I came to this book knowing nothing about it and was delighted with what I discovered. All that careful plotting and intricate maneuvering! I pretty much fell in love with the Count. Is the story farfetched? Yes. But is it satisfying? Oh yes! I enjoy reading classic novels, but I rarely devour them. This book was a joy to read and I did not want it to end!
I was turned on to this book by the show Wishbone. Thanks to that cute little dog, I have read one of the greatest novels in literature. My favorite novel of all.
I'm currently on chapter 21 of Monte Cristo. I love it so much!! So much has already happened, but there's so much of the book left to go. I have no idea where it's going to go from here but I cannot wait to see what happens!!
I am somewhere in the 800's right now and, as you say, hanging onto every episodic situation. As soon as I ask myself 'how is she going to get out of this?' an unexpected twist resolves the conflict. I have visions of these characters from the Jim Caveizel movie of years ago, which I think probably did not treat the novel fairly, but I'm not sure. Well worth the read. Sadly, I gave up on Don Quixote half way through, as it seemed so redundant/repetitive, but not this masterpiece. I chose the Penguin for the translator, and I think that was excellent advice. Thank you for your support for this reader.
Considering that The Prisoner is my favorite television show, and that The Great Gatsby is my favorite book, and that The Shadow is my favorite pulp series, this book sounds perfect to me. I definitely want to read it.
This one's been on my TBR for far too long, but like a lot of other people, as you pointed out, I just keep feeling intimidated by it. I'll definitely make sure I pluck up the courage soon
Great review. I’m about half way through my first read and it’s size is daunting, it already feels like it should be wrapping up, but there’s a lot to go! But it’s so well written and is already going into the ‘one of my favourites of all time’ category.
I read it for the first time last May, and was blown away by it. Such a great, intricate novel. I need to get myself a physical copy sometime. Great video and description. -T
Belated happy birthday, Michael. Strangely enough I've never read the novel version of MonteCristo. But I did translate and publish all 4 parts of Dumas pere's own dramatization of the novel. Each part would take about 5 hours to perform. (His son, Dumas fils supposedly did a 2 part version but I've never been able to locate a copy..) A compressed version was also made by Charles Fechter (a bilingual French actor who bore a strong physical resemblance to Dumas, and actually played the Dumas fils character in Camille). The rights to that version were purchased by James O'Neill, father of Eugene O'Neill who considered it trash But he made a fortune out of playing Edmond Dantes, so he swallowed his Shakespearean pride and complained all the way to the bank. Fechter's version was republished in America's Lost Plays a collection of forgotten 19th Century American Drama. Since Dumas dramatized the work himself, and was one of the best dramatists of the 19th Century or any century for that matter, you cannot belittle the adapter by saying that the adaptation ruined the book. For a work this size a dramatist has to make selections because an audience will rarely sit through a work that takes much more than 5 hours in performance. Anyway, it's a great adaptation. A contemporary cartoon portrayed a young man going into Part I and coming out old and gray at the end of Part 4. As always congratulations on a nice presentation.
I had begun reading this years ago and gave up halfway through. 😖 The movie is one of my favourites so I have to try it again. I’ve also read that the Penguin print you have translated by Robin Buss is the best version and actually unabridged where as all other editions even though they claim to be unabridged removed the dicier parts. Great video! I think I have to order this edition and try it again this year.
Yes. Yes you do. I agree. I wanted to read it because it was a “classic”, but it became one of my favorite books of all time. It doesn’t read like a classic. Dumas had a flair for writing exciting plots, memorable characters, deep themes, and knowledgeable historical fiction. It reads more like genre fiction than literature. Yes, you do want to read it, and you’ll be sorry when it’s ended. P.S. The Penguin clothbound edition of this didn’t survive the reading. Pages came out. Maybe try the Everyman’s Library edition.
Strange when I read this back in the day ....I never even thought of it as a classic. Great revenge book. 👍 I know when I read it I didn't even know it was the same Author of 3 Musketeers . LoL. 🤷♂️ You are such a great reader . I only say that because I can actually listen 2 You without being bored. Usually when most read My mind starts wandering. Lalalalal🤣🤣🤣🤣 I always thought of it as revenge, but I could see how some look at as justice. I don't even read a book by size. Most of the time I wish all books were 1000 pages , or more. I know I always fly through a book ,and if I Love it towards the end I dread it ending, and start slowing down. LoL. It's why I do so many rereads. Great Video 👍😁👍
I don’t exactly tear through books either so I sympathize. I still have 90 more books to go in my 100 book challenge, for example! I think it’s worth the time to read some mammoths though, especially if they are as good as this one.
I’m currently reading this. (As well as a few other books) so it’s taking longer that it should because I’m jumping from one book to another. I would guess I’m about 70% through it. I generally read it in the mornings, I drive into town in the traffic, get in earlier than when I start work and grab a coffee from the independent cafe across from my job and sit outside at a table with my headphones on and relax for 30mins with it before starting work. Its so peaceful after the journey in and It’s become a routine now. And I’ll have to pick a new large book for when I’m finished this one, so I can continue my routine. At the moment it’s between Don Quixote and Moby Dick. Probably the first one as I already have a copy 😁
The Penguin is an excellent translation as well (by Robin Buss). That's the one to get. I went out and got the hardcover. Highly recommended. Due to the size, it doesn't hold up as well in paperback. Mine was nearly falling apart by the time I finished.
Hey Michael, great video! I just read the book and I am hooked... I am gonna dive deep in some more Alexandre Dumas because I just loved it! Now since you know your books I would like to ask you: can you recommend me another great author like Dumas that writes books that are just as enjoyable to read as this one? Thanks in advance!
I’m not sure I could recommend anything quite like Dumas. Of course I would be quick to recommend H. Rider Haggard and a lot of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s non-Sherlock stuff. Too bad it is so hard to find in print.
I really need to read this, and the other stuff by that Dumbass guy. What holds me back is the fear of picking a duff translation - do you have a recommendation in that regard?
I second criminolly's question below, good or bad translations to worry about with this one ? Stick with the Penguin ? And I hope there's sword fights. Please tell me there's some sword fights. 😂😂
I read an abridged version when I was a teenager (it was still pretty thick), then the complete version as an adult. It's a favorite of mine. The callow Dantes turns into the Byronic Count. The real revenge is how the Count "outranks" his three nemeses - there was once scene where the financier (Danglars) brags: "Why, our bank could even let you borrow $100,000" (or whatever it was) and the Count takes a $100,000 bill out of his wallet and says "That's not sufficient; I always carry at least that much on me." Awkward! The story ends perfectly; everyone gets exactly what they deserve, they end up exactly where they belong.
For the sake of cross-fictional context...Edmond Dantes is accused of being a Bonapartist and right at that time (1815), Jean Valjean is released from prison. Since Valjean had been in prison since 1796, he missed the entire Napoleonic era; he comes out a political newborn so to speak. He cannot be accused of Napoleonic sympathies and is able to reinvent himself in post Napoleonic France. He dies at right around the time that Dantes returns as the Count of Monte Christo.
Stellar review of the Count. I bought it at B/N and only after I had read the 900 page book did I find out that it was abridged. I think a lot of the prison time was omitted. You are so correct in saying it is a serious melodrama. That describes it perfectly. All of the subplots were a bit convoluted at times but it was an excellent book. It deserves a re-read but I am old and there is only so much time.
I prefer Count to Three Musketeers I can't help but wonder if Count was an influence on Batman. Both are people suffer tragedy and create new identities that are above that of most people. Also, the manga Lady Snowblood was influenced a lot by this novel. It deals with a woman born in prison and raised to seek vengeance on those that killed her parents. A lot of plot points are similar, though the main character makes the opposite choice than the one Dantes does at the end. Also, it had a lot of weird sex stuff in it.
This reviewer said this book is better than the three musketeers. Oh BS! Comments like this led me to hate academics in College. Of course.. three musketeers and “on the Road by Kerouac are my favorite books along with those by Dostoevsky. I’m just fretting because so much depends on the translators….. and my thing is a that a better book is the one that had the most influence and appealed to the masses across time. Simplicity and style can be timeless. True … I’m an old fart. I just completed Robin Buss’ translation. I like it but I always had the idea she was adding and excessively overthinking written lines to express it in English. 1243 pages of excess.
Ahhh le compte... Read this 25 years ago, certainly one of the best. Perhaps the original thriller...
I came to this book knowing nothing about it and was delighted with what I discovered. All that careful plotting and intricate maneuvering! I pretty much fell in love with the Count. Is the story farfetched? Yes. But is it satisfying? Oh yes! I enjoy reading classic novels, but I rarely devour them. This book was a joy to read and I did not want it to end!
I like big books an I cannot lie
You otha brothas can't deny...
Easily one of my favorite classics.
You have excellent taste.
It's my favorite story
I was turned on to this book by the show Wishbone. Thanks to that cute little dog, I have read one of the greatest novels in literature. My favorite novel of all.
This book was powerful to me. What revenge and unforgiveness can do to someone
One of my favourite.
Probably one of the first classics i read that I actually enjoyed, and your description made me wanna read again. Love your channel!
Thanks so much!
I'm currently on chapter 21 of Monte Cristo. I love it so much!! So much has already happened, but there's so much of the book left to go. I have no idea where it's going to go from here but I cannot wait to see what happens!!
A LOT happens in this book!
First 300 pages are amazing. Then… 😴
I am somewhere in the 800's right now and, as you say, hanging onto every episodic situation. As soon as I ask myself 'how is she going to get out of this?' an unexpected twist resolves the conflict. I have visions of these characters from the Jim Caveizel movie of years ago, which I think probably did not treat the novel fairly, but I'm not sure. Well worth the read. Sadly, I gave up on Don Quixote half way through, as it seemed so redundant/repetitive, but not this masterpiece. I chose the Penguin for the translator, and I think that was excellent advice. Thank you for your support for this reader.
One of my favorites 😍
I bet. It probably took you a couple days to read this one!
Considering that The Prisoner is my favorite television show, and that The Great Gatsby is my favorite book, and that The Shadow is my favorite pulp series, this book sounds perfect to me. I definitely want to read it.
I think you will really like this one. The Prisoner was awesome but I never saw the whole series. I should.
I’m reading Count of Monte Cristo now. So I’ll come back next year when I’m done reading it to watch this video lol.
Ha! Okay!
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 I just finished. It was great!
I have a lot of big books to read on my TBR but this one has moved up towards the top of it.
This one's been on my TBR for far too long, but like a lot of other people, as you pointed out, I just keep feeling intimidated by it. I'll definitely make sure I pluck up the courage soon
This book repays the time it takes to read it.
Also it's a real page turner , it's took me as long too get through books half it's size
Great review. I’m about half way through my first read and it’s size is daunting, it already feels like it should be wrapping up, but there’s a lot to go! But it’s so well written and is already going into the ‘one of my favourites of all time’ category.
I loved this book when I read it as a teenager. I always thought it was justice.
My third favorite book of all time! So fun to hear you talk about this book!
It might be my favourite 🤔 what are the other two?
@@nahmean7045 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and The Brothers Karamazov!
New to the channel but I can already tell I’m gonna be a big fan! Just finished Monte Cristo and couldn’t agree more with your review!
Great! I’m glad you found my channel!
I read it for the first time last May, and was blown away by it. Such a great, intricate novel. I need to get myself a physical copy sometime. Great video and description.
-T
Thanks! You read an ebook version? I know I have an ebook on my Kindle but I have to check the translation.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 no. I listened to it on audiobook.
@@AnEruditeAdventure Wow! That must have taken forever!
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 it took a fair amount of time. I think the audiobook was like 52 hours or something. But so much fun.
This book is so great and it's so heartbreaking when Dante goes to prison.
Such a great novel. Some of the older translations are abridged and sanitized. The Penguin is good.
Excellent!
Belated happy birthday, Michael.
Strangely enough I've never read the novel version of MonteCristo. But I did translate and publish all 4 parts of Dumas pere's own dramatization
of the novel. Each part would take about 5 hours to perform. (His son, Dumas fils supposedly did a 2 part version but I've never been able to locate a copy..) A compressed version was also
made by Charles Fechter (a bilingual French actor who bore a strong physical resemblance to Dumas, and actually played the Dumas fils character in Camille). The rights to that version were purchased by James O'Neill, father of Eugene O'Neill who considered it trash But he made a fortune out of playing Edmond Dantes, so he swallowed his Shakespearean pride and complained all the way to the bank. Fechter's version was republished in America's Lost Plays a collection of forgotten 19th Century American Drama.
Since Dumas dramatized the work himself, and was one of the best dramatists of the 19th Century or any century for that matter, you cannot belittle the adapter by saying that the adaptation ruined the book. For a work this size a dramatist has to make selections because an audience will rarely sit through a work that takes much more than 5 hours in performance.
Anyway, it's a great adaptation. A contemporary cartoon portrayed a young man going into Part I and coming out old and gray at the end of Part 4.
As always congratulations on a nice presentation.
Wow! That play sounds epic! I really should check that play out!
I had begun reading this years ago and gave up halfway through. 😖 The movie is one of my favourites so I have to try it again. I’ve also read that the Penguin print you have translated by Robin Buss is the best version and actually unabridged where as all other editions even though they claim to be unabridged removed the dicier parts. Great video! I think I have to order this edition and try it again this year.
Now I definitely have to reread it to get the dicier parts! I read the Oxford edition.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 right? Who deletes the dicey bits? Lol!!
Yes. Yes you do. I agree. I wanted to read it because it was a “classic”, but it became one of my favorite books of all time. It doesn’t read like a classic. Dumas had a flair for writing exciting plots, memorable characters, deep themes, and knowledgeable historical fiction. It reads more like genre fiction than literature. Yes, you do want to read it, and you’ll be sorry when it’s ended.
P.S. The Penguin clothbound edition of this didn’t survive the reading. Pages came out. Maybe try the Everyman’s Library edition.
It is a big book but it took me the same time too read as a book half it's size because its that good 👍🏻
Strange when I read this back in the day ....I never even thought of it as a classic. Great revenge book. 👍 I know when I read it I didn't even know it was the same Author of 3 Musketeers . LoL. 🤷♂️
You are such a great reader . I only say that because I can actually listen 2 You without being bored. Usually when most read My mind starts wandering. Lalalalal🤣🤣🤣🤣
I always thought of it as revenge, but I could see how some look at as justice.
I don't even read a book by size. Most of the time I wish all books were 1000 pages , or more. I know I always fly through a book ,and if I Love it towards the end I dread it ending, and start slowing down. LoL. It's why I do so many rereads.
Great Video 👍😁👍
This is absolutely THE revenge masterpiece! Yeah, I feel the same way about books and I reread all the time.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 👍😁👍
Oh lord, it would take me three months to read this. But as with all of your reviews, you make me want to read it 😂
I don’t exactly tear through books either so I sympathize. I still have 90 more books to go in my 100 book challenge, for example! I think it’s worth the time to read some mammoths though, especially if they are as good as this one.
I’m currently reading this. (As well as a few other books) so it’s taking longer that it should because I’m jumping from one book to another. I would guess I’m about 70% through it. I generally read it in the mornings, I drive into town in the traffic, get in earlier than when I start work and grab a coffee from the independent cafe across from my job and sit outside at a table with my headphones on and relax for 30mins with it before starting work. Its so peaceful after the journey in and It’s become a routine now.
And I’ll have to pick a new large book for when I’m finished this one, so I can continue my routine. At the moment it’s between Don Quixote and Moby Dick. Probably the first one as I already have a copy 😁
Could you do a video on Dumas himself
The Penguin is an excellent translation as well (by Robin Buss). That's the one to get. I went out and got the hardcover. Highly recommended. Due to the size, it doesn't hold up as well in paperback. Mine was nearly falling apart by the time I finished.
Wow! That’s good to know! Thanks!
Hey Michael, great video! I just read the book and I am hooked... I am gonna dive deep in some more Alexandre Dumas because I just loved it! Now since you know your books I would like to ask you: can you recommend me another great author like Dumas that writes books that are just as enjoyable to read as this one? Thanks in advance!
I’m not sure I could recommend anything quite like Dumas. Of course I would be quick to recommend H. Rider Haggard and a lot of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s non-Sherlock stuff. Too bad it is so hard to find in print.
You look like Bruce Willis on the thumbnail
Currently reading the Count of Monte Cristo so going to stop the video short until I have read it! Hope you are reading something good.
Oh, speaking of chunksters, forgot to wish everyone a happy Don Quixote day! The best novel ever written was published on this day in 1605.
Wow! Happy DQ day to you!
I really need to read this, and the other stuff by that Dumbass guy. What holds me back is the fear of picking a duff translation - do you have a recommendation in that regard?
The Penguin is probably the best one to get. That seems to be the consensus. You will really like it, I think.
@@michaelk.vaughan8617 thank you!
I second criminolly's question below, good or bad translations to worry about with this one ? Stick with the Penguin ? And I hope there's sword fights. Please tell me there's some sword fights. 😂😂
The Penguin! Not nearly as much fighting in this but it doesn’t matter. It’s great.
I read an abridged version when I was a teenager (it was still pretty thick), then the complete version as an adult. It's a favorite of mine.
The callow Dantes turns into the Byronic Count.
The real revenge is how the Count "outranks" his three nemeses - there was once scene where the financier (Danglars) brags: "Why, our bank could even let you borrow $100,000" (or whatever it was) and the Count takes a $100,000 bill out of his wallet and says "That's not sufficient; I always carry at least that much on me." Awkward!
The story ends perfectly; everyone gets exactly what they deserve, they end up exactly where they belong.
Yeah, such a great book. I need to reread it.
Sadly I have an abridged version, and I hate those versions but it's all I can find at the moment, but I shall read it....
Is this book illustrated?
For the sake of cross-fictional context...Edmond Dantes is accused of being a Bonapartist and right at that time (1815), Jean Valjean is released from prison. Since Valjean had been in prison since 1796, he missed the entire Napoleonic era; he comes out a political newborn so to speak. He cannot be accused of Napoleonic sympathies and is able to reinvent himself in post Napoleonic France. He dies at right around the time that Dantes returns as the Count of Monte Christo.
Stellar review of the Count. I bought it at B/N and only after I had read the 900 page book did I find out that it was abridged. I think a lot of the prison time was omitted. You are so correct in saying it is a serious melodrama. That describes it perfectly. All of the subplots were a bit convoluted at times but it was an excellent book. It deserves a re-read but I am old and there is only so much time.
I understand!
I prefer Count to Three Musketeers
I can't help but wonder if Count was an influence on Batman. Both are people suffer tragedy and create new identities that are above that of most people.
Also, the manga Lady Snowblood was influenced a lot by this novel. It deals with a woman born in prison and raised to seek vengeance on those that killed her parents. A lot of plot points are similar, though the main character makes the opposite choice than the one Dantes does at the end. Also, it had a lot of weird sex stuff in it.
My copy has only 472 pages, so obviously I need to obtain the Penguin!
Yeah, you definitely have a chopped up version.
I appreciated lots of this book but after a while it was a real grudging finish. I was very disappointed.
If only Lin Carter did a pastiche! Count the Conqueror!
Agreed, Jeff. About 600 pages too long.
This reviewer said this book is better than the three musketeers. Oh BS! Comments like this led me to hate academics in College. Of course.. three musketeers and “on the Road by Kerouac are my favorite books along with those by Dostoevsky. I’m just fretting because so much depends on the translators….. and my thing is a that a better book is the one that had the most influence and appealed to the masses across time. Simplicity and style can be timeless. True … I’m an old fart. I just completed Robin Buss’ translation. I like it but I always had the idea she was adding and excessively overthinking written lines to express it in English. 1243 pages of excess.
Yeah, I wouldn’t listen to this reviewer at all. He’s pretty much always full of BS.