, à mon avis. Parfois, il faut de la patience d'endurer des pauses dans l'histoire principale pour entendre une essaie philosophique ou d'architecture, toujours ayant envie de rejoindre le narratif. Cependant, soyez patients et apprenez quelque chose du maître Hugo, qui n'écrit (presque) rien inutilement. Profitez bien des descriptions riches, de la symbolisme profonde, et du bizarrement captivant personnage de Quasimodo, le "presque humain," qui, peut être, est le plus sensible humain dans le livre.

A Near-Perfect French Language Audiobook

What made the experience of listening to Notre-Dame de Paris the most enjoyable?
I was glad to finally find a French Language unabridged audio recording. I have a long history with the book. I first read the slightly abridged Lowell Bair translation over a period of several months as a pre-teen. I've since lost count of how many times I've read "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Notre Dame de Paris" in English and French.

Who was your favorite character and why?
I can't say he's really my favorite character, but over the years Claude Frollo has come to interest me even more than Quasimodo. He's an intelligent, would-be compassionate man who has been deranged by his own beliefs.

What about Mathurin Voltz’s performance did you like?
Mathurin Voltz gives an enjoyable reading of the novel, even if like me your understanding of spoken French is weak.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No, I think it's a book you take your time with and think about along the way even if you already know the story.

Any additional comments?
Please note that unless a correction is made there seems to be a strange recording or editing mistake. Near the middle, several pages seem to be missing. It turns out they were somehow put in the wrong place. The chapters should be listened to in this order:

1-27
45
28-44
46-58

Update February 1, 2024:
I'm listening to it again and the chapter problem I wrote about before has now been fixed. I'm on Chapter 46 and it seems everything is fine now.