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The Count of Monte Cristo (Penguin Classics) (Paperback) (平装)
by Alexandre Dumas père, Robin Buss
| Category:
Revenge, Historical novels |
| Market price: ¥ 158.00
MSL price:
¥ 148.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
The Count of Monte Cristo is a story of an innocent man that seeks to revenge his wrongful imprisonment, full of intrigue, great fight scenes, love, passion, and witty social satire. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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Shomari Mosi (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-01 00:00>
This is a brilliant work of fiction. Every one of the 1300 pages has meaning. Every character, every event, and every other detail of the story are connected. The story is totally unpredictable and makes you want to turn to the next page. The author has an incredible sense of time, place, and human nature. Every scene is developed with great eloquence and artistry. This story is simply brilliant.
Stories like this put writing to shame. It makes me wonder, is it even possible to write a great novel anymore? (not that writing is some big competition or something). There is nothing about this book that could have been better. It is as close to perfection as you could get. The writers intimate knowledge of paris, life, and people is unparalleled. If you want to be a writer or simply want to see the artwork of writing at the height of it's powers, here it is. This has the power of a mozart symphony or a charle parker solo. I thought les miserables was great and that it couldn't get any better. It just did!
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A kid (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-01 00:00>
The Count of Monte Christo, written by Alexandre Dumas, is about a man named Edmond Dantes who experiences many twists and turns in his life. Edmond Dantes is a respected sailor who was going to marry a girl named Mercedes. Edmond was going to be the captain of his own ship and make a living. He lived in France in 1825 with his father. He is falsely accused of being a Bonapartist (a friend of Napoleon's) on the day of his wedding. Two men planned this accusation and they both benefited from his disappearance. Edmond was sent to a horrible prison and after a month an old man tunnels into his cell. The old man becomes Edmond's teacher in language, manners, and math. He also tells him the names of his two enemies, Danglars and Fernand. Edmond is filled with the power of vengeance and vows to avenge himself. Together, they plan their escape but the old man is hit by a disease. Before the old man dies, he gives Edmond a treasure map. Edmond uses quick thinking to devise a plan to escape and retrieve the treasure. Edmond gets out of jail and recovers the treasure making himself rich. He starts to do good deeds for others and changes his name to the Count of Monte Christo. The Count (Edmond) begins to slowly avenge himself while he helps out "Edmond Dantes'" loyal friends even though it is Edmond who is really helping them.
My favorite quotes are "I have instilled in your heart vengeance" and "For the last four nights I have been watching over you." These quotes show the two main meanings of this book, which are Edmond getting vengeance and Edmond helping his friends. The Count of Monte Christo is a fiction/adventure book that tells Edmond Dantes life story and his adventures. Alexandre Dumas creates great pictures in my mind with his fabulous details. He made the characters consistently sound the same in their dialogue. He used wonderful language and added a little bit of humor in some parts. I was amazed how he mixed English and French together.
I would recommend this book to fourteen or fifteen year olds because it is hard to comprehend and the language is old fashioned. I think that it would be hard for younger children to keep track of all the characters. The Count of Monte Christo is unlike any other book that I have read. It is the only book that has had me guessing all the way through. I would infer something and then I was completely wrong, which makes the book exciting. I would compare the Count of Monte Christo to the Lord of the Rings because they are both great adventures. They are extremely well written books and I like them both. Another book series that I compare The Count of Monte Christo to is the Clive Cussler, Dirk Pitt series because in both of the books there are great schemes. In the books, written by Clive Cussler, the people who make up the ingenious schemes are bad. In The Count of Monte Christo, the good guy is the schemer who plots his revenge. They both have good schemes but what separates them is that the good guy is outsmarting the bad guys, Fernand and Danglars. The Count of Monte Christo is the best genre it could be. Very few fantasy or mystery books that I have read matched up to it. The Harry Potter series and Eragon were also good books that I would compare to The Count of Monte Christo.
This book was really addicting and I read the whole thing in three days. I was completely hooked by the twentieth page because of the author's detail. I could not put down the book; I even brought it in the car for a two minute drive. The book ended with a twist that I never saw coming.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-01 00:00>
I keep hearing that The Count of Monte Cristo is a great swashbuckling book of vengeance. I keep wondering if same said "readers" actually read the book. Au contraire, Dumas' serialized story that we now receive in a 1200+ page novel is actually an intricate waltz of a character study, that when read with patience and expectation almost feels as if the reader has been supernaturally imbued with the wisdom and experience of the 24 years that the novel covers.
The story opens with an innocent Edmond Dantes who is brutally betrayed by those who abuse their positions, and it continues with ever increasing progression of Dantes' understanding: his understanding of suffering, of evil; his understanding of wisdom from the dear Abbe; his understanding of the abuse of position that originated his personal hell, his understanding of others' human natures, both good and evil; and finally, his understanding of his own self. After multiple sub-plots that orbit the Count and illuminate both the characters that revolve around him, as well as himself, Dumas wraps up the novel with a fitting and satisfactory conclusion that flirts with the philosophical.
The novel's pace more than makes up for its daunting length-there are rarely slow moments. If it seems like Dumas is about to do something predictable, keep reading: his follow-up is always unexpected. I can only criticize Dumas for trivial concerns, which I won't get into here, but his handling of the plot is beyond reproach.
What sticks beyond the reading itself, however, is the study of people that Dumas puts forward, replete with a sweeping spiritual hypothesis on the nature of humanity itself that can only be proposed using the method of the adage, "show, don't tell." There are so many characters that we get to know well, who stay with us, reinforcing Dumas' observations. From the evil, such as Fernand and Danglars, to the pathetic, like Caderousse, to the unexpected-in Nortier, Albert, Eugenie-and even the angelic, Morrel, Haydee, the Abbe, we see a great slice of humanity parade before us in the vivid pages. And every one of them is somehow kindled by Dantes, the sparkling youth, then the supernatural catalyst and demigod, and finally, simply and totally, the man, soul bared and naked before his God. It is a breathtaking epic far deeper than the adolescent revenge romp that its literary reputation has been reduced to.
Robin Buss' translation, notes and introduction are essential and very well done, worthy of the work itself, and sure to be the preeminent English version for a very long time. In short, this is not one of those books that you check out from the library and return: this is a work to be bought in hardback, to be read, re-read, and passed down.
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Shalom Freedman (MSL quote), Israel
<2007-02-01 00:00>
This is one of the most popular adventure novels ever written. Its story of the wrongly imprisoned Edmond Dantes who after four years in Chateau D'If prison where he is schooled in the wisdom of life by Abba Morio, makes the plunge into the ocean to escape and rebirth. He takes the instruction given him by Abba Moria and goes and finds the Renaissance treasure that makes him rich. Then as the Count of Monte Cristo he is able to exact revenge on those who have wrongly imprisoned him. He does so with great skill but when his actions lead to a great injustice he somehow understands the limitations of what he has done. His famous confessional words are: "Tell the angel who will watch over your life to pray now and then for a man who, like Satan, believed himself for an instant to be equal to God, but who realized in all humility that supreme power and wisdom are in the hands of God alone."
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C. Mccallister (MSL quote), Canada
<2007-02-01 00:00>
When I was an early teenager, I went on a reading binge, and intentionally sought out very long books to read (I guess I saw them as challenges). I found many good books this way ("The Count of Monte Cristo", "Doctor Doolittle", "Gulliver's Travels", "Ivanhoe"), as well as some clunkers. The treasures I found were generally well-known classics, and "The Count of Monte Cristo" clearly falls into that category. Some books get labeled "classics" because they're well-written and technically good, as good representatives of literature of their period. "The Count of Monte Cristo" is all of those things, but it is also simply a great adventure novel, with lots of action, well-written characters, important (even today) issues addressed, and a fast pace. The writing is highly detailed, giving the reader the sense of having been to the places described and having actually known the characters. It's the same sense that one gets from seeing a very good film: a visual memory is created of the people and places. This book is not for everyone, but is an excellent one for introspective adults and bright teenagers, especially if they want to think about issues of justice versus revenge. The recent movie version did justice to the book.
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Susan Shams (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-01 00:00>
This is honestly one of the greatest novels I have ever read. I absolutely loved this book. I could not put it down! This is a must read for anyone.When I first started into this novel, I had in my memory the 'movie' that was made for the big screen. So of course, I expected the book to be very similar to it. Well, I was very wrong! Other than Edmond Dantes being betrayed by his 'friends' and finding the treasure, this book takes on a different route.
Believe me, the book is much more superb. The way the Count exacts his revenge is astonishing. I cannot fathom how Dumas came up with such a scheme. At times, one cringes for the those who wronged the Count.
This book made me laugh and cry. There are many poignant moments throughout the book that make you feel good. Anyone who says that Dumas is not up there with the 'classic' writers, does not know what they are talking about. This book is rich in dialogue, mystery, suspense and storyline. All in all, this is an amazing classic, and I recommend it to anyone wanting a good read.
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Stephen Dantes (MSL quote), UK
<2007-02-01 00:00>
I know this seems a little over the top perhaps but Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Christo is just that in my opinion. The scale, the depth, the characterisation, and ultimately the story underpinning it all- a tale of a virtuous young man, wrongly imprisoned, mentally and physically due to the jealousy of others, and his resurrection from the abyss as an avenging angel to exact his revenge on those who inspired it- add up to a breathtaking picture spanning 1200 or so pages. In Edmond Dantes, Dumas has created a character which deep down we can all identify with as our pure inner self. All of us can remember our childhood when everything was a lot more natural and bereft of worry. He is careful to highlight Dantes strengths and flaws early on in the novel, so as we can appreciate this person against who this terrible act has been aimed. His transgression from innocent, naive but virtuous boy into the cold blooded man of the world, is excellently handled, and fits with the gap of years between his escape from the chateau d'if until his re-appearance as the chameleon he has become. The way that the plot comes together shows the time Dumas must have spent creating the jigsaw, and the ending is everything you could want and more. I implore you to read this book- the length of the script will keep you busy for some time admittedly- but the end result and the fact you will be able to look back afterwards and remember its message for a long time, should make this top of your to-read list. And amazingly it was based on a true case.
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D. Long (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-01 00:00>
I agree with the reviewers that this is one of the best books ever written. I read this book as part of a book club and probably never would have read it on my own-having read many of the books of Hugo and Dickens and other writers of that approximate era. I love both of these writers but find them both at times cumbersome and stilted and really wasn't in the mood for another. However, I could not put the Count of Monte Cristo down. This book seems freshly modern in writing style compared to these superb writers. From the beginning it is a page turner-almost Harry Potter like in its ability to have action, adventure and drama on almost every page. If you read the unabridged version you will find some allusions to morality and the wrongness of revenge which I enjoyed. But what makes the book great is the grandeur of the writing, the tightness of a wonderful plot, filled with subplots, the development of the characters, and the constant magic of combining romance and adventure. It is the ultimate romance book. If you watched the most recent version of the movie, you might be disappointed at the lack of sword fights, but there is never a lack of adventure and suspense. It might be 1400 pages long, but it never disappoints.
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Annabel (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-01 00:00>
This is a great book full of betrayal and deceit. It may be long but it's definitely worth reading.
Edmond Dantes was a sailor from Marseilles, poised to be married to Mercedes, a beautifl village girl. However, enemies of Dantes plan his arrest on the day that is planned for his wedding and he is condemnned to imprisonment on a desolate island in the dreaded Chateau D'If. Here, he meets the priest Faria who helps plan Dantes' escape and tells him of a treasure on the island of Monte Cristo. Edmond escapes the prison and goes to retreive the treasure and changes his identity. Now he is called the Count of Monte Cristo. He goes back to the mainland to retreive his love and seek revenge on his betrayers.
I used a copy by signet classics, the editing was terrible and I found at least five typos; it was kind of distracting. I do highly recommend reading the book though!
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Trevor Kettlewell (MSL quote), Australia
<2007-02-01 00:00>
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.
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1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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