Reviews - Le compte de Monte-Cristo

8.71k reviews for:

Le compte de Monte-Cristo

Alexandre Dumas

4.32 AVERAGE

s20b's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous 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

joeyoudan's review against another edition

3.75

A great story. Interesting to compare how this book deals with wealth to modern texts (American Psycho, for example.) the fact that the story was interesting for 1200 pages is impressive enough- but overall the story is both overly sycophantic as well as unsurprising.

lc_xiaogu's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

drewcarlile's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

diana_w's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

timnorman's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The Count of Monte Cristo is a story I've been aware of for my whole life but I've never read it, and considering how famous it is (and that it's in the public domain) I'm surprised that I haven't really experienced it through adaptations or pop culture references. Considering how I haven't read a lot of Shakespeare or Dickens but still know their stories fairly well I was surprised at how novel a 150 year old book could be.

I loved the overall story, but the actual scenes often felt very clunky and "fake" to me - the actions and dialog read more like stage direction than a novel, but this is something I've found with other books from this time, and considering I read the English translation maybe emulating a 19th century English writer was a choice by the translator, and that it reads more naturally in French?

Similarly, any scene with Ladies and Gentlemen just come off as so fake to me - once again, this is something I've found insufferable when reading Dickens as well, but there is so much pageantry around every little action and word from members of the upper class that I can't help but roll my eyes. Is this how people actually talked and acted back then, or is it just how people saw the aristocracy? Were people really so liable to faint at the mildest surprise or rude word?

Culture shock about the era aside, it's a great read with good pacing (it probably helped that I read an abridged version) and has a satisfying payoff. There are certainly deeper themes and meaning you can pull from it if you want, but it is an entertaining story on its own as well.