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Title: The Count of Monte Cristo (Penguin Classics) by Alexandre Dumas, Robin Buss ISBN: 0-14-044926-4 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 27 May, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.9 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A True Great Classic
Comment: Perhaps one of the best novels ever written, the Count of Monte Cristo is a story of an innocent man that seeks to revenge his wrongful imprisonment. Dumas brilliantly confronts themes pertaining to nearly all facets of human existence including that of justice, revenge, love, friendship, greed, jealousy, etc.
Despite its vivid detail and striking character development, the novel reads rather easily and quickly. This story has been the inspiration of many great movies, most notably, that of The Shawshank Redemption (1994).
Truly a classic and a must read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Fabulous epic: Tokienesque scope, Shakespearian Vibe
Comment: The characters in this book are so Shakespearian. They're all larger than life. We're not dealing with post-modern self-doubting everymen stumbling through life, these are extreme characters in extreme circumstances: it's not too often you're going to pause and say, "Hmmm, I know exactly how he feels." Likewise the plot, action, and devices. It's all around a quest for revenge (or is it justice?), there are crucial letters, poisonings, star-crossed lovers' trysts, courtroom performances, disguises, last minute averted bankruptcy, and, for goodness sake, yet another of these meddlesome priests with their cunning plans to fake a death with an ingenious potion. We have dozens of prose soliloquies, characters turning over their plans, doubts and motivations, and wonderful extended dialogue, with people talking with a depth and precision mere mortals could never hope to improvise (even if there aren't as many killer one-liners in there).
And while I'm making big comparisons why not throw in Tolkien: Dumas too has pulled off an epic. I can't think of many other books of this size that maintain such coherency. Now they do it in different ways, and Dumas teeters on the edge in a couple of places (while Tolkien is sublimely on track the whole time - he simply needed that many words to tell his story), but they both still manage to bring so much to a basic central story line. Most epics climax in book one, then have weak sequels added on once the publishers realise they have a hit. Most unsuccessfully try to reopen the old story and climb back in to a structure that will not fit them, and only undermine the superior complete original (Card, Jordan, Feist). Some series avoid this mistake by telling a new story within the old world (Pratchett, Leiber, Saberhagen), but this isn't making an epic. In the Mars series, Robinson gave himself freedom to continue because no character is indispensable, the future is open.
But Dumas! Like I said, in a couple of places he's on the brink, but doesn't quite fall over. We wonder why we spend quite so much time with Franz - who turns out to be quite incidental - but in Dumas' defence, to meet Edmond reinvented as the Count through Franz' eyes is an intriguing and clever way to introduce him. Indeed, the book could almost have started here (and the second part does feel like an entirely new book for some time), but, like Tolkien, rather than leap in with the 'main' story, Dumas patiently and painstakingly has to paint the whole history before we get there. But while Tolkien splits up the major characters and has us desperately turning pages as he leaves each in cliff-hanger situations, Dumas has the slowest of slow burns running through the whole book. You don't have to read it all in a sitting, and as the protagonist points out, a simple and quick revenge would not be just or satisfying. So he takes his sweet time. Along the way some of the time he spends to flesh out the characters of the sons and daughters of the subjects of the Count's patient and comprehensive revenge seems liberal, but I suppose Dumas could say with his Count, 'What's your hurry?'
And to carry you along you have this wonderfully sophisticated French high society. Being cool - or being honourable - is not only about ego and looking good, it has a major effect on your whole family's prospects. Make a fool of yourself in public, and you could lose your credibility - which could also cost you your house or your life. How you're presented, who presents you, and how you carry it off is a game with big stakes. There was an excellent SBS movie that caught something of this - about a relatively low income 19th Century noble who actually cares for the people on his land, and knows the only way to save them is to get them clean water. To afford this he needs the court's patronage - and the favour of the court has nothing to do with the needs of the poor, and everything to do with whether you are seen as having a lively wit. The decent noble has to play the dirtiest games to do good. It's in this sort of Dangerous Liaisons context that much of the drama takes place, and Dumas does it well (indeed he's probably the prototype).
Moreover his count is a real triumph. He imagined the pinnacle of 19th Century cool and painted it. Moreover he gives us the whole process of just why this guy has got it so completely together. He's Shaft, James Bond, Miles Davis ... whoever ... you just can't touch him. So when the reader gets to see someone getting a bit close to his self-possession it has a real impact.
When we do eventually get to the resolutions of the old wounds, they are powerful and satisfying. I said this is Shakespearian, and there's no pulling punches here - the crimes are terrible, the prices paid apposite, and both are vividly and minutely explored. Hence the massive length of the book - but this epic, unlike so many others, is coherent.
And all this without even mentioning the fascinating central philosophical issue of just who the Count thinks he is to take charge of so many lives. Is he, as he contends, merely the agent of providence? But the way he treats those he cares for seems at times more cruel than the way he treats his foes! The torture he puts Morrel through can only be compared to God calling Abraham to sacrifice his son. Monte Cristo is unapologetically taking the role of God, and his justification is that:
...There is neither happiness nor grief in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another - nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness...
It's a tough one to try to pull off. Did he manage it? Let the discussions commence.
Rating: 5
Summary: This is the book I'm reviewing!
Comment: This is the book of the classical type by the writer Alexandre Dumas. It is the book that is mentioned in the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" and the author is called in that one "Alexander Dumb-ass" Which is a joke in that particular movie. I have read this book and seen that movie and seen the movie that is based on this book. I like the book but not the movie. Not the movie where they call him a dumb-ass, the other one that is based on this book, that is not very good compared to the book. If you like words more than pictures, I would say to you to buy this book and to read it. If you like the pictures more then I don't know what to tell you. I would also refer you to one of the other great works of this great writer, called "The Three Musketeers" I know you have heard of it. These books were written in and around the Napoleonic era. I don't know if they are fair stories that talk about that time in reality. I wasn't alive then so I don't know what reality was for them. Thank you!
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Title: The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas, Joachim Neugroschel, Francine Du Plessix Gray ISBN: 0140439242 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas ISBN: 0140367470 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: November, 1995 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Les Miserables a New Unabridged Translation (Signet Classics) by Victor Hugo, Lee Fahnestock, Norman MacAfee ISBN: 0451525264 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: March, 1987 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title:The Count of Monte Cristo ASIN: B00006ADFM Publisher: Buena Vista Home Video Pub. Date: 14 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $16.99 |
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Title: The Man in the Iron Mask (Oxford World's Classics) by Alexandre Dumas, David Coward ISBN: 0192838423 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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