Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

51 reviews

celesteisreading's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Maestoso. Meraviglioso. Non mi aspettavo di amare questo libro così tanto. Avrei adorato se ci fosse stata più introspezione o oscurità tipica dei miei amati romanzieri russi, eppure mi rendo conto della perfezione di questo tomo.

[..]tutta l’umana saggezza sarà riposta in queste due parole: Aspettare e Sperare.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

nachtvlucht's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, and Murder

Minor: Rape

s0nagiii's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

_james_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Slavery, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Blood, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Ableism, Murder, Rape, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Eating disorder, and War

marianneiriss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, Grief, Drug use, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Murder, Death of parent, Classism, Slavery, Death, and Abandonment

i_was_a_teenage_bibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death and Confinement

sherbertwells's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

“‘Do you, then, believe in God” said Caderousse.
‘Had I been so unhappy as not to believe in him until now,’ said the abbé, ‘I must believe on seeing you’” (811)

Hot Take: this book is an inversion of Les Miserables.

Both Hugo’s classic and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, published in 1862 and 1844 respectively, follow unjustly-imprisoned men who, with the assistance of kindly clergymen, reinvent themselves, adopt abused young women and strive to do good according to their specific moral codes in the cutthroat society of post-Napoleonic France. But while Jean Valjean’s escape from hell transforms him into a benevolent angel, Edmond Dantès is not always so merciful.

And the main character is just the beginning. The Count of Monte Cristo’s tone mirrors the mindset of its protagonist: initially cheerful and adventurous before descending into the cynical world of upper-class intrigue and revenge. Unlike Hugo, Dumas’ narrative voice is cool and objective, and lets its characters speak for themselves.

But the characters are my problem with the story. With the exception of Dantès/Monte Cristo himself, the novel’s cast of young lovers, foolish patriarchs and noble adulterers seems more suited to a pantomime than a revenge tragedy. They just aren’t that deep! They aren’t good people, but more importantly, they aren’t even that interesting. They don’t demonstrate the breadth of the human soul; they just gossip! The whole plot of The Count of Monte Cristo is founded on these characters’ gossip: they gossip about marriage, compare finances and the mysterious aristocrat making waves in their nouveau riche milieu.

“Out of the 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 francs which form your real capital, you have just lost nearly 2,000,000 francs, which must, of course, in the same degree, diminish your credit and fictitious fortune; to follow out my simile, your skin has been opened by bleeding, which, repeated three or for times, will cause death—so pay attention to it, M. Danglars. Do you want money? Do you wish me to lend you some?” (636)

In fact, the society of post-Napoleonic France is much more interesting than the characters that inhabit it. Dantès’ enemies owe their fortunes at least in part to the fruits of slavery. For Alexandre Dumas, whose grandmother was enslaved in Saint-Domingue, they are despicable as individuals as well as participants in an exploitative system. But despite his monstrous wealth—or perhaps because of it—Dantès cannot destroy that system. Perhaps it’s hard for me to take an interest in the book because, despite having 1000-odd pages to fill, Dumas is interested only in its most anxious and despicable agents.

In short: reading The Count of Monte Cristo has made me realize how much I appreciate Les Miserables.

Of course there are people who will prefer the personal drama with all its poisons and inheritances. Through trial and error, I have learned that I do not particularly care for this lens, but the centuries of popularity Dumas has enjoyed indicates that I am an outlier in that regard. The Count of Monte Cristo is perfect for people who like their classics long and stabby. And for me, it’s an unexpectedly useful diagnostic for discovering my taste in literature.

You live, you learn.

“God may seem sometimes to forget for a time, while His justice reposes, but there always comes a moment when He remembers” (222) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Suicide, and Death

Minor: Medical content and War

heini's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Yli tuhatsivuinen teos, mutta erittäin nopealukuinen: lyhyet luvut ja mielenkiintoinen juoni tekivät tästä täydellisen kesälukemisen! 

Tarina kertoo Monte Criston kreivistä, joka kostaakseen kohtalonsa pitää itseään Jumalan lähettämänä sallimuksena juoniessaan vihollistensa tuhon. 
1800-luvun alkupuolen Ranska ja Italia seurapiireineen on viihdyttävää lukemista. 

Aikansa tuotos, niin hyvässä kuin pahassa. 

Ah, teatraalinen, goottilainen, suosikkini! Ihmisyyden pahuus - ja hyvän pilkahdukset. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and Confinement

Moderate: Death and Grief

Minor: Torture, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Racism, Drug use, and Murder

mallorn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Slavery, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Murder

novelyon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A wonderful, if slow at times, read. Great to see awful people get what's coming to them alongside a neat little reflection on what kinds of revenge people do and don't deserve.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Pregnancy, Slavery, Suicide, and Gun violence

Minor: Kidnapping, Racial slurs, and Racism