The greatest book. Ever. (The Count of Monte Christo - Alexandre Dumas)

Member Name: buster19761976

Product:	The Count of Monte Christo - Alexandre Dumas
Date:	21/02/05 (546 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautifully written, Historically accurate and relevant, A real classic that is readable

Disadvantages: Long, Some artistic licence in historical references.

=====Before you start, this looks long=====
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Yes reader, this is quite a long review for a long book. That said, I won’t be giving away very much plot, or even details of what the players in this story actually do. I hate it when I read an op and it spoils loads of “good bits”. Herein lies a description designed only to capture the atmosphere, ethos and remarkable distinguishing attributes of The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

=====Dumas eh? Sounds foreign=====
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The Count of Monte Cristo (not Christo, as is written in the subject title) was written between 1844 and 1845, to be published as a serialised story in a newspaper. Its author, Alexandre Dumas, sometimes called “Dumas père”, was one of France’s best-known writers. You might have heard of a couple of his books, including The Three Musketeers or The Man In The Iron Mask. Dumas was controversial fellow, even taking an active part in the French Revolution. He often worked with Auguste Maquet, who helped with structure and historical referencing, though Dumas rarely let the truth get in the way of a very good story.

=====The book – what’s it like?=====
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At around 900 pages long (of small text) it’s quite a slog. If you are most comfortable with easy reading or popular novels such as those seen advertised on the train station billboard, then you might find this hard going. I’m not suggesting anyone need be particularly bright to read this (I’m no rocket scientist), just that it is best experienced without a month’s gap in between while you finish your Ben Elton novel… The language used is mostly simple, though some words required scribbling down and Googling. There are lots of reference to French politics and etiquette, though you’ll get away with just taking any such points as given and moving on. Having read quite a bit of Dumas, I’m getting used to it.

In simple terms, The Count Of Monte Cristo is a story of revenge, though it has so many other plots, gorgeously woven into the main story that it also a great love story too. There is a part of the story that grapples with the Count, his relationship to God and the right to exact revenge. As an atheist I don’t want to offer too much comment on this other than to say that it doesn’t seem as big a deal these days as it clearly was in the 1800s.

The chapter structure and naming helps a lot, my favourite being “How A Gardener May Get Rid Of The Dormice That Eat His Peaches”, a great chapter sadly missing from the recent(ish) movie adaptation of the book. The names of the chapters really help you to look back over the story and pinpoint your favourite parts, but also manage not to give too much away as you are reading. With a fairly complex structure, and several very tightly linked characters, the ordering of events only get muddled occasionally. I had to read one chapter twice just to figure out who was who!

=====The characters – who IS who?=====
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It’s difficult to describe the characters in depth without giving away too much of the story. Particularly strong characters include the burly Caderousse, our hero Edmond Dantes and the shipyard owner, M. Morrel. The stars of the story include the wonderfully described Mercedes and M. de Villefort, who both play a huge role in this tale of revenge.

The Count is a very varied man, who behaves very differently to the different characters or groups of characters in the story. To say more than that might spoil things.

My favourite character is the Abbe Faria, who features in the four chapters describing the main part of Dantes’ imprisonment. He is a wise Italian man who provides the turning point of the book leading to Dantes ultimate fate. He’s great.

=====Where is all this set then? Sounds French.=====
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Dantes home is Marseille, which Dumas paints a wonderful picture of in his first two chapters. It’ll make you want to go there to see the places mentioned. The Chateau d’If, which is quite real and open to tourists these days, is described as a macabre Alcatraz without hope. The action moves around France and spends a lot of time in Paris (Dumas actually had a house in Paris which is still there called the Chateau de Monte Cristo) and for a while takes a jaunt through Italy.

=====Sum it up, should I read it?=====
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Well it’s my favourite book ever so I guess I’m biased. I heard about it first while watching the film “Sleepers”, which at times resembles the plot a tiny bit. I read it while living in Tenerife, so lots of time on the beach to relax and sink into the story. I think that having the time to read it properly helped a bit. If you’re likely to put it down for two months then try again, I’d say you should steer clear. Similarly if you don’t get on with long twisting stories, you’ll hate it.

If you will put in the effort to make it through the book, it’s the most rewarding, moving story I’ve ever heard and I think you’ll like it too. While it is fiction, you’ll feel real sympathy for the aggrieved characters, genuine disdain for the more manipulative players and involvement in the plot.

Here’s some details courtesy of Amazon:
Paperback 896 pages (November 20, 1997)
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
ISBN: 1853267333
Price: About three quid on Amazon now

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