The Count of Monte Cristo is a delicious book, full of intrigue, great fight scenes, love, passion, and witty social satire. Dumas has a wonderful grasp of human nature and a talent for rendering all the follies of man in delightful, snappy prose. I immediately recognized people that I know (yes, even myself) in his vivid characters, which made the book all the more engaging to me.

Some people might be put off by the size of the book -- it's a pretty hefty volume -- an tempted to buy the abridged version. Don't! I've heard from people who've read both versions that the abridged version is a pathetic, washed out shadow of the full novel. At any rate, as thick and impossibly long as The Count of Monte Cristo may seem when you open it for the first time, you'll feel as though it's far too short by the time you get to the last page.


A true classic masterpiece   August 18, 2005
 70 out of 77 found this review helpful

When I was an early teenager, I went on a reading binge, and intentionally sought out very long books to read (I guess I saw them as challenges). I found many good books this way ("The Count of Monte Cristo", "Doctor Doolittle", "Gulliver's Travels", "Ivanhoe"), as well as some clunkers. The treasures I found were generally well-known classics, and "The Count of Monte Cristo" clearly falls into that category. Some books get labeled "classics" because they're well-written and technically good, as good representatives of literature of their period. "The Count of Monte Cristo" is all of those things, but it is also simply a great adventure novel, with lots of action, well-written characters, important (even today) issues addressed, and a fast pace. The writing is highly detailed, giving the reader the sense of having been to the places described and having actually known the characters. It's the same sense that one gets from seeing a very good film: a visual memory is created of the people and places. This book is not for everyone, but is an excellent one for introspective adults and bright teenagers, especially if they want to think about issues of justice versus revenge. The recent movie version did justice to the book.


just perfect   November 2, 2003
 34 out of 34 found this review helpful

I agree with the reviewers that this is one of the best books ever written. I read this book as part of a book club and probably never would have read it on my own--having read many of the books of Hugo and Dickens and other writers of that approximate era. I love both of these writers but find them both at times cumbersome and stilted and really wasn't in the mood for another. However, I could not put the Count of Monte Cristo down. This book seems freshly modern in writing style compared to these superb writers. From the beginning it is a page turner--almost Harry Potter like in its ability to have action, adventure and drama on almost every page. If you read the unabridged version you will find some allusions to morality and the wrongness of revenge which I enjoyed. But what makes the book great is the grandeur of the writing, the tightness of a wonderful plot, filled with subplots, the development of the characters, and the constant magic of combining romance and adventure. It is the ultimate romance book. If you watched the most recent version of the movie, you might be disappointed at the lack of sword fights, but there is never a lack of adventure and suspense. It might be 1400 pages long, but it never disappoints.


The movie is good, but the book is classic   March 4, 2006
 21 out of 23 found this review helpful

I often enjoy reading a book, and then checking out the movie. Almost always I enjoy the book more, although it is fun to see the movie version after reading the book. I don't think it would really even be possible for a two hour movie to do Dumas' classic justice (although the movie is enjoyable). This book is very entertaining, involves an intricate plot with many intertwined characters, and elements of suspense that could not be understood in a movie. It also covers a 24 year time span. The story is of Edmund Dantes, who after being promoted to captain of his ship, is brutally betrayed by those he trusts. On the day before his mairrage to his beautiful fiance, Mercedes, he is arrested for treason and taken to a prison on an island off the coast. He holds the image of his fiance in his mind, but unknown to him, she assumes he is dead and marries his friend who betrayed him. He is in prison for years, but life becomes barely tolerable after a tunnel is dug from a priest's cell to his. They are able to meet daily, and the priest is able to teach Dantes science, language, and even defense. Through his torturous incarceration, Dantes vows revenge on those who betrayed him. The two plot an escape through a tunnel, and the story continues to tell Dantes' life after prison.

This is an excellent book and certainly a classic that most people, even younger readers, will enjoy. I plan on reading it again in a couple of years, and just may read it again after that. It is that good!




ROBIN BUSS's TRANSLATION from PENGUIN CLASSICS   August 28, 2007
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

This review is for those who've already decided they want to read The Count of Monte Cristo (you won't regret it!), and don't know which version to get.

Short answer: see review title, duh!

The Count of Monte Cristo is my favorite book, and I've read several translations, both abridged and unabridged.

TRANSLATION
The Buss translation is the most modern, and reads most fluidly. A quick example comparing this translation with the one found on Project Gutenberg:

PG - His wife visited for him, and this was the received thing in the world, where the weighty and multifarious occupations of the magistrate were accepted as an excuse for what was really only calculated pride, a manifestation of professed superiority...

BUSS - His wife visited on his behalf; this was accepted in society, where it was attributed to the amount and gravity of the lawyer's business -- when it was, in reality, deliberate arrogance, an extreme example of aristocratic contempt...

Buss's work reads like the book was written in English. The two or so times that the work is nearly untranslatable (involving, say, an insinuated insult using the familiar "tu" instead of the formal "vous"), Buss makes a footnote about it. Other translations just skip the subtlety. The most common translation out there (uncredited in my version) reads like it's been translated from French to German to Chinese to English. Trust me, get Buss.

ABRIDGED V UNABRIDGED
Note: abridged versions of this book rarely say "abridged." You can tell by the size: abridged is 500-700 pages, unabridged is 1200-1400 pages. Go for the unabridged. I'm not saying that just because I love the book. The unabridged version is VERY confusing! The full text fills over 1200 pages, and pruning it to 600 leaves a lot of plot on the cutting room floor. Suddenly, arriving at dinner are 4 new characters; it's very tiring to try to keep up with the hole-ridden story of the abridged versions. And you know where the holes are? Publishers "clean up" the book by omitting the affairs, illegitimate children, homosexuality, infanticide, hashish trips, etc.

As an added bonus in the Penguin Classics edition, there's a wonderful appendix bursting with footnotes to explain all the 19th century references, and a quick guide to the rise and fall of Napoleon (crucial to the politics in the story).

Hope this helps. Get the book and start reading!