The Count of Monte Cristo (Penguin Classics)

I read that this was a good book, long but never boring. I found it boring and stopped after a few chapters.

This product was in awful condition when delivered, and the fronylt cover was crinkled , and pages were stained

I have a picture but permissions are fixed at permanent bypass for future! So will not post photo! Cover scratched from top of front cover to bottom, bent front cover and printed cover scratched out! Cannot be given as a gift! Paid premium for delivery before Xmas but now must return!

Sadly the front cover of the book was badly cracked and damaged As it was an Easter gift i was very disappointed .

Not fun or good story

The author didn’t know about show-not-tell. A much too long, bloated serialisation, a rambling 1000 plus page pot-boiler. Avoid.

Firstly, a quick note on this edition: having started an old, archaic and atrocious translation to begin with, I can heartily recommend the crystal prose of Robin Buss's translation for Penguin Classics... The difference was startling, and it made it an absolute joy to read where it could so easily have become a chore! Now, this is going to be a tricky one to review. What to say about a book so well loved, so widely read, so generally revered? Well, let's start with the basics, the bits most people already know. The novel opens with young Edmond Dantes, on the verge of becoming captain of his merchant ship and husband of the beautiful Mercedes, being betrayed by his jealous friends and thrown into jail for his alleged support of Napoleon. During his fourteen years in the terrifying Chateau d'If, he meets a 'mad' old abbe, who introduces him to the world of learning and tells him about a secret treasure that he wishes Edmond to have should he ever escape. Well, escape he does, and is reborn as the Count of Monte Cristo, using his incredible wealth, power and intelligence to bring justice down on the heads of the three men who condemned him to the dungeons. This book is so many things: it is epic, complex and exciting; it is heartbreaking, sorrowful and romantic. It touches on the heights of emotion, society and the human condition, as well as the depths of despair, corruption and depravity. I found myself speeding along in breathless excitement as Edmond's true identity was revealed to each of his tormentors, and felt the full horror of the tangled webs he wove to destroy them one by one. It made me ponder the relationship between wealth and power, between knowledge and power, and the way that faith can save someone's life but also, if they don't take care, lead them down a path swathed in darkness. The Count's lesson for jealous Danglars, for example, was deeply satisfying - whereas his quiet destruction of Villefort's entire family was devastating to read. Of course, all this is terribly unlikely and deeply dramatic, but that is part of its charm - this is escapism at its finest! Quite simply, this is a masterful novel that drew me in gently then refused to let me go. The characters are wonderfully drawn - I even got a bit of a crush on Dantes, fallen angel that he is - and the story seeps forward deliciously, bringing everything slowly into focus as the scattered elements of the Count's plans draw together. This is definitely going to be one of my top reads of the year and one of my favourite books ever! Read it!

The first three hundred pages of `The Count of Monte Cristo' are gripping, the story of an innocent man condemned, by a combination of accident & design, but who receives salvation at his moment of despair. The remainder of the novel is much more slow-burning as the Count engineers an introduction into Parisian society to exploit the weaknesses and dark secrets of his enemies: corruption, sexual misconduct & scandal. 'The Count of Monte Cristo' is a picaresque novel with a dramatic plot. But the novel, for me, appears to sacrifice character and depth for the exigencies of plot, and subplots, such as Maximilien & Valentine's thwarted romance & the serial poisoner, affect the overall pace of the novel and are both clunky and melodramatic. There are glimpses of real style, such as the wonderful description towards the end of the evening sun reflected in the bosom of the waves. Despite the novel's length, there is a great deal of dialogue, revealing Dumas' theatrical background and his obvious talent at writing speech & conveying characters. There are some great secondary characters such as the wheel-chair ridden Noirtier; the passionate Mme Danglars, a proto-type for Madame Bovary; her daughter, Eugenie, unloved by her parents & treated as a commodity by her father, artistic and independent & clearly lesbian; and Abbe Faria, who gives Edmond Dantes the secret to a hidden treasure but also gives him another kind of treasure, knowledge. A missed opportunity But I did feel the novel missed a great opportunity by not having the Count confront one of his enemies, de Villefort in particular, the figure of absolute justice, who condemns Dantes through a combination of accident & design. I felt short-changed, in a novel that depicts fashionable society's obsession with wealth, that the most selfish & boorish villain, Danglars, is shown mercy. From what I remember of `Les Miserables', there is a more spiritual dimension to the novel with Valjean & Javert having a final confrontation during the Paris revolt that changes the dynamic of their relationship. De Villefort is the Count's intellectual equal, (the chapter Ideology) and it would have been interesting to see the Chief Prosecutor show genuine remorse or learn of a law that tempers justice with mercy (de Villefort's guilt & conscience are hinted in the beginning of the novel before he allows ambition and selfish motives to condemn an innocent man). It could have been interesting to see de Villefort challenge the Count about the morality of revenge. In the hands of a novelist, like Dostoevsky, this could have been fertile territory. Warning: Spoiler alert Mercedes The novel is about Dantes' loss of liberty & revenge, but as the novel reached its climax, I felt that Mercedes, his lost love, was just as great a victim. In her own way, Mercedes `betrays' Edmond. She momentarily falters, failing to `wait' & `hope' so that she marries Fernand. But Mercedes remained loyal to Dantes' memory, like Penelope, yet ultimately she is the one who loses everything: her son, her husband & her fashionable Parisian life. I also felt she lost the one thing that she had cherished from her past life, the memory of her lost love, which becomes tarnished when she realises that the man she had mourned for is also the man determined to kill her son. For me, the scene where Mercedes intercedes with the Count on behalf of her son was one of the most moving in the book, Shakespearean in tone, like Volumnia with Coriolanus. I thought the final parting between the Count & Mercedes left much unsaid and unresolved as in life, a greater distance now existing between them, than it ever did when Edmond sailed the seas and Mercedes stood waiting for him in Marseille. I found it poignant as Mercedes stood watching her son's ship leave for Algeria, the past & the present blurred as she utters Edmond's name. I feel Mercedes is the one left bereft in the end, whereas the Count is offered a second possibility of happiness with Haydee and some form redemption by saving Valentine. I imagined Mercedes, the Countess de Morcerf, as Goya's portrait of Dona Zarate. The Count I found it interesting how the Count begins to question his own actions, the moral dilemma about revenge and how it harmed the innocent as the guilty. Did so many have to die in the serial murder plot? That seemed more grand guignol than a calculated revenge. I would have liked to have seen more of the Count's dark, brooding personality as revealed in the chapters in Rome, the execution and the discussion about the nature of revenge & punishment. I did enjoy how the Count sets himself up as Providence with the power of life & death over others, but how this sense of power corrupts him. It was interesting to read a review on here that describes the Count as the actual villain of the novel, an alternative take on his character. There was much that I enjoyed about the book: the first 300 pages; Franz travelling to meet the Count on his `magical' island and his hallucinogenic fantasy; the scenes where the Count discovers the treasure; how the Count sets up Caderousse, another of his `enemies', the man who stood by and did nothing whilst Dantes was implicated in a Napoleonic plot; the judicial investigation and Haydee's dramatic entrance; the comic scene about the telegraph receiver sending the wrong information (echoing `Trading Places', with the Dukes the son & heirs of Danglars & the misinformation they are given). Read the novel before seeing a dramatised version I am glad that I read the novel before seeing any film adaptation. I've been quite taken aback at how the 2002 film version played fast & loose with the text, probably attempting to capture Dumas's spirit, but ending with a duel, which does not happen in the novel. Similarly, I caught the ending of the Depardieu version (1998). It seemed to capture the authenticity of the period, but the ending left me thinking that I was glad that I read the book for myself.

I am extremely disappointed with the quality control of this publisher. I have received a book with torn/missing pages, and this is the third time I have faced the same issue with books from this publisher. This is not acceptable, especially when customers are paying for a new book in good condition. The publisher should seriously improve their quality checking and packaging process.

The book is well wrapped, the printing is very clear. Can’t wait to read it !

Ovviamente come sappiamo e' un capolavoro. Sebbene dubito che sia veramente una versione integrale e senza censure, in quanto avevo sentito parlare di temi clerici censurati che non ho veramente visto. Ma non essendo sicuro lascio 5 stelle.

Book delivered promptly Prime worth every penny

When I first started this book I wanted to kick myself for having waited so many years to read it. It’s apparently a very praised piece of work all over the world for many years now. At first, I found it extremely hard to put this book down. The start off is great! A man is in love and due to be married, wrongfully accused of a wrongdoing and thrown into prison for it so that he can never marry his bride to be. That part was fascinating. The prison time was absolutely interesting, as was the Abbé’s part and Dantés’ escape. Even the part of Dantés going to Monte Cristo for the treasure was great. Then the story took a complete plummet into the abyss of boringness. This was a complete 180 turn from fascination to boring and confusing all in a matter of a few pages, introducing (throwing, more like) several characters into the mix and at times you don’t have a clue who in the heck is talking or doing what. I went from being incapable of putting this book down, to reading a few pages here and there when I felt like it, to removing my bookmark and completely just slamming the book shut with frustration. Good thing it was cheap.