The Count of Monte Cristo

My good friend Arjun recommended to me The Count of Monte Cristo. I listened to the version read by Richard Matthews, a British reader and he read it very well indeed. Of course the book was originally written in French and I know not who did the translation that I read, but it was as if the book were written in English. One choice they made that, to my mind was the right choice, was to keep names and titles in the French, for example the Procureur du Roi, monsieur de Procureur, and so on, rather than the Royal Prosecutor. Knowing a little French, I had no trouble with this, but I wonder how it would have read to someone with no knowledge of French? It reminds me of my reading A Clockwork Orange and being a Russian speaker; my experience of that novel was not the same as it would be for non Russian speakers. Anyway, enough of that. On the book. Arjun is of the opinion that it is the best book he's ever read. I wouldn't go quite that far, but it was very, very good. It's the first and only Dumas novel I've read, and may in fact be the first French literary novel I've read. The tale is a simple tale of revenge for a wrongful imprisonment. The Count himself becomes almost God-like in stature; he seems to be omnipotent and able to influence people to do his will. In fact, that aspect seems a little unbelievable, sort of like Jason Bourne of 18th century France, but with Jason Bourne you know you're reading make believe as it's so far fetched. The Count seems much more credible than Jason, but he loses some of that credibility as his powers and knowledge increase. How, for example, could he possibly learn to speak so many languages like a native in so short a time? Language is something that I know something about and I know how far-fetched that really is. But, once disbelief is suspended, the novel becomes great. At some 30-odd hours, you would think it would be a little dull in parts, and to be honest it is, but at the same time it is easy to listen to. I was a little worried at the morality of the Count and his taking revenge with such little humility and sympathy, but the ending assuaged that fear of mine and he redeemed himself admirably. I think I can say that without a spoiler alert. All in all, I'm very glad that I read this book and I would heartily recommend it. I give it four.

Edmond Dantès is a young man with everything—a woman who loves him, a career on board a worthy ship, and men who respect and admire him. Then he is falsely accused of treason and imprisoned, in isolation, in a fortress, without trial, and his life dramatically changes as everything is taken from him. It is three men who conspire to have Dantès disposed of, and it is against these three men that Dantès plots his revenge during the fourteen years he spends in prison, a revenge he feels that he will be unlikely to ever carry out. His life changes again when he comes to know the friar in the adjoining cell, Abbé Faria. It is this friar who teaches Dantès many important things and becomes a source of courage and wisdom amid the terrible life Dantès is living in the prison.

I've never felt 1100 pages turn so quickly as I have while reading this amazing story. Love, hatred, evil, goodness, revenge, forgiveness—it's all in this book. And the tale is still as fresh as if it was published last week.

Not very impressed. I read it because Ioved “The Three Musketeers,” but I didn't like it as much. After a great beginning, it gets dull and too chatty. Nothing much happens in the whole book and the characters speak so much and are so pompous that they turned me off. The biggest flaw for me though was how impersonal the novel is. After the great beginning when we are in Edmond Dantes's head and as soon as he becomes the Count of Montecristo, we stop hearing his thoughts and feelings and he is treated objectively. So much so that by the end of the book we know everything the victims feel and nothing about how he feels. Also, he is given too supernatural powers–nothing comes in his way; his plans roll in undisturbed. In the end also he is so pompous and facetious about his doubts that totally turned me off. The book is overlong like the Three Muskeeter, due to the fact that Dumas wrote in weekly installments at that time and made more money writing longer works. There are still nice things, but not worth 56 hours of listening. Read the “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” instead, if you want something monumental, but worth it.

The Count of Monte Cristo is a great book. It was a lot easier to read than most classics and was very entertaining.
Why it didn't get 5 stars: I loved the story of Dantes, but when he becomes the revenge-seeking Count of Monte Cristo, he becomes unemotional and is harder to relate to. Also, I feel like he takes his revenge a bit too far, making intricate plans to make his enemies as miserable as he could and then destroy them. It was harder to connect with the characters during the middle chapters because it switched to different characters' perspectives so often, but at the end it started to come together in the end.
What I liked about it: I really loved the beginning, it's such an intriguing story. The rest of the book is great too, but the beginning was definitely the best part. I wish I hadn't read the book description so I could be surprised.
Note: I read the Duke Classics version on Libby

This is annoying because when I exported this from Goodreads I cleaned up my library over there. Somehow I deleted my Monte Cristo review. Without my reviews, I am a mess.

This book while brilliant would have been better served by not being published in a newspaper and instead as a single volume. You could cut four hundred pages from this text and the book would be the better for it.

Beyond that I loved it. A modern book would not have the gall to punish Mercedes.

An epic (literally and figuratively) vendetta against the men that have destroyed his life. A literary masterpiece.

While the backstory of new characters gets lengthy at times, and the functions of the Paris high society can be confusing (so much so that Dumas towards the end repeatedly breaks the fourth wall to make sure the reader does not get lost entirely), if you make it all the way through, you won't regret it.

A wonderful novel! Characters who felt alive, a plot that feels dynamic and unpredictable, prose that is simultaneously poetic and grounded. Thought-provoking and highly entertaining. The book is packed with wisdom; I gathered some 15 memorable quotes from it.

At its core, the novel has exactly one message: be defined by what you have, not by what you lack. Dantès struggled with this in his first years in prison (we all would), but we see that suffering can strengthen humans to an unbelievable degree. In his conversations with Faria, it is evident that Dantès fully embraced this message. Compare this to Maximilien's circumstances: he continued to define himself by what he lacked, so his resolve to kill himself remained until Valentine returned to him. Maximilien never had the trials by fire that made the Count understand this message.

From a religious perspective, this book is in extremely murky waters. Christianity is ever-present in the book, with the Count frequently associating with God in some way, first as His emissary and then as His equal. With this in mind, the Count believes that he can distribute “divine justice.” We can thus view the Count as a foil to Jesus Christ: the Count was a fraudulent “divine emissary” and enacted his revenge, while Jesus was truly divine and forgave all. In all, even if Dumas did not intend for justice to appear this morally problematic, the Count's justification in his quest for vengeance is nearly blasphemous.

What makes this whole justice question even more ironic is that the death that made the Count question his justification in achieving vengeance was that of Madame de Villefort. She poisoned four people, and the Count believes he took a step too far in indirectly enacting justice on her? Additionally, the Count was perfectly fine with letting the Saint-Merans, Barrois, and Valentine be casualties in his retributions, even though none of them deserved his “divine justice” by any justification. (The Count regretted the poisoning of Valentine only after Maximilien told him of his love for her.) In conclusion, I had many moral misgivings towards the Count which prevented me from liking the character. I understand that he reflected on these failings, but his own repentance was nowhere near sufficient. Still, the nuances presented by his situation were extraordinarily thought-provoking, such that they make me more inclined to recommend this book.

Nonetheless, I can't give this book five stars for a couple of reasons. First is Dumas himself. From Robin Buss's introduction, I learned that he wrote for money. For this reason alone, he didn't necessarily seek to explore the tragic and ecstatic depths of the human soul like, say, Dostoevsky (who was it that said “all great novelists die in poverty”?). Instead, Dumas made a plot that he knew would be popular. Certainly, there is some timeless wisdom in the novel, but his “popular novel” formula can really be felt; it feels cheap at times, such as when Valentine magically reappears at the end of the novel. Oh, and besides his approach to writing the novel, Dumas himself isn't a very upstanding character.

The second qualm I have with the book is the fate of Villefort. I thought that he was a good person at the end of the book. He might have made terrible mistakes in his past, sure, but I firmly believe in redemption. I don't think it was in character for Villefort to just back out of the court room when Benedetto revealed the whole quagmire of his history. I would have thought that he'd stand his ground, own up to his mistakes, and speak this line that he said only a couple hours before to his wife:

“For God's sake, never ask me to pardon a guilty man. What am I? The law. Does the law have eyes to see your sorrow? Does the law have ears to hear your soft pleadings? Does the law have a memory to make itself the conduit of your tender thoughts? No, Madame, the law orders and when it orders, it strikes.”

All in all, I wonder if I am the only one who believes that Villefort is the truly tragic character in this novel, not the Count.

4,75 stars

???The Count of Monte Cristo??? is a truly epic and lengthy tale of imprisonment, personal growth, liberation and most importantly ??? revenge. A young man, named Edmond Dantes with a perspective career and happy marriage ahead of him is incarcerated in the Ch??teau d'If for 14(!) years, where he vows not to rest until he has his revenge on the plotters who arranged his wrongful incarceration.
Alexandre Dumas explores motifs of justice and revenge, gratitude and love. It could be said that Edmond is guided by the hand of god, for he, although plotting and vengeful, is a truly good person who is justified in his vengeance.
Besides these motifs, this story examines what is filial and romantic love, how strong it can be and how it can last for decades.

I would recommend it if you are a naturally vengeful person, if you love drawn out dramatic stories of love, intrigue, plots and the very cornerstone of this book ??? revenge.

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.