The Count of Monte Cristo

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The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas

I finished the readalong!  Wow, this was a much better book than I had expected.  I'm not that big a fan of the Three Musketeers, you see, and I really had very little idea of the plot.


So, as everyone else in the world besides me knows, Edmond Dantés is a young man with everything to look forward to.  He is an excellent sailor with a good career ahead of him and he's about to marry his true love.  But!  Edmond is betrayed and framed by three envious rivals.  Arrested at his own betrothal feast, he is thrown into the dreaded Chateau D'If without trial or sentence.  During his long years of imprisonment, he meets an old priest who teaches him and tells him about a fabulous treasure hidden on the uninhabited rocky island of Monte Cristo.  Edmond becomes determined to escape, find the treasure, and exact his revenge on the people who ruined his life.

Wow, this is an exciting book.  It's all over the place with plotting, secret identities, duels, revenge, true love...I sound like the grandfather in The Princess Bride, but you know what, I think Princess Bride lifted a few plot elements from Dumas.  Every so often something would happen and I'd hear a line of dialogue in my head.  I was going to quote one, but it was a spoiler, so never mind.

And wow, lots of plotting and scheming and secret planning.  

So this was a great adventure and suspense story!  It's pretty much completely insane, too.   The craziest things happen.   Great stuff, hard to put down.  I'm very glad I decided to participate in the readalong.  I wound up finishing it early, because while I meant to stick to my ration of daily chapters, it was just so easy to read a couple more...

Comments

  1. ArenelNovember 20, 2013 at 8:32 AM

    Ah, I love this book! All the plotting is just wonderful! I was a bit uncomfortable with the opium, and the ending was somehow not satisfactory, but I don't quite remember why... I guess I need to re-read it :)

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  2. AnonymousNovember 20, 2013 at 9:23 AM

    I'm so glad you liked the book. I've read it twice so far and am planning a re-read at some point. It is a pretty crazy book. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nancy LeekNovember 20, 2013 at 10:26 AM

    Obviously I should give this another try. I just finished reading Revenge, by Stephen Fry, which is a modern-day version of the same plot. Great writing, although all the revenge at the end of the book was a bit hard to take.

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  4. AnonymousNovember 22, 2013 at 7:40 AM

    Yay! I love this book so much. I read it when I was a kid (I'm guessing a lot of it flew over my head) and don't remember it that well, so I'm overdue for a reread. All the plots and schemes are SO GREAT.

    ReplyDelete
  5. amanda @ simplerpastimesDecember 22, 2013 at 2:10 PM

    I really need to reread this sometime--I read it ages ago, loved it, but barely remember it! Glad to hear you enjoyed it.

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  6. JosephAugust 7, 2016 at 10:31 AM

    Yes, this is just one of the most brilliant plots ever. I can definitely see you finishing early. It can be hard to put down, and does't feel nearly so long, as we know it truly is. My review: http://100greatestnovelsofalltimequest.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-count-of-monte-cristo-by.html

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