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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
dark
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:
No
Really good book. Great plot, great twists. Easily followed. Just a bit too long.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Far too long but man is this enjoyable. Dumas' novel is tragic, darkly comedic at times, and full of twisting, convoluted plot threads that take hundreds of pages to pay off. This is a book that rewards patience and attention to the smallest detail, each offhand remark. But many of the subplots could be condensed or cut; Dumas frequently has his side characters go on chapters-long monologues to provide needless backstory to a minor character. This novel is also incredibly political, and Dumas' anti-royalist sentiments bleed through often, as he's very sympathetic toward Bonapartist characters. I get the sense he would've been a fan of Marx, and the novel also includes positive lesbian representation that would've been incredibly rare for the time period.
Above all, it's clear Dumas loves young love. The teenaged characters are the most pure and idealistic, and their love for one another is shown to be stronger than the prejudice and greed of their elders. Young love is responsible for pulling the Count out of his moral downward spiral, showing him that his vengeance has gone far enough. He's a fascinating character; he spends much of the novel believing he is sent by God, or "Providence," to avenge himself, and thus he is hardly responsible for his actions. His hate for his betrayers is so strong that he brings innocents into his manipulative, violent web, but at his core he remains Edmond Dantes.
All of Dumas' characters, especially the older ones like Villefort, are well-rounded and complex. Even though we hate men like Danglars and Morcerf for what they did to Edmond, we can't completely write them off as evil. They are self-serving, but still human, and their flaws just stand out in greater relief against the Count, who is almost inhuman in his facade of perfection. We watch their destruction with a kind of horrified fascination, as they have as equal a hand in it as the Count, who is incredibly skilled at exploiting their flaws.
Being written in the 1800s, it's not without its problems. The Count owns a slave who literally cannot speak, completely robbing him of his agency to make him the perfect, exotic loyal servant. Maximillian is a soldier in the colonial army. Victorian audiences were captivated by Eastern cultures, and this book has traces of that orientalist fetishization; Dumas uses Arabian, Greek, and Indian influences to make the Count seem more exciting, exotic, and mysterious and Haydee more alluring. The relationship between the Count and Haydee also does not hold up--he purchases her from a slaver, and though he often refers to her like a daughter, she is often referred to by the narrative or other characters as his slave. In addition, Haydee is half his age, and Dumas is not clear about the nature of her and the Count's relationship; at the end, she says she loves him "like a father, a brother, a husband" before they sail off together. Yikes!
This is a novel with a religious moral--men should not presume to carry out God's will--but it's rather minor with everything else going on. This book is over a thousand pages of adventure and intrigue, so it's easy to lose the religious threads. Much stronger themes are the moral of forgiveness, the idea that money can't buy true happiness, and the idea that revenge can be justified but one shouldn't let it consume them. The Count is a cathartic character, but also a cautionary one.
If you don't want to read this tome, I recommend the 2024 French adaptation of this book, as it's pretty faithful and improves significantly on the more problematic elements. But Dumas has such a unique voice, and his talent for dry social commentary and sweeping descriptions of adventures make the book worthwhile.
Above all, it's clear Dumas loves young love. The teenaged characters are the most pure and idealistic, and their love for one another is shown to be stronger than the prejudice and greed of their elders. Young love is responsible for pulling the Count out of his moral downward spiral, showing him that his vengeance has gone far enough. He's a fascinating character; he spends much of the novel believing he is sent by God, or "Providence," to avenge himself, and thus he is hardly responsible for his actions. His hate for his betrayers is so strong that he brings innocents into his manipulative, violent web, but at his core he remains Edmond Dantes.
All of Dumas' characters, especially the older ones like Villefort, are well-rounded and complex. Even though we hate men like Danglars and Morcerf for what they did to Edmond, we can't completely write them off as evil. They are self-serving, but still human, and their flaws just stand out in greater relief against the Count, who is almost inhuman in his facade of perfection. We watch their destruction with a kind of horrified fascination, as they have as equal a hand in it as the Count, who is incredibly skilled at exploiting their flaws.
Being written in the 1800s, it's not without its problems. The Count owns a slave who literally cannot speak, completely robbing him of his agency to make him the perfect, exotic loyal servant. Maximillian is a soldier in the colonial army. Victorian audiences were captivated by Eastern cultures, and this book has traces of that orientalist fetishization; Dumas uses Arabian, Greek, and Indian influences to make the Count seem more exciting, exotic, and mysterious and Haydee more alluring. The relationship between the Count and Haydee also does not hold up--he purchases her from a slaver, and though he often refers to her like a daughter, she is often referred to by the narrative or other characters as his slave. In addition, Haydee is half his age, and Dumas is not clear about the nature of her and the Count's relationship; at the end, she says she loves him "like a father, a brother, a husband" before they sail off together. Yikes!
This is a novel with a religious moral--men should not presume to carry out God's will--but it's rather minor with everything else going on. This book is over a thousand pages of adventure and intrigue, so it's easy to lose the religious threads. Much stronger themes are the moral of forgiveness, the idea that money can't buy true happiness, and the idea that revenge can be justified but one shouldn't let it consume them. The Count is a cathartic character, but also a cautionary one.
If you don't want to read this tome, I recommend the 2024 French adaptation of this book, as it's pretty faithful and improves significantly on the more problematic elements. But Dumas has such a unique voice, and his talent for dry social commentary and sweeping descriptions of adventures make the book worthwhile.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
BON
Je sens que je vais en froisser certain•es mais le film était tellement mieux…….
Je m’étais dit « le film sort fin juin tu dois lire le livre avant Agathe c’est un classique quand même blabla », j’étais motivée en plus pcq j’avais adoré les Trois Mousquetaires ! Bah j’ai arrêté à 500p parce que je me faisais chierrrrrrrr (trop d’histoires dans l’histoire, on m’avait vendu de la vengeance de l’action je voulais que ça avance + persos féminins totalement inexistants/inutiles et ça c’est impossible pour moi)
Mais ! J’ai tellement aimé le film que je me suis dit « okay tu peux pas passer à côté du livre, la deuxième partie va être incroyable lets go »
Bah mes dialogues préférés ils étaient même pas dans le livre (la déclaration d’amour d’Albert à Haydée et celle que lui fait Haydée) !!!
J’ai trouvé le livre très difficile d’accès avec toutes ces histoires de thune auxquelles on comprend plus rien (les louis, les francs, les sous, les billets, les créanciers bla-bla-bla bla) et qui sont pourtant le point central de l’histoire
Sans le film je l’aurais jamais fini, et je trouve après m’être tapée les 1200p, que le film a réussi à actualiser l’intrigue pour qu’elle soit plus compréhensible, plus condensée et plus intense tout en mettant en valeur les meilleures lignes/dialogues du livre
Donc voilà voilà, maintenant je m’en vais lire la Reine Margot parce qu’il écrivait quand même vachement bien
Je sens que je vais en froisser certain•es mais le film était tellement mieux…….
Je m’étais dit « le film sort fin juin tu dois lire le livre avant Agathe c’est un classique quand même blabla », j’étais motivée en plus pcq j’avais adoré les Trois Mousquetaires ! Bah j’ai arrêté à 500p parce que je me faisais chierrrrrrrr (trop d’histoires dans l’histoire, on m’avait vendu de la vengeance de l’action je voulais que ça avance + persos féminins totalement inexistants/inutiles et ça c’est impossible pour moi)
Mais ! J’ai tellement aimé le film que je me suis dit « okay tu peux pas passer à côté du livre, la deuxième partie va être incroyable lets go »
Bah mes dialogues préférés ils étaient même pas dans le livre (la déclaration d’amour d’Albert à Haydée et celle que lui fait Haydée) !!!
J’ai trouvé le livre très difficile d’accès avec toutes ces histoires de thune auxquelles on comprend plus rien (les louis, les francs, les sous, les billets, les créanciers bla-bla-bla bla) et qui sont pourtant le point central de l’histoire
Sans le film je l’aurais jamais fini, et je trouve après m’être tapée les 1200p, que le film a réussi à actualiser l’intrigue pour qu’elle soit plus compréhensible, plus condensée et plus intense tout en mettant en valeur les meilleures lignes/dialogues du livre
Donc voilà voilà, maintenant je m’en vais lire la Reine Margot parce qu’il écrivait quand même vachement bien
Alexandre Dumas was genius! some day I hope to reread this book and study it even more intricately.
"Must haves" when reading this book:
1. a diagram of relationship connections:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Countofmontecristorelations.jpg
2.a list of characters with descriptions:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/montecristo/canalysis.html
3. TIME
"Must haves" when reading this book:
1. a diagram of relationship connections:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Countofmontecristorelations.jpg
2.a list of characters with descriptions:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/montecristo/canalysis.html
3. TIME