Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - O conde de Monte Cristo

My absolute favourite book of all time. Dumas is a master at writing slowly-unraveling plots, and I am in a perpetual state of rereading it despite its length.

Content Warnings

rchristine11's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The really enjoyable part of the book was seeing how character built their own tombs and designed their own ruins. The less enjoyable part was the long winded narrative, slow pace, and glorification of suicide.

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cynicalraven's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Not a review, sorry. Just thoughts for myself. Please skip this.

Eugénie real mvp here. Truly an icon. She lived up to Albert calling her Diana,

considering she ran off with a woman after saying that all men are terrible. I mean she was not wrong considering there is not a single decent man in the whole book

Also, the only woman with a minimum of agency.

apart from Villefort's second wife who killed everyone in her family lol

Poor girl said "fuck this shit I'm out"

and ran off with her gf

In the time the book was written I'm sure her character was not seen as positive but I don't care. All the other women are... something. Why am I analysing the women of this book? Because the men are all terrible and that's literally the point of the book lol. Mercedes has no personality whatsoever because she's supposed to be the faithful righteous selfless woman who's only interest is her son. Valentine's is more or less the same. Her relationship with her grandpa was cute. The way everyone treats the man is not. But what can I expect from a classical book? Not to be racist, misogynistic and ableist?

I would have liked the book more if the Count

did not end up with a girl who is not even 20 and less than half his age, whom he used to call "my child" and referred to as his daughter because that's literally disgusting. Also he's literally a slave owner. "But you have to understand when this book was written!!" Yeah, in a time when slavery was illegal in France. Still a slave owner.

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deverills's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It is certainly a book of its time, but I found myself always intrigued and sort of fascinated by Edmond's psyche and looking forward to seeing him manipulate everything and everyone around him after he managed to escape the Château d'If. I was surprised by how straightforward Dumas' writing style is. Unlike other classic authors, he doesn't waste a whole lot of time with descriptive writing and goes straight to what matters. The ending was slightly disappointing to me, but I still enjoyed it. A timeless reflection on what the thirst for revenge can do to one's mind and heart.

Content Warnings