Publisher and Publication Date: Barnes and Noble Classics. 2004.
Genre: Fiction. Classic literature. Classic French literature.
Pages: 608.
Format: Hardcover.
Source: Self-purchase.
Audience: Classic literature readers.
Rating: Good.

This is the first Chunkster size book for that reading challenge I’ve finished in 2021.

This book is read for the 2021 Victorian Reading Challenge.

This book is also read for The Classics Club.

This book is also read for Back to the Classics Challenge 2021. #4 A book written in not my first language. “4. A classic in translation, meaning any book first published in a language that is not your primary language. You may read it in translation or in its original language, if you prefer.”

I’ve had this book in my TBR piles several years. I’m excited to cross it off the list of books to be read.

Link at Barnes and Noble.

Biography on Alexandre Dumas

Goodreads author page

The Count of Monte Cristo was first published in a serialized form. The French title: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo in 1844-1845.

Summary:

France. 1815.

Edmond Dantes has everything going for him. He has a loving father. He is in love with a beautiful woman he is engaged to marry. He has a career as a captain of a ship. He is young and handsome.

There is a man who is very jealous of Edmond. He plots to destroy Edmond. Edmond is accused of treason. His sentence is in a prison fortress built on a small island. Edmond wastes away in his prison cell for 14 years. During this time, Edmond develops a friendship that becomes a lifesaver. And, Edmond plans his revenge.

My Thoughts:

I like The Count of Monte Cristo, but I am not in love with the story. It is not a story that swept me away like Les Miserables or other five star/excellent classic literature books I’ve rated. But it is a good, solid story.

It is a simple story to follow.
It has heroes and villains.
It is told in a chronological order of events.

A man who has everything going for him in life and it is stolen in a brief moment. A great injustice is done to Edmond. I have empathy for his plight. I feel an investment in what is going to happen. I felt surely with a chunkster page book a reckoning will come.

It is a story that in the beginning pages I felt sadness and anxiety. However, the story has a good building up and leads to a satisfying closure.

Themes in the story: betrayal, ambition, courage, redemption, revenge, perseverance, honesty, good and evil, deception, heroism, honor, suffering, judgment, injustice, justice, self-control, empowerment, and grief.