The Count of Monte Cristo

As a family, we all decided to read a different work of classic literature in the summer of 2018. This was my choice, a book that's been waiting on my bookshelf for 21 years. This was as good as any excuse to finally tackle this large book of small print that goes on for 1077 pages. It's a fairly easy read for a book so old (written from 1844 to 1845). It's the story of young Edmond Dantès, a sailor betrayed by jealous friends who unjustly ends up a prisoner in the notorious Chateau d'If, where he lingers for years before escaping, finding a fortune and plotting his revenge. Most people know these bare bones of the story, but this fuller translation contains all the details. It's not so much an action story as it a story of the plotting of revenge and all the family dynamics between the main players. It's a large cast of characters and the story is set mostly in Paris from 1815 to 1838. I enjoyed it but had it been written today, I'm sure an editor would say, hey, this can be trimmed down. Pretty sure Dumas was paid by the word when this came out. This story held my interest throughout and I'm glad I read it. But I will say that The Three Musketeers is still my favorite book by Alexandre Dumas (and one I plan on reading again someday). Oh, one more thing: the introduction to this book (which I wisely read after finishing the book) contains a brief history of the true story that Dumas discovered that inspired this story. Fascinating little tidbit there.

As an aside, our family book club has a name based on the street we live on, Avon. It's called the Avon Society of Super Extraordinary Studies, or ASSES, for short. Thank my son for that one.