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A review by misterfix
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Wow... for me this was a beast of a book to read. I absolutely LOVED the first ⅓, struggled a fair bit with the second ⅓, and finally was satisfied with the last portion and the conclusion.
I loved the first section because it was well paced, engaging, adventurous, with themes that happened to resonate with my own life choices (sailing, study, travel, reinvention, etc ). The next section was when things got difficult principally because I struggled to keep the names straight given the variety of naming connections popular at the time.
Books of this period (Dostoevsky especially) can be maddening with their shifting names for different characters and this book was in fact the most difficult in this regard. For example Viscount, Monsieur de Morcerf, Albert, Morcerf, Viscount Albert de Morcerf, Monsieur le Comte, Albert de Morcerf, Monsieur Albert Mondago, Vicomte de Morcerf, etc. all refer to the same person. Within the same, two sentence paragraph you've got, "Albert went over...", and then in the next sentence, "As he walked across to the board, Morcerf also picked up..." A sentence later he's referred to by a different convention! Same dude! It was infuriating for me and I ultimately had to refer to a cheat sheet periodically because this was the case with most of the main characters; they average five different names/references each. Add in the M, Mlle, Mme, Madame, Mademoiselle, Monsieur, etc. and all the daughters and sons and the changed names, and the... you get the idea. Look, I get it, it's the vernacular of the time and in essence, enhances the story, but damned if it's not a royal pain in the butt to keep everyone straight.
Additionally, I felt like there were extended periods where particular characters are not referenced, such that when they finally returned to the story I often had to flip back and refer to notes to recall their story. Yes, I ultimately created a cheat sheet for this as well, and this helped immensely!
The good news is that as I gradually created a system to keep everybody's stories and names straight, Mr. Dumas began to tighten the threads on the disparite storylines and I was thoroughly satisfied.
No, this does not rank in the top three of my favorite classics but I'm very glad I read it and perhaps someday I'll try it again, but better prepared.
I loved the first section because it was well paced, engaging, adventurous, with themes that happened to resonate with my own life choices (sailing, study, travel, reinvention, etc ). The next section was when things got difficult principally because I struggled to keep the names straight given the variety of naming connections popular at the time.
Books of this period (Dostoevsky especially) can be maddening with their shifting names for different characters and this book was in fact the most difficult in this regard. For example Viscount, Monsieur de Morcerf, Albert, Morcerf, Viscount Albert de Morcerf, Monsieur le Comte, Albert de Morcerf, Monsieur Albert Mondago, Vicomte de Morcerf, etc. all refer to the same person. Within the same, two sentence paragraph you've got, "Albert went over...", and then in the next sentence, "As he walked across to the board, Morcerf also picked up..." A sentence later he's referred to by a different convention! Same dude! It was infuriating for me and I ultimately had to refer to a cheat sheet periodically because this was the case with most of the main characters; they average five different names/references each. Add in the M, Mlle, Mme, Madame, Mademoiselle, Monsieur, etc. and all the daughters and sons and the changed names, and the... you get the idea. Look, I get it, it's the vernacular of the time and in essence, enhances the story, but damned if it's not a royal pain in the butt to keep everyone straight.
Additionally, I felt like there were extended periods where particular characters are not referenced, such that when they finally returned to the story I often had to flip back and refer to notes to recall their story. Yes, I ultimately created a cheat sheet for this as well, and this helped immensely!
The good news is that as I gradually created a system to keep everybody's stories and names straight, Mr. Dumas began to tighten the threads on the disparite storylines and I was thoroughly satisfied.
No, this does not rank in the top three of my favorite classics but I'm very glad I read it and perhaps someday I'll try it again, but better prepared.