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iswendle's review against another edition
5.0
I finally finished it! Starting The Count of Monte Cristo I did not really think I was able to finish such a long book, but it was a pleasure all the way. Yep, it might have been too long for my taste and it did show its age here and there, but its a tale to remember!
A young man (Edmond Dantès) comes back from a seafaring journey on the Mediterranean. He is a happy man, the shipowner and the crew love him, so much so that on the next journey he will be captain. He is an even happier man, as he is about to marry the most beautiful woman in Marseille, Mercédes. But all that is about to change (obviously). Two men who hate him and a drunkard who happens to be with them hatch a plan. These men are Fernand, who is friendzoned by Mercèdes, and Danglars, the second in command who will lose captainship to the young Dantes. Danglars hatches a plan, Fernand carries it out, and the drunkard named Caderousse never stops it. The result is that the young Edmond is arrested on his wedding, and thrown in prison for the rest of his life after also being betrayed by his prosecutor, who promised to help him.
The Count of Monte Cristo then takes the remaining 1000 pages to detail how Edmond takes the most elaborate revenge to have ever been put on paper, to put it mildly.
The story starts of in prison, where Dantès meets his mentor, a fellow prisoner who everyone thinks mad. He learns all the sciences and the languages and he is now both handsome and smart. His mentor, Faria, is deemed mad because he only talks of his lost treasure. Well lo and behold, Dantès escapes in a beautiful way, unfortunately it took him 10 years and he lost Faria, but he finds the treasure! As he promised the first day in prison, he will avenge everyone who has done him wrong, and the money will surely help with that. From that moment on, he is the Edmond no more, he is the Count of Monte Cristo, named after the small rock where he found his treasure.
The count travels first to Italy where he meets some key characters and then travels to Paris, where he starts to live and where all his enemies have come to reside. Slowly but surely the Count, coming from no prominent family, still manages to establish himself as a vague, mysterious but prominent member of society. But his every move is only made to place him in the right place at the right time to avenge all his 4 enemies: the judge Villefort, the banker Danglars, monsieur de Morcerf (Fernand), and the drunkard Caderousse.
--
As a rule most books don't have a bad person as the protagonst. But the Count is quite emotionless, showing empathy only to those very, very close to him. Can you really blame him? He did spend more than 10 years in prison for a crime he didn't even commit. But the fact that Monte Cristo is such a myserious, emotionless, harsh character makes the entire story feel strange, something that really adds to its charm. The Count is like a very distant Batman, a superhero with a completely straight moral compass, but who believes revenge permits the use of any force against those who did him wrong. The batman, I mean The Count, and his mystery make the book unable to put away almost all of the time.
Dumas put more in the book though. He got paid by the letter, and his story was published as a sort of proto-Netflix series piece by piece in a newspaper. This means that the book drags on many times, reverting to talking about this one house in Paris, the ways of Italian carnaval, the books of Dante Alighieri and the topography of the French districts. While they can drag on for long, if you have an interest in Mediterranean culture it can fill you with some educational Google searches during your reading.
The book certainly has a very warm but breezy atmosphere, combined with its Mediterranean locations it really feels like a summer-mystery-murder-detective-history-of-the-mediterrenean classic. I also read this in the summer, that probably influenced me a lot. Anyway, what I mean to say is: the atmosphere of the book manages to combine dark tints of mystery and murder and sadness with breeziness and sunshine of a holiday.
Enough praise: yes the book is extremely long. I read the unabridged version and the book drags on for the aforementioned reasons. I loved the first quarter of the book in prison and Italy, and if it had maintened its action and mystery throughout this would have easily been a 10/10. But as the story shifts to Paris it gets stuck in too many prominent family names, theatre visits, squabbles between rich people and the thread is sometimes lost. The last third of the book picks up again though and even if the conclusion is dragged on for 200 pages: it's worth it. The most elaborate revenge plan is even more daunting than you could have hoped for and indeed all lose ends are tied up to a beautiful knot.
Could the book have been shorter and still been as great? Probably. Could the author not have used 1 name for each character instead of giving them multiple titles, names and relationships which seem to change each chapter? Definitely. Was this a story so elaborate and mysterious that its worth your time? Yes, if you have the willpower to take on a big one, definitely.
P.S: I refuse to believe that Dream Theater's Count of Tuscany is not the same man as Dantès, it is the perfect title track with even more softness, warmth, breeziness, and hardness and mystery.
A young man (Edmond Dantès) comes back from a seafaring journey on the Mediterranean. He is a happy man, the shipowner and the crew love him, so much so that on the next journey he will be captain. He is an even happier man, as he is about to marry the most beautiful woman in Marseille, Mercédes. But all that is about to change (obviously). Two men who hate him and a drunkard who happens to be with them hatch a plan. These men are Fernand, who is friendzoned by Mercèdes, and Danglars, the second in command who will lose captainship to the young Dantes. Danglars hatches a plan, Fernand carries it out, and the drunkard named Caderousse never stops it. The result is that the young Edmond is arrested on his wedding, and thrown in prison for the rest of his life after also being betrayed by his prosecutor, who promised to help him.
The Count of Monte Cristo then takes the remaining 1000 pages to detail how Edmond takes the most elaborate revenge to have ever been put on paper, to put it mildly.
The story starts of in prison, where Dantès meets his mentor, a fellow prisoner who everyone thinks mad. He learns all the sciences and the languages and he is now both handsome and smart. His mentor, Faria, is deemed mad because he only talks of his lost treasure. Well lo and behold, Dantès escapes in a beautiful way, unfortunately it took him 10 years and he lost Faria, but he finds the treasure! As he promised the first day in prison, he will avenge everyone who has done him wrong, and the money will surely help with that. From that moment on, he is the Edmond no more, he is the Count of Monte Cristo, named after the small rock where he found his treasure.
The count travels first to Italy where he meets some key characters and then travels to Paris, where he starts to live and where all his enemies have come to reside. Slowly but surely the Count, coming from no prominent family, still manages to establish himself as a vague, mysterious but prominent member of society. But his every move is only made to place him in the right place at the right time to avenge all his 4 enemies: the judge Villefort, the banker Danglars, monsieur de Morcerf (Fernand), and the drunkard Caderousse.
--
As a rule most books don't have a bad person as the protagonst. But the Count is quite emotionless, showing empathy only to those very, very close to him. Can you really blame him? He did spend more than 10 years in prison for a crime he didn't even commit. But the fact that Monte Cristo is such a myserious, emotionless, harsh character makes the entire story feel strange, something that really adds to its charm. The Count is like a very distant Batman, a superhero with a completely straight moral compass, but who believes revenge permits the use of any force against those who did him wrong. The batman, I mean The Count, and his mystery make the book unable to put away almost all of the time.
Dumas put more in the book though. He got paid by the letter, and his story was published as a sort of proto-Netflix series piece by piece in a newspaper. This means that the book drags on many times, reverting to talking about this one house in Paris, the ways of Italian carnaval, the books of Dante Alighieri and the topography of the French districts. While they can drag on for long, if you have an interest in Mediterranean culture it can fill you with some educational Google searches during your reading.
The book certainly has a very warm but breezy atmosphere, combined with its Mediterranean locations it really feels like a summer-mystery-murder-detective-history-of-the-mediterrenean classic. I also read this in the summer, that probably influenced me a lot. Anyway, what I mean to say is: the atmosphere of the book manages to combine dark tints of mystery and murder and sadness with breeziness and sunshine of a holiday.
Enough praise: yes the book is extremely long. I read the unabridged version and the book drags on for the aforementioned reasons. I loved the first quarter of the book in prison and Italy, and if it had maintened its action and mystery throughout this would have easily been a 10/10. But as the story shifts to Paris it gets stuck in too many prominent family names, theatre visits, squabbles between rich people and the thread is sometimes lost. The last third of the book picks up again though and even if the conclusion is dragged on for 200 pages: it's worth it. The most elaborate revenge plan is even more daunting than you could have hoped for and indeed all lose ends are tied up to a beautiful knot.
Could the book have been shorter and still been as great? Probably. Could the author not have used 1 name for each character instead of giving them multiple titles, names and relationships which seem to change each chapter? Definitely. Was this a story so elaborate and mysterious that its worth your time? Yes, if you have the willpower to take on a big one, definitely.
P.S: I refuse to believe that Dream Theater's Count of Tuscany is not the same man as Dantès, it is the perfect title track with even more softness, warmth, breeziness, and hardness and mystery.
victoriacardoso's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.75
boisdelaire's review against another edition
˳೫˚∗ pre-reading review :
↷ people have been recommending this book left & right on youtube (especially my fav booktuber bella !!), saying how this book reads so fast and all. i have the chance to be able to read this in french (my mother tongue). so i'm finally tackling a french classic, which i haven't done since high school, and i'm waiting for this to deliver BIG TIME! don't disappoint me edmond!
↷ people have been recommending this book left & right on youtube (especially my fav booktuber bella !!), saying how this book reads so fast and all. i have the chance to be able to read this in french (my mother tongue). so i'm finally tackling a french classic, which i haven't done since high school, and i'm waiting for this to deliver BIG TIME! don't disappoint me edmond!
seraphiina's review against another edition
5.0
Without any exaggaration, this is one of the best books I've ever read. My copy was around 837 pages and I breezed through them, it felt like reading the journal of a long-lost friend. It is a work of genius and one of the most clever ways I have ever seen revenge, love and hatred portrayed in fiction. It lacks the tiring clichés of other books with similar themes and was honestly refreshing.
rebecca_reeves's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
frankisalive's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
aneton's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
phanisaiuppu's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
syd_a's review against another edition
4.0
quite good. also quite long. Its worthy to note that the last chapter of this book is titled “October 5th,” which is the exact day in the novel that the story ended AND the exact day that i finished the book