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ezhan9 's review for:
The Count of Monte Cristo [Abridged]
by Alexandre Dumas
Set in 19th century France, The Count of Monte Cristo starts off with a young man named Edmond Dantes who has all that a man could ever want in life (with the exception of great wealth and social status): a beautiful fiancee, a loving father, great friends, and almost a title as captain of the Pharaon, the ship that he sails on. However, this is all changed on the day of Edmond’s wedding, when he is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. The public prosecutor, Villefort, having reason to fear Dantes for his supposed Bonapartism, sentences Dantes to the Chateau d'If island dungeon for life. During his 14 years in prison, Dantes meets his mentor, who dies and gives him an immense treasure. Dantes then miraculously escapes, but he is no longer the innocent person he was before. He finds the treasure that was given to him, and takes on the title of the Count of Monte Cristo, as well as several other alter egos. Then, he begins his elaborate revenge scheme to punish the people who had framed him or had ever wronged him.
This is by far my favorite classic. Not only is the story intriguing, but some of the philosophical concepts about revenge, love, hope, and life are very in-depth and caused me to ponder. The relationship between all of the characters is very complex, but the way that they all come together in this one single plot is very beautiful. I’ll admit, the beginning of the book was a little tedious. I didn’t really understand what was happening, and it seemed as though the dialogue between characters droned on and on. But as I got a little further into the book, I began to realize that dialogue was the author’s primary way of telling the story, which I think was a way of emphasizing the relationships between characters. For English class, we had to do reading guides for this book, but occasionally I would just get lost in the book and forget about the reading guide. There were a few moments where I felt that a particular occasion was dull and went on and on for pages. However, these parts did enhance my understanding of the plot, so I powered through them anyways.
In all, the Count of Monte Cristo was a wonderful book, and I would recommend it for everyone, young (old enough to understand) and old.