Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

22 reviews

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-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

While definitely popular literature, Dumas’ command of subtext and overlapping narratives holds more than meets the eye. The opening secures our knowledge that Dantes is not merely a hateful egomaniac; and his quest for vengeance artfully avoids murder as he recompenses (though probably because of a principle of proportionality, and not Christian mercy, which Dumas leaves out). Furthermore, Dumas’ commentary on money is fascinating. Both Caderousse and Danglars are greedy, yet Dumas never contradicts their fundamental understanding that the world is run by money. The vice of simony, and its correlate implications for reality,  are not considered. I only wish that Monte Cristo’s redemption would have been more drawn out. Perhaps it was my choppy reading of the book, but it seems rather sped through at the end of the novel. All in all, well worth a reread. 

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challenging slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I... really loved this to be honest. There are obviously some things that have not aged well since the 1860s, but as a sweeping adventure and mystery novel it really delivered for me. Even though there's a Lot covered in a lot of detail, arriving at the end, I feel incredibly satisfied with how much you experience with the characters.

Just some spoiler-y things I liked/didn't like/was surprised by etc: 
  • weirdly surprised that Edmond only starts to feel remorse when Edward de Villefort is murdered
  • definitely surprised that there's a (imo) lesbian couple!
  • I was sad that Edmond and Mercedes don't end up back together tbh, but I was very glad that I correctly predicted that she would be the only one after all the years in prison to recognize him
  • didn't love that Edmond got together with Haydee who he said was like a daughter and was also his literal slave, woof
  • it took so long for Valentine to actually come back that I was worried she Wouldn't come back and they had just forgotten about her, but I'm glad she and Maximillian ended up happy as well
  • I really loved how slowly certain people/plot points were explained, even though I just made the last point lol. I like being able to guess and being kept in the dark a little bit.

Yeah I kind of want a physical copy of this now!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging informative slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

the grandfather of sassy men. what a messy book. love it. didn’t love a lot of elements. justice for ali! the sheer amount of adult minor relationships were disgusting, book could've been much much much shorter but it also wasnt intended to be read in 8 days. but i do love seeing the origins of infamous tropes. that was cool.

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Remains to be one of my favourite books. You will not find another epic like this. 

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Another book I wept while reading.  Towards the end, there were times I got chills as the long term plotting and manipulations came to fruition.

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