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Count of Monte Cristo Chap. 26 thru 30
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"And, now," said the stranger, "farewell goodness, humanity, gratitude....Farewell all those feelings that nourish and illuminate the heart! I have taken the place of Providence to reward the good; now let the avenging God make way for me to punish the wrongdoer!"
mwa-hahahaha!
And the story starts to bog down a bit. Don't be discouraged, it picks back up again.
Kim said it took an hour to listen to chapter 33. I'll keep all this in mind. These guys were all writing in installments, weren't they? (getting paid by the word?)
My brother dropped a small spoiler in my lap today, but I'm going to ignore it!
grrr.... but you know what is going to happen:
That's what he said, too! This was a small, personal detail about one of the characters, that I didn't know about! So I told him to be quiet or I wouldn't talk to him again until I finished. :P
The chapter about the carnival in Rome is one of my favourites so far. I hadn't realized that there was a Carnival there, thought is was only in Venice.
It's celebrated all over Italy, but the biggest events are in Venice, Viareggio and Putignano. And Rome too, but here it has lost much of it's original flavor and it feels more like a Halloween party for kids.
I went to a great themed party about 25 years ago. The theme was The Divine Comedy, and I went dressed as the Gates of Inferno, dressed in black with crepe paper flames all over me. It was pretty good I must say. Too bad no one took a picture of me.
I went to a great themed party about 25 years ago. The theme was The Divine Comedy, and I went dressed as the Gates of Inferno, dressed in black with crepe paper flames all over me. It was pretty good I must say. Too bad no one took a picture of me.
I would have loved to have seen a picture of that costume!
The first time I read TCoMC it took me a while to figure out some of the Count's disguises (OK, I'm a little slow sometimes). I'm so glad I bought the good (complete) translation too, because I know that helps too.
I'm really enjoying the unfolding story, hearing Caderousse tell the tale again. It's a good literary ploy too, giving the back story to people who had missed the earlier episodes, but without it being boring.
I'm really enjoying the unfolding story, hearing Caderousse tell the tale again. It's a good literary ploy too, giving the back story to people who had missed the earlier episodes, but without it being boring.
One of the things that I like about the story-telling device is that it gives the novel kind of a 1001 Nights feel, which fits in well with the Sinbad the Sailor disguise.
I hadn't htougt of that... it is like 1001 Nights.
thought, that would be
thought, that would be
In another type of novel the device might be criticised as an example of telling rather than showing, but in this novel I think it works really well.
I've never really had a problem with the tell vs. show problem. A lot of people get really worked up about it, but if the telling is done well, as it is here, it makes for a good story. I get much more worked up about bad writing and grammar, myself.
I agree about the bad writing and grammar. I also agree that telling can be done well. But done badly, it really annoys me. It seems to be a particular problem in some historical novels, where it often takes the form of an information dump.
I confess that I don't read a lot of historical novels. They try too hard to get the history and the "real" characters involved in the tale they are telling. As W.S. Gilbert said, "Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative."
Just finished chapter 30, so full of emotion and suspense. I always wonder how the audience of 1845 reacted. Just imagine a story like this, so fresh and unusual... we're so jaded with television and films and vampire novels.
That was a very tense couple of minutes, just before 11 o'clock.
Chapter 30 ends with the saving of M. Morrel and the return of the Pharaon.