Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion
The Big-Book Study
>
{2022 - February} The Count of Monte Cristo Volume 1 (chapters 1-27)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Sean
(new)
Jan 24, 2022 05:31AM
Mod
reply
|
flag
Mod
The beginning does a good job of drawing the reader into the story. If we know anything about the story we know that things are about to go bad for Edmond in a hurry, and now I know something about how that is going to come about.
The style so far is very straightforward narration and dialog, nothing too fancy. I read in the intro that Dumas published about 100,000 pages in his career (though he sometimes had co-writer assistants). That's an amazing 2,000 pages a year for 50 years. I guess he didn't do a great deal of re-writing.
Mod
Dante meets the Abbe Faria in prison and gets a year's intense education from him, which prepares him for his life as "The Count" I suppose. He also learns of his deception. Dumas was methodical in developing his plot.
Mod
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1184/..."
The old ink-drawing illustrations are charming; glad I took a look at the file, even though I'm listening to an audiobook of it.
I am five chapters in... and it is great.So far it reminds me of a Shakespeare tragedy - with a dark intriguing plot unfolding, and the characters revealing their motives and personalities largely through dialogue.
The author doesn't take us inside the characters heads much, but instead describes their behaviour and conversations in a powerful way that reveals so much about them.
Mod
I've now read through chapter 27 so will take a break for at least a few days. I'm reading four other novels and need to finish up a couple of them before I start another! This is a very fun adventure story to read, much in the genre of Jules Verne or H G Wells, so I find myself wanting ro read more of this instead of my others. Besides the plot, I see Dantes coming out of prison a rather changed man from the one who went in, though not quite "Breaking Bad".
Hi George,I always have a few books on the go at once. Usually a couple non-fiction, plus a novel and also books I read to my kids each night.
So I’ll do my best to keep up with the group as it goes through The Count of Monte Cristo. I’m up to Chapter 11 so am a little behind already.
Just started it and reading the second chapter. I am also currently reading another big book (1048 pages) so it is going to take me a while. lol
The first few chapters took me a while to get into, as I wasn't as interested in the political aspect of it all, but after that I really enjoyed it. Dantes already goes through so much change in this first section, I'm excited to see what else happens to him in the rest of the novel.
Have just gotten to chapter six. Haven't had much time to read this month but it is beginning to pick up.
Up to Chapter IX - will try to catch up to the rest of the group. The story is more accessible than I thought it would be.
Mod
I am curious to see how Dantes will use his the benefits which came to him thanks to the clergyman he met in prison. What sort of man will he be in middleage? Will he ever get together with his former fiancee again? The part I have been reading lately takes the focus off Dantes and onto another character. This character isn't "fleshed out" much so far; Dumas makes the reader eager to get back to Dantes.
I am enjoying it more than I expected to and wondering why I didn't read it sooner in my life (probably because of the length).
George P. wrote: "Nice to see that we have five readers working on "The Count" now. I seem to be the farthest on (chapter 35) so I will try to be mindful not to reveal plot that's beyond where the rest of you have r..."Hi George. I am up to Chapter 30 so not far behind you.
I am loving it - what a brilliant book.
Feels like I am about half way through the archetypical 'Hero's Journey' and yet I have only read one quarter of the book. So I am interested to see where this epic goes from here.
I am excited to get caught up and join in part two's discussions. :) I have been reading it as much as possible but have only gotten to chapter 11.
I am listening to this on audio and reading my book. The narrator is so good. He really injects emotions and passion into the characters. I can see them as he is speaking.
Melissa (ladybug) wrote: "I am listening to this on audio and reading my book. The narrator is so good. He really injects emotions and passion into the characters. I can see them as he is speaking."Yes me too. The audiobook narration is excellent. I am listening to the version which has John Lee narrating.
I have the version with Bill Homewood. :) It was free for me to listen to. I will have to check John Lee out.
Melissa (ladybug) wrote: "I have the version with Bill Homewood. :) It was free for me to listen to. I will have to check John Lee out."Some people say the John Lee version is the best. But on audible.com the Bill Homewood version has the strongest ratings of all. So I don't think you can go wrong with either of them.
Mod
I have just started this long tale tonight, and have read the first three chapters. It has already pulled me in and I'm keen to keep reading but my eyes want to go to sleep. The language used seems quite romantic and reminds me of a period drama. The length is a little overwhelming for me..I don't think I have read something so long.
Mod
At 1270 pages it will be the second-longest book I've read, after War and Peace (1400), pushing Bleak House (1030 pgs) down to third. Brothers Karamazov will now be 4th, just short of 1000 pgs. I think this one "reads faster" than these others although Bleak House maintains a pretty good pace. Once you've read a few of these "chunksters" you have more confidence in being able to get through them. I got my training on Tom Clancy novels about 15 or 20 years ago :)
I'm just about finished with the second part now, up to chap 45.
I think I must be reading a newer version of the book. I haven’t gotten to chapter 27 yet but so much has happened already.
Mod
Ideally you are reading an unabridged version- it should have 117 chapters if so. If you don't have time for that, shorter versions are available and that's okay, though it's not what our discussion is based on and in my opinion you can't really count it as having read the book if you're tracking how many you've read in the 1001 Books list.
A great deal does happen in this novel, it doesn't "chew the scenery" very much, as they say in Hollywood.
It certainly does move quickly and it isn't difficult to get through a few chapters at a time. For some reason a large book comes with the expectation (from me anyway) of a difficult read, but this certainly hasn't been the case so far. I can only imagine this is going to be an epic story by the end given all the adventure that has already occurred- by chapter 23!
Mod
I think I had that expectation of War and Peace but the only thing difficult about reading that is that there are many characters and you need to be able to remember the Russian names, which can be hard for westerners not used to Russian literature.
I'm behind the group as I just finished these chapters, but I'm really enjoying it. So far, the story is reminding me a lot of Les Mis with the escaped prisoner/mysterious wealthy stranger bit.
