Comfort Reads discussion
Buddy Reads Discussions
>
Count of Monte Cristo Chap. 1 thru 5
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
[deleted user]
(new)
Dec 31, 2011 02:48PM
To encourage discussion, this thread WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. Please limit the discussion to content from chapters 1 thru 5. For some/many of us, this is a first read. No need to mark spoilers, but please don't discuss events beyond chapter 5. Thanks for joining the discussion, and enjoy!
reply
|
flag
I can see Jeannette is raring to start! I have a few things to finish up first, but will be back to join the conversation in a few days.
Just hoping to get a head start on creating the threads! lol
How did such a nice young man like Edmond Dantes get such vicious enemies so quickly?
Through straight out jealousy.Plus, that's the way it works in melodrama!
Yes, only 43 pages in, and our boy is in deep trouble.
I'm loving my audiobook (narrated by Bill Homewood, who does some lovely voices - what's his name sounds like Hagrid. (Argh. Problem with audiobooks: no idea how to spell names. Stupid work internet...)It's properly chilling to see the trouble coming - poor Mercédès! Poor Dantes père! Kim's right - it's pure jealousy. Even when (*search*) Danglars is told of his Edmond's praise of him - which at least in this reading was unstinting and unaffected - he doesn't feel any qualms about what he's done: all he can think is "Hypocrite!" He's far gone.
I'm listening to an audiobook narrated by a Frenchwoman with a very soothing and pleasant voice. She doesn't do different voices, but she does emotion quite well. I downloaded it from a French version of librivox and I wonder whether they do the recordings from home. I swear I could hear birds tweeting in the background at one point. Would it help / interest people to read some background information on Dumas and / or the return of Napoleon from Elba and / or the Chateau d'If? I could post some links, although I suspect anything in English would mostly be from Wikipedia.
It would be great to have the links! You could put them in the General thread, if you like. :) (thank you!)
The book has notes at the back, and explained a bit about the Royalists, and Napolean's exile to Elba. But, I'd be happy to learn more!
The book has notes at the back, and explained a bit about the Royalists, and Napolean's exile to Elba. But, I'd be happy to learn more!
I wonder, too, what will become of Fernand? Used by Danglars, fueled by jealousy, sure to meet a bad end!
I could almost feel sorry for Fernand. Except for the obvious. I've been refreshing my memory of Napoleonic history; links would be great, Kim, thank you.
I'd forgotten (my brain being what it is) that one of the reasons I wanted to read this was the Paula Volsky novel The White Tribunal, which is in a way a fantasy-genre tribute to Monte Cristo. That was a brutal book; I don't know how this ends, so I can hold out hope that it's a happier (or at least more satisfying) resolution...
I'm starting this evening... back tomorrow for a few comments. Glad you are enjoying it.
I'm in the styx with a slow dial up, so most of my comments will come later. Just reading chapter 5 now... I had forgotten how evil Danglars was right from the beginning. It goes beyond jealousy I think. His ability to manipulate the other two, Caderousse and Fernand. It reminded me of an evil version of The Cat and the Fox with Pinocchio. Strange the images that come leaping into my brain while I'm reading.
On a short trip in the country to check up on the MILs house and see a few "friends and relations". Will post some photos (when I get back home) of the place we visited today.
Back to school next week? Have fun with the family! :)
Indeedy... they get a long break at Christmas, which is nice.
Same here, although the public school kids went back this week on Tuesday, Lea heads back on Monday (next week).
I'm really enjoying the book! Just finished Chapter 5 and moving on...I recently got a DVD from the library from the PBS Empire Series called Napoleon. The timing was just right for me to start on this book after seeing that film.
Glad to see you've joined us, Shelley. I take it you enjoyed the PBS series. Maybe I'll watch it after I finish the book. Thanks for mentioning it.
Mod
Mod
Lee wrote: "I must say, I was expecting something completely different. I'm shocked at how quickly it's moving! And all these nasty characters, it boggles the mind!"I was thinking the same thing. About the sheer nastiness of so many characters, and - - I thought at over 1000 pages (or 52 hours, depending) it would kind of poke along in a leisurely way. But it's been positively brisk!
Mod
For a long book, this one reads fast, I find.
Simran, I see the Count made it out of the bag! Good stuff!
I found some excellent tea at the middle eastern grocery yesterday.
What kind of tea, Susanna? I'm always looking for good tea.
It's a Ceylon black.
Was it loose tea? My husband has a co-worker who goes home to China to visit family, and he brought back some of the best green jasmine tea I have ever had. It's whole leaf, rolled into little buds, so I have to be careful to only use 4 or 5, because they expand. It has a wonderful flavor.
I think I got it in bags, but they had it loose.
I will have to wander around our Middle Eastern grocery one of these days.
I sometimes buy Ahmad tea. It's not too bad.
HI, I kind of got distracted but I really do plan to read this and I'll enjoy reading what you all said on the threads as I catch up.Here, by the way, is a young, gorgeous Richard Chamberlain in the first part of the 1975 version of this story (playing the lead, natch!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X1uYi...
Mod
My library copy of the 2002 movie version arrived today!
Hiya G.mama! And Tony Curtis plays Fernand in that version. Have fun. You too, Lee.
Hayes and Lee, great to bump into you.I have had a cruch on Richard Chamberlain since I was 7 or 8 and this was one of his best roles.
He's in his 70s now and I'd still jump him (and he's been with his partner for more than 30 years, awwwwwwww, for an actor that is just amazing).
Anyway, I do plan to get started with the book soon. To be honest, I got quite annoyed during The Three Musketeers which I've just finished. I know this is a piece of history but I have a hard time getting past the sexism and classism.
I just watched the new Three Musketeers film, which was lots of fun! I thought about reading the book, but now I guess I'll have to check a few reviews first...
Have fun with the Count!
Have fun with the Count!
Hi, Jeannette! It's been way too long.I like Orlando Bloom (even without the pointy ears) so the new Three Musketeers is definitely on my list even though the book got my knickers in a twist!
(Hey that rhymes!)
Matthew's voice is superb in the film! (I have a thing for Matthew, if you didn't know already.) And, Orlando is over-the-top, and it really works!
I guess I have to find a new hot-guy picture to get the thread active again! LOL
I guess I have to find a new hot-guy picture to get the thread active again! LOL
Jeannette wrote: "Matthew's voice is superb in the film! (I have a thing for Matthew, if you didn't know already.) And, Orlando is over-the-top, and it really works!I guess I have to find a new hot-guy picture to..."
Well, Orlando in period costume is always worth a look (swoon, drool, thud!)
Well, then, I may have just the thing for you.
I watched the 2002 version with Jim Caviezel; they messed with the book a lot, with the Peter Jackson excuse that they weren't filming a book, they were making a movie... I'm not convinced Caviezel is a very good actor, but he's quite pretty and did do a good job at being both the wide-eyed innocent Dantes and the dangerous Count. 
