Reviews - Le compte de Monte-Cristo

8.63k reviews for:

Le compte de Monte-Cristo

Alexandre Dumas

4.32 AVERAGE

nathancmathis's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

erpster12's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

jennifer27's review against another edition

4.5

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I finally decided to pick this up after watching the 2024 movie adaptation and considering the movie is 3 hours long it only scraped the surface of the book 😭. Considering I had an idea of what was going to happen, it was definitely tedious to get through in the beginning. However the plots of the characters being interconnected to each other outside of the main revenge plot is what saved the book for me. The revenge plot finally coming to fruition was also very satisfying and I would honestly read this again when I have the time. I WILL be getting my own copy and rereading this trust 😭🙏.

maroa's review against another edition

3.75

slow-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mochazur's review against another edition

3.5

the revenge plot, i loved. we all love “an eye for an eye” but the book doesn’t shy away from showing how that makes the world go blind—innocent people are hurt in the pursuit for revenge, and edmond has to reckon with that with the death of edward. that being said.. does he really reckon with it? because he feels bad for like 5% of the book and then the narrative rewards him with a girl he raised since 13 (GAG). also the book doesn’t shy away from showing that edward was a twerp to the end, so it’s kind of a 🤷🏾‍♀️ death. still, that complexity was enough for me.

THE TREATMENT OF WOMEN SUCKSSSSSSSSS

was upset w/ everyone except my dearest eugénie, who is so funny to me because her character is disturbingly contemporary
mercedes: GET BEHIND ME. dumas i’ll beat you up because why do you resent this poor woman for doing what she needed to. she mourned edmond eternally. she took care of his father until death (who was also “faithless” bc he even told her that edmond was for sure dead……) and only married fernand (HER ONLY FRIEND MIND YOU) because his life was constantly under threat. she would have no one else if he passed, and this was a way of ensuring they could be connected. EVEN THEN she never loved him!!! but the book kept making passing judgments like calling her faithless, charging her with infidelity, and calling her frail for not waiting *checks calendar* 14+ years for him. and then to have the audacity to make this woman say “i was wrong and i’m gonna spend my life repenting and living for my son”…… so insulting. her love for albert is the best, which is why i loved that she entreated edmond on his behalf, but then she gives up on life as a form of self flaggelation. hatedddddd it
madame danglars: ok why the eff did you let her get away with 1.5 million francs 😭 booooo
valentine: yeah she pissed me off too. max was like “can you literally do anything to stop this marriage bc you and i both know we’re in love” and she just kept going “b-but my family! they’ll be so sad! i can’t, i‘ll just pray!” GIRL IF YOU DONT GET UP AND DO SOMETHING. to the end she was a pretty decoration who cried and was admired for her innocence. yawn. her, julie, and renée are quite literally the same freaking character bc only pretty, young, innocent women matter to dumas because they can remind men of their hearts but still stay out of the way.
haydée: i hate her character because of where she ends up. raised from 13 as a “slave” by edmond (in name only) and then she turns into his bride…? ew???? i liked edmond constantly thinking of her as a daughter, and i wouldnt have an issue w/ her crush either because she said it herself—her dad and edmond are generally the only guys she’s ever known intimately. but then her only character is being the angel of the hearth. she’ll die if edmond does, she appeals to his sensibility through her pure, white, looks and heart. i hate that trope. i wish she stayed a daughter figure.
the whole side narrative from luigi vampa’s chapter about the guy who killed his love bc she was r/ped by his boss. hey! wtf dumas!

and of course we can talk all about the casual racism. a black guy whose dutiful servitude (achieved through violence) is his only character trait and virtue. treated like an object to the end

this book was a lot more humorous than i was expecting—i was cracking up like the whole time. way more fun than i expected.

so freaking long winded though.. like i really don’t need a page explaining everything to me in a setting, chill dumas

umm wtf was up with benedetto. i thought bertuccio would get to exact his revenge since he, yknow, murdered his wife but he gets paid and just gets the satisfaction of effing up villefort’s life? lame. i want to see proper justice.

iharis95's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging tense medium-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

bulldogslovebooks's review against another edition

4.0

I see why this book is such a well loved classic. I am so glad I read this with the lovely humans over the the BLC. This book is a soap opera in book form.