Reviews

The Count of Monte Cristo (AmazonClassics Edition) by Alexandre Dumas

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misnyder's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

carriedoodledoo's review against another edition

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5.0

R-E-V-E-N-G-E, find out what it means to me!! This is a juicy, twisty-turny book where the drama Just. Keeps. Coming. Think of Severus Snape as played by Alan Rickman in the early 19th century. I'm talking dramatic reveals (multiple) and brooding handsome older men and passionate younger men and lots and lots of betrayal and life-ruining. Ooooooh yummy!

UPDATE: apparently, a lot of English versions are abridged and they don't friggin' TELL YOU. I feel cheated. this was a re-read and at a mere 511 pages, I thought it was shorter than the first time I read it! I kept thinking I'd get to the drug trip where the guy thought the statues of goddesses were coming alive but I never did, but I thought "I must have read that somewhere else". But no.....

myfavouriteaxe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

royalwaterfowl's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

dashie's review against another edition

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5.0

What you should know about The Count of Monte Cristo is that it doesn't read like a book written in 1844. Dumas's writing is so accessible the usual case in classics where you're taken out of the story and are observing it from a distance like an omniscient presence doesn't occur. You are there right beside Edmond and you watch the tragedies happen to him one after the other and you feel so helpless because he can't hear you scream.

As a book that's been here for so long, a classic, there's nothing much that can be added to the discussion surrounding this book that hasn't already been said.

But this is a classic novel that everyone should read. In Edmond Dantés' naiveté and innocence, I found myself as a teenager. It was a simple time and having grown up with a lot of love, I was predisposed into thinking that nobody would ever wish me anything but success. Of course I was not betrayed as dramatically as Dantés was, but that feeling when the expectations you had on people, people who you thought were on your side are lost to you, when you feel like they've cut their lifestrings connecting them to you and now your floating unmoored, at sea. That anguish was all too well described.

But it wasn't all depressing and sobering. Dantés' scheme unfurling gave me immense pleasure and the whole thing reads like a carefully executed heist. As a long time viewer of Korean dramas I've seen more than my share of juicy revenge plots and this delivered on all the melodrama. I couldn't recommend this book enough!