Count of Monte Cristo, The (Leatherbound Classic Collection) by Alexandre Dumas (2011) Leather Bound

Unbelievable action. Such rich storytelling I felt like I was inside the story while it unfolded. What an incredible adventure.

Though I had a vague understanding of this book (and of course watched the movie) reading it and experiencing it were a much greater thrill. Filled with love, sorrow, betrayal, vengeance and happiness it was indeed a pleasure to read.

DISCLAIMER: I am an American, college-educated male in my mid-20's. I understand that my life experiences are different from others', and my reviews and opinions reflect the upbringing I've had. The point of each of my reviews is not so much to provide a synopsis of the story or an in-depth literary look at the work itself, but to convey my overall impression of the book, as well as the feelings/attitudes I experienced while reading and the thoughts the book provoked. There are NO SPOILERS in any of my reviews, so read on without fear! ---------------------------------------------- This was actually my second read of the Count of Monte Cristo (the first one being at the age of 12 after having seen the movie and enthusiastically embracing the challenge of reading a monstrous classic such as this one), and I have to say that I was certainly able to appreciate it on a different level. Having a better command of the English language obviously helped, but it was more related to the fact that I was able to connect more directly with some of the themes of the book. Most 12 year olds have not experienced romantic love, betrayal, or revenge in any meaningful way (although to be fair, most people have not experienced any of these in the way our Count has!), and that made reading the book at a young age feel like a chore. I’m sure this trend will only continue as I get older, so if any younger readers out there feel like they’re trudging through the book, put it down for a few years and come back to it later! It will make a huge difference. As far as the story goes, I found that I my expectations for the book had leaned too hard on what the movie presented. I know that movies are typically pretty different from their book counterparts, and I expected there to be medium-to-large subplots in the book that I hadn’t encountered before. What I didn’t anticipate, however, was that some of the story had flat out changed – including some HUGE turning points in the movie. On one hand, that made the book more exciting to read, but I had been looking forward to reading through some of the movie events and was disappointed when they failed to materialize. With that being said, I would highly recommend that anyone thinking about reading the book treat it almost as a different interpretation of the movie’s story, as they end up being quite different (and both good!) Personally, I felt like the story’s pace ebbed and flowed quite a bit. There were chapters that I was struggling to get through because they felt like filler, and other chapters that had me glued to my seat. As was typical with some of the longer “classics” that were written in the 18th and 19th centuries, the book in its original form was published serially in volumes – sort of like a recurring column/short story in a magazine or newspaper. I’m sure that the author was incentivized ...

Dumas had a diabolical turn of mind Much more than any other novelist it has been my pleasure to enjoyment