The Count of Monte Cristo

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

This thread is to discuss The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

Pages: 1276 pages

Length: 2 months (October and November)

Participants: Mansi V, Rachael

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started! Feel free to look up discussion questions specific to this book or come up with your own. Just make sure any questions that contain spoilers are under spoiler tags.
Discussion questions are not required but may be a fun way to talk about the book and get to know each other!

Prior to starting:
What prompted you to join this buddy read?
Have you read this author before? What do you think of their other books?

Mid-read:
What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

After reading:
What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

[Beth]

I was amazed at how much I enjoyed this book (I read it last year). I tend to be a bit put off by books from this era because they tend to have so much description in them. But I found that this moved along at a good clip, and I was never bored. I hope you enjoy it as well!

[Rachael]

This will be a reread for me. I'm looking forward to it because I think I missed bits before

[Marie (UK)]

I have this book and genuinely love it - I may join in but it depends on how other reading goes

[Mansi V]

I've been meaning to read this book for ages but have always been too scared. Looking forward to finally tackling it and the small chapters make it seem less daunting!

[Karin]

I've read this twice--such a classic!

[Rachael]

I'm about to start reading this.

[Mansi V]

I've only read a few pages so far, bit will be able to start reading properly from Tuesday!

[Rachael]

I've read the first eight chapters so far. (view spoiler)[There was a recent television adaptation of this in the UK (starring Sam Claflin) and I think I've just reached the point where the first episode ends. I only watched that much, couldn't get into it for some reason, but I'm hoping I will enjoy the book more (hide spoiler)]

[Rachael]

Up to Chapter 18. (view spoiler)[I think I prefer when the story focuses on Dantes as the politics bits seem a bit dense (hide spoiler)]

[Karin]

The book tends to get better later on, in my opinion, but given when it was written it's not going to be paced like contemporary novels.

I agree that the politics is dense, and tend to skim over that (read quickly, not skip words or sentences) more quickly to get to the "good stuff." I do this with novels by Anthony Trollope as well (the political stuff--they are very different than this one.)

[Rachael]

Just finished chapter 33. (view spoiler)[Roman Bandits. I've read it but honestly don't really know what happened in this chapter, it just didn't sink in. Maybe it's because I'm not sure at this point how it relates to Dantes' story? (hide spoiler)]
Edited to add: (view spoiler)[I don't normally do this with books I read for pleasure but I've just looked at the sparknotes summary for the past few chapters and... Oh! Completely missed a 10 year time jump that is deliberately meant to be mysterious. Dantes was there even though I didn't realise it (hide spoiler)]

[Karin]

Rachael wrote: "Just finished chapter 33. [spoilers removed]
Edited to add: [spoilers removed]"

Everything Dantes includes builds toward what happens late in the book even if it's not immediately obvious. Everything is building for his revenge, and it's not a spoiler to say this is the ultimate book about revenge since that's well known.

[Rachael]

Karin wrote: "Rachael wrote: "Just finished chapter 33. [spoilers removed]
Edited to add: [spoilers removed]"

Everything Dantes includes builds toward what happens late in the book even if it's not immediately ..."

Yes, I assumed it would have relevance... I just missed the importance of what I'd read because it was a bit dense at that point

[Rachael]

Up to Chapter 60. (view spoiler)[So much going on; it feels a bit like a soap opera. I can see how the revenge element is taking shape (hide spoiler)]

[Mansi V]

I'm going to admit, it hasn't been a great reading month so far so only a few chapters in but I will admit it's not as intimidating as it first was now.
Had to take a break to read a book of book club but I'll continue reading on the weekend and hoping to get more into a reading rhythm!

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

This has been moved to the November folder

[Rachael]

SarahKat wrote: "This has been moved to the November folder" Thanks, I'm glad this is a 2 month read because you need to take your time with it

[Rachael]

Up to Chapter 95 now. (view spoiler)[This was a few chapters ago but Mercedes has a point: why follow the Bible and go after later generations for revenge when it was their fathers' who did wrong? (hide spoiler)]

[Karin]

Rachael wrote: "Up to Chapter 95 now. [spoilers removed]"

Yes, it's a great one. She's both smart and wise.

[Rachael]

Finished. It was very long but I did enjoy it. I might (re)visit some other Dumas works in the new year (got too many other books planned up to 31 Dec)

[Karin]

Rachael wrote: "Finished. It was very long but I did enjoy it. I might (re)visit some other Dumas works in the new year (got too many other books planned up to 31 Dec)"

Congrats--it's a long read! I'm glad you liked it.