Friday, October 24, 2008
The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas
Here's a book that I both want to put on my shelf and toss into the Elbe River. Why? Because I was really enjoying the book until I discovered that the copy I had purchased and was reading was an abridged version of Mr. Dumas' classic tale. I felt cheated, I felt shame at reading a lesser version rather than delving into a (reported) big, fat, honking, 19th Century novel. So if you are at the book store and see the 441 page Bantam Classic version--don't buy it! Hold out for the real deal. Accept no version that you can easily carry with one hand.
Unless, of course, that's the only version you can find. Even though I was a victim of poor packaging, I had to finish reading the book--puny as it was. The Count of Monte Cristo is the tale of Edmond Dantès, a young man facing a bright future. Even though he is barely twenty, the young sailor is looking forward to rapid promotion in his job and a joyous marriage to the love of his life. Unfortunately Edmond has rivals for each and these men conspire to get him out of the way. Through their actions, Edmond is falsely accused of conspiracy and imprisoned. Years pass and life passes Edmond by. Eventually people assume that he is dead. The truth however, is that Edmond eventually escapes imprisonment and finds the means in which to prepare an elaborate revenge. I truly enjoyed the story, though it was a bit disillusioning to discover that Batman, the Shadow and Captain Christopher Pike weren't quite as original as I thought.
LibraryThing link
Here's a book that I both want to put on my shelf and toss into the Elbe River. Why? Because I was really enjoying the book until I discovered that the copy I had purchased and was reading was an abridged version of Mr. Dumas' classic tale. I felt cheated, I felt shame at reading a lesser version rather than delving into a (reported) big, fat, honking, 19th Century novel. So if you are at the book store and see the 441 page Bantam Classic version--don't buy it! Hold out for the real deal. Accept no version that you can easily carry with one hand.
Unless, of course, that's the only version you can find. Even though I was a victim of poor packaging, I had to finish reading the book--puny as it was. The Count of Monte Cristo is the tale of Edmond Dantès, a young man facing a bright future. Even though he is barely twenty, the young sailor is looking forward to rapid promotion in his job and a joyous marriage to the love of his life. Unfortunately Edmond has rivals for each and these men conspire to get him out of the way. Through their actions, Edmond is falsely accused of conspiracy and imprisoned. Years pass and life passes Edmond by. Eventually people assume that he is dead. The truth however, is that Edmond eventually escapes imprisonment and finds the means in which to prepare an elaborate revenge. I truly enjoyed the story, though it was a bit disillusioning to discover that Batman, the Shadow and Captain Christopher Pike weren't quite as original as I thought.
LibraryThing link
// posted by John @ 7:33 PM 
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