The Count of Monte Cristo
I often act like I'm an exemplary reader, but I exaggerate. The truth is that I really haven't read my basic classics. The proof: I only finished my first Alexandre Dumas father today. On the number of works he has written (including 77 novels, I hear), I have no excuses. A real machine. In fact, it was he who said this inspiring little phrase:
Sometimes it's hard to do your homework, but it's never as hard as not doing it.
I decided on the Count of Monte Cristo simply because I gave in to the pressure of my lover, for whom it is a huge crush and who reread the 2 volumes of 800 pages this summer.
I must confirm that yes it is long, but it is a must.
Very brief summary
Edmond Dantes is a handsome young sailor who is so good at his job that he will soon be promoted to captain. What's more, he's going to marry the beautiful Mercédès whom he reveres, and it's mutual. Real lovebirds too good to be true. With the extra money he'll earn as a captain, he'll also be able to help his sick father. Life is looking good for this dashing young man.
Unfortunately, he shines too brightly for his own good. The accountant of the ship Edmond works for, who would have liked to be captain, is jealous of him. Mercédès' cousin, Fernand, would have liked to marry Mercédès. So the two of them join forces to make Edmond Dantes disappear, under the eyes of a moron named Caderousse who is too cowardly to denounce them. They make the young lover look like a Bonapartist traitor, and he is interrogated by the deputy prosecutor, Villefort. Edmond Dantes then unwittingly carries a letter denouncing Villefort's father, a real Bonapartist. Even though Villefort realizes that Edmond is innocent, he condemns him to life imprisonment in the terrible Château d'If.
But God is on Edmond's side anyway, for he places him in the same prison as Abbot Faria, an old man considered senile by all the guards but who is in fact extremely erudite and knows the location of a vast treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo. Abbot Faria makes Edmond a learned man and teaches him how to get to the treasure.
14 years after their meeting, Abbot Faria dies. Edmond then takes his place in his shroud and is thrown into the sea, a ball and chain attached to his ankle. He miraculously manages to return to the surface and find the island of Monte Cristo and its treasure.
From that moment on, Edmond Dantes no longer exists: there is only the Count of Monte Cristo, holder of infinite wealth, who has concocted a ruthless plan of revenge for the four defiles that destroyed his life.
I have just summarized the first 200 pages of the brick. The other 1600 consist of the slow and prodigious revenge of the Count of Monte Cristo.
Review
It is easy to be impressed by the impressive number of pages in The Count of Monte Cristo or by its date of publication (1844), but it would be a shame to stop there. Once you get going, the book really does read itself. In this respect, this book is very different from other classics, which are often associated with difficult reading. You can even give it to a child, and I think he would have a lot of fun (as would my lover, even if, in all objectivity, he is special).
Like the main character, with the Count, there is no time to get bored. It is a book of adventures full of twists and turns, written in a language that is both refined and simple, which makes the reading both aesthetically pleasing and fluid. The Count is almost superhuman and very endearing. His wealth makes you dream, his charisma is palpable (yes, even through the pages), his intelligence is intimidating and his revenge is very satisfying. We fall a little in love with him.
But what a disappointment when he leaves with the 18 year old girl at the very end. It would have been so nice to have him back with his sweetheart, who unfortunately has suffered too much to be emotionally available. The series based on Gérard Depardieu rectifies this by bringing the two lovebirds back together, which I think is more plausible.
Put it on your list of books to read (at least) once in your life. You won't regret it.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas father
Excerpts of Phèdre, by Racine
