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![The Count of Monte Cristo [Abridged] by Alexandre Dumas](https://cdn.thestorygraph.com/1qy27ultqt1q86gtbubgprtxmd89)
4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
A thoroughly satisfying read!
Spoiler
Edmond was such a great protagonist to follow. He suffered and lost everything only to come back with wealth and a thirst for vengeance. It was worth the read to see how his enemies met their due. The heart-wrenching bits where he couldn't love Mercédès the way he did when he was 19 was just painful to read but understandable
I was really reluctant to read this at first but I have to say it is undoubtedly one of the best books I have ever read. Something new happens on every page and it is always exciting and very shocking! Not only that, but the beautiful character transformations and themes in this novel are just truly stunning!!
I'll probably go back to this one day, but it's another that's suffered because of my post-grad brain. Too long and slow and dense for me right now. Les Mis was my crowning glory of the year.
i think a lot of people shy away from classics because of bad experiences with them in school (i too read heart of darkness and hated it) but i'm always excited to find a classic story that really holds up. the count of monte cristo, for lack of a better word, slaps. i love a good revenge plot with a morally gray protagonist and this DELIVERS. the slowburn path to revenge is really fun and juicy, and i enjoy how comparatively nuanced the ending is compared to a lot of revenge stories (especially older ones). obviously there are aspects that don't align with our current norms (e.g. sexism and racism) but the book was written in 1844 so i'm not as critical about that as i would be if it were published recently. also, compared to a lot of other classics (and modern books too) the sexism and racism are relatively mild. (i found it kind of funny how dumas hates on the english so much throughout when it's entirely unprompted and irrelevant to the narrative).
Too bad this one's abridged. Ascertain themes of revenge, faith, religion, morality, and 18th century Europe (since it covered settings from Greece, Italy, and France). An instant favorite. Will return to write a fuller note once I've read the unabridged novel.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
informative
slow-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:
No
i read it for lit class but it was good.
‘tried to read, but his eyes slipped across the pages without taking anything in’
This book falls under the category of ‘it’s only good because it’s old and people say it’s good’. Honestly I was going to give it a higher rating just because I thought, this is so long and I’m sure other people enjoyed it more and maybe I just overlooked something. But no, I’m not going to say this book is good just because of its reputation
Everything in this is so long and drawn out it could’ve been written in at most 500 pages. Reading the part where Edmond is in jail for 16 years felt like I was experiencing the same sentence in both senses of the word. There are a maximum of 2/3 people I care about out of 30 because everyone is dull. There is an actual chapter where there is a story within a story within a story, which has no relevance to the rest of the book, it just goes into needless detail and makes for frustrating reading
There are some good stories in this book, bits where I was actually engaged, but more often than not this is surrounded by boring conversations about politics or economics
To end this review I would like to post a quote from Mark Twain -
‘“Classic.” A book in which people praise and don’t read’
This book falls under the category of ‘it’s only good because it’s old and people say it’s good’. Honestly I was going to give it a higher rating just because I thought, this is so long and I’m sure other people enjoyed it more and maybe I just overlooked something. But no, I’m not going to say this book is good just because of its reputation
Everything in this is so long and drawn out it could’ve been written in at most 500 pages. Reading the part where Edmond is in jail for 16 years felt like I was experiencing the same sentence in both senses of the word. There are a maximum of 2/3 people I care about out of 30 because everyone is dull. There is an actual chapter where there is a story within a story within a story, which has no relevance to the rest of the book, it just goes into needless detail and makes for frustrating reading
There are some good stories in this book, bits where I was actually engaged, but more often than not this is surrounded by boring conversations about politics or economics
To end this review I would like to post a quote from Mark Twain -
‘“Classic.” A book in which people praise and don’t read’
This is now one of my favorite books. My only regret is that I really wish I had realized I was reading the abridged version. I intend to read the full version in the future.