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The Count of Monte Cristo
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June and July Book - The Count of Monte Cristo
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Christa VG
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rated it 5 stars
Jun 06, 2012 10:09AM
uh-ho, I think my is abridged. ****
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I read this a couple months ago.This book is awesome! I'm so amazed with Alexandre Dumas's capability, how he describes every scene, every moment in this book. This' such a complicated story.
It's about Edmont Dantes's revenge (which is a strong character in this book). The plot doesn't make any confusion, but instead gave the tension and sense of wonder at the same time. It's interesting!
Well, here's a good question to discuss: given that Edmond Dantes wanted to kick ass, did he go about it the best possible way? His revenge upon Villiers particularly seemed very chancy and dependent upon other people.
Brenda wrote: "Well, here's a good question to discuss: given that Edmond Dantes wanted to kick ass, did he go about it the best possible way? His revenge upon Villiers particularly seemed very chancy and depen..."I agree to the selection of the word 'chancy' is.
Dantes is a complex figure. With high confidence, the plan which conceived as perfect as possible, he could be like a god who comes to judge.
Remember a qoute :
“How did I escape? With difficulty. How did I plan this moment? With pleasure.”
Brenda wrote: "Well, here's a good question to discuss: given that Edmond Dantes wanted to kick ass, did he go about it the best possible way? His revenge upon Villiers particularly seemed very chancy and depen..."He had nothing left to live for but his revenge, and had no problem taking his own sweet time to plan all the details.
He also seems to have an uncanny ability to read people and predict what they are going to do. I guess that skill is necessary in order to survive prison.
Well, of course that -actually- is the author putting his thumb on the scale so that things work out for Dantes. Putting that aside, from a purely practical point of view, it is dangerous to take your own sweet time to carry out a revenge. You could die, for instance. Or, as indeed happened, Dantes changed his mind. Waiting leaves people -- Mercedes, for one -- stuck with their unsatisfactory spouse instead of with you.
Yes, I believe you're right, Brenda. If it is abridged it should say so. Although I sometimes wonder, if I see that it has been edited, whether the editing involved any abridgement. Reading the editor's introduction should certainly help to clarify things.
Yes revenge is a risky business. I don't believe in the saying "Revenge is best served cold." but also you don't want it to happen too fast when you are still very angry because you might make a mistake. I love the emotion in Drumas's writing, everything comes through so clearly.
Yeah, I got the emotion when read this.I felt like I was in this book and watched the revenge.
Hello everyone, i have just joined this group as i am a lover of good old classics...i love The Count of Monte Christo....well the dvd is fantastic lol......the book is on my to-do-list pile lol....i have read The man in The Iron Mask,and that was awesome.
I only saw th emovei, but I loved it. The man in the iron mask had the same feeling of loss and wast of time. IT was so sad.
Yes i know what you mean @ Christa, Man in the iron mask was sad yes...
Leah wrote: "Hello everyone, i have just joined this group as i am a lover of good old classics...i love The Count of Monte Christo....well the dvd is fantastic lol......the book is on my to-do-list pile lol......"The movie was a completely different story lol. Still a good movie though. :-)
I am really concerned to see if the book has a happy ending, I know the movie does and that is why I first wanted to read this book. But the book is so different from the movie I wonder if the ending is different too.
The ending is very different between the book and the movie. They are very different stories, but because I saw the movie first I like it better. I love the things they did with the story in the movie, and how the revenge was perfect and 100% satisfying, and I think it was more personal in the movie, which made it easier to get into, in my opinion. I liked that he and Mondego were best friends, and the whole thing with the chess piece, and Albert... I just loved it. The book was good and well-written and definitely enjoyable, though.
aww really the the count of monte christo book and the dvd are different are they?? well that will be interesting then to read a different version..
I read an abridged version of the Count of Monte Cristo last year but according to my brother abridging this work takes a lot of great moments out of the book. I'll definitely read the unabridged version for June.
oh ok thank you Carol, well the book i have here at home is ...the cover has the actors from the movie on it....lol soo i guess it'll be just like that then hey lol.
Hi all. I just joined your group last month and am reading the Penguin unabridged version of _The Count of Monte Cristo_ which is 1300 pages!. So far I like the story. It's a great story full of action and intrigue. I was shocked when read about Franz? using Hashish and the violent execution of Andrea by La Mazzolata. I have learned about the geography of Southern France, the Tyrhennian sea. It great to know that many of the places mentioned in the novel actually exist(Chateau D IF). This book (which I was intimidated by its length) is a excellent selection .
I didn't even know the Chateau D'If was real! I didn't think much about it, but I would have assumed Dumas invented it himself. That's cool to know
So, I just got done reading the part where Franz takes some hashish in "Sinbad's" lair. Is there really any point to this? I was never really able to figure it out the last time I read it either. Is it to help him forget he went to the island? Maybe I"ll find out if I keep reading...
Haley wrote: "I didn't even know the Chateau D'If was real! I didn't think much about it, but I would have assumed Dumas invented it himself. That's cool to know"Just Google it. It was an actual prison(no longer used) and is now a tourist attraction. They even have cell the show as the one the fictional character Dantes might have been imprisoned. I think Chateau D'If is kind of the French version of Alcatraz.
Samantha wrote: "So, I just got done reading the part where Franz takes some hashish in "Sinbad's" lair. Is there really any point to this? I was never really able to figure it out the last time I read it either. I..."I don't really see a point to including it in the story but havn't finished the book yet. I was just suprised by the reference. Come to think of it though I think drug use was common and not illegal then. I know opium was being traded freely at that time and Absinthe was popular with Romantic writers.
Christa - Ron Paul 2012 wrote: "Yes revenge is a risky business. I don't believe in the saying "Revenge is best served cold." but also you don't want it to happen too fast when you are still very angry because you might make a mi..."The Talmud states that revenge is best served by living a good and successful life
William wrote: "Haley wrote: "I didn't even know the Chateau D'If was real! I didn't think much about it, but I would have assumed Dumas invented it himself. That's cool to know"Just Google it. It was an actual..."
I don't have to Google it; I believe you :D
I do not feel that Edmund Dantes has done that, at least through the course of the novel as we see him. (Presumably after he sails off into the sunset on the last page of the book he can go and focus on a good life.) He spends the entire thousand pages or so nursing his wrongs and laying traps for his foes. This is not a good way to life one's life.
hello everyone....lol @ you Brenda...yes i liked what u wrote . and at William, welcome and i havent read the book yet myself,,,so you have the big version hey ?? how long does it take you to read that lol?? And i have always thought when i seen the Chateau D'lf in the movie,wow that's just to be real...and then of course my next thought was oh no ...you poor people to spend your days in that place :( .. must of been horrible for them..
Haley wrote: "I didn't even know the Chateau D'If was real! I didn't think much about it, but I would have assumed Dumas invented it himself. That's cool to know"I read that Alexandre Dumas, after making a lot of money writing, built his own "Monte Cristo Palace". idk where it is though. I think he eventually lost the place though. He was a drunkard and spent all his riches foolishly on women and all the pleasures of life. Ironically, a similar fate that one of the characters in the Count of Monte Cristo suffers. I will not spoil it and say who though.
wow thanks for that info Jada, nah it wouldnt spoin it for me anyways .
Leah wrote: "wow thanks for that info Jada, nah it wouldnt spoin it for me anyways ."lol. now that I think of it, I forgot the character's name.
Monte Cristo island is also a real place. Evidently, it's a small island off the coast of Italy.
oh ok wow thank you William...lol i didnt know that either ....this is all exciting ...lol
Speaking of Italy, one aspect of the book I find fascinating is the parts taking place in Italy, which really say a lot about the 19th-century French attitude toward their neighbor. For someone like me who doesn't have much background in European history, it's really interesting stuff. I'd be very curious to know whether those attitudes have changed much since then.
Gaijinmama wrote: "Speaking of Italy, one aspect of the book I find fascinating is the parts taking place in Italy, which really say a lot about the 19th-century French attitude toward their neighbor. For someone lik..."That's a good question. I'd like to know too. I'm not very good with history either.
Brenda wrote: "I do not feel that Edmund Dantes has done that, at least through the course of the novel as we see him. (Presumably after he sails off into the sunset on the last page of the book he can go and fo..."Totally agree with you, Brenda!
At the end of the book, there's something I catched from Edmond that he doesn't achieve the true satisfaction. From every plan and every vengeance that he set, and what his enemies received, seems like there's always a price he must paid.
Jada wrote: "Gaijinmama wrote: "Speaking of Italy, one aspect of the book I find fascinating is the parts taking place in Italy, which really say a lot about the 19th-century French attitude toward their neighb..."and not only Italy, there are some major stereotypes about British people as well. Just read one of the scenes with Lord Wilmore. He's such a caricature of what (I guess) Dumas imagined a British person to be.
I grew up in the U.S. and have spent most of my adult life in Japan, so my knowledge of European cultures is sadly lacking. I am really enjoying all the historical notes in the back of the book.
Gaijinmama wrote: "Jada wrote: "Gaijinmama wrote: "Speaking of Italy, one aspect of the book I find fascinating is the parts taking place in Italy, which really say a lot about the 19th-century French attitude toward..."I didn't realize that Corsicans saw themselves different from other European cultures. I just saw them as French
Brenda wrote: "I do not feel that Edmund Dantes has done that, at least through the course of the novel as we see him. (Presumably after he sails off into the sunset on the last page of the book he can go and fo..."I don't know, I think it is a sad way to spend your life, that you can never get over something bad that has happened to you. But as I have struggled for many years on learning to forgive people I can understand how hard it would be for Edmond. On the other hand he is Catholic and they believe strongly in forgivness.
I haven´t started yet, because i ordered it in a bookstore and today it arrived :) problem is, they ordered the audio book....... how on earth do i have the time to stop and listen to an audio book?.....so i'll have to wait a while longer before i have it - and yes, i'll miss the deadline again!!!!!! But anyway i do love books with many pages!!! i have more to read :):):):):):):D
No problem, I am actually thinking of making this our July book too because it is rather long. Enjoyable of course but long. Anyone else want to take two months to read this one?
I think continuing this book through July would be a great idea!
Especially since everyone is so busy in the summer it is rather unfair to expect to read a 1300 page book in a month.
Christa - Ron Paul 2012 wrote: "Especially since everyone is so busy in the summer it is rather unfair to expect to read a 1300 page book in a month."Maybe we could also choose a short book for July for those who finish early? Like The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes or The Picture of Dorian Gray. Those are less than 300 pages.
Are they? Hmm.. That is a good idea, I'll put up a poll for short books or stories.
I'm on CH 81 and I can see how this work, originally published in serial form, captivated the reader. "The effect of the serials, which held vast audiences enthralled ... is unlike any experience of reading we are likely to have known ourselves, maybe something like that of a particularly gripping television series. Day after day, at breakfast or at work or on the street, people talked of little else."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Coun...
What I get from reading this book is to forgive. Maybe in some cases it could be very painful, but with forgiveness, revenge can neglect everything.But, Edmond is a very awesome figure in other way. He can hold his emotions in times of need. He is admirable in bringing himself, very quiet obviously. I like the way he arrange everything on its place. So brilliant!
hello everyone....has anyone read ....The Man in the Iron Mask?? i dont know if i would get through The Count of Monte Chrito book in time either? it takes me quite a while to get thru books as i dont have alot of time....humph lol
THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK is sort of a sequel to THE THREE MUSKETEERS, which you really need to have read. The book we usually see of that title is a chunk carved off of a much longer work (I think it is titled THE VICOMTE OF BARAGLIONE). Dumas wrote a series of novels covering the life of D'Artagnan (the 'fourth' Musketeer) but hardly anybody reads them all. There is a boatload of stuff about French politics. People nearly always read THE THREE MUSKETEERS and then stop.
lol to you Brenda yeah spose because the books are soo long to read ...lol
I could set up an activity separate from the book of the month that is the reading of all the Three Musketeers books, but there would be no deadline so you could just talk about them as you go, is anyone interested in such a thing?
