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The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Posted on 8/26/25 at 12:15 pm
Posted on 8/26/25 at 12:15 pm
Just finished my re-read. And by re-read I mean this was the only book I ever read in high school, 20 years ago, and I've since had 100 seizures, two brain surgeries, and watched the 2002 Guy Pearce and Jim Caviezel movie a few times. So by re-read, I mean first read.
DAMN. So glad I picked this back up again. What a treasure this book is. The only thing I remember was really really liking it because high school iwyLSUiwy was not a reader at all so to finish a 1300+ pager was a triumph in itself.
1300+ pages and honestly not many lulls at all in there. No wars, no gun fights, no extreme action, but somehow was intense all the way through.
The 2002 film, which looking back is basically what Rings of Power is to The Silmarillion. Basically the same in name only. But it was kind of a treat in that I was expecting the book to end the way the movie did and it was completely different, so that was a nice surprise.
Just random tidbits/discussion about the book:
- Outside of the Count, Albert is hands down my favorite character. Holy crap he is hilarious, and unintentionally. He's such a drama queen but somehow in a good way. Love how his character was written and loved his ending. Spoiled but was still a man of honor.
- Was pretty pleased that the Count ended up with Haydee instead of Mercedes. Though you have sympathy for Mercedes and she's a great woman, she moved on from Dantes after 6 months. Sure she prayed and thought about him for years, but she was quick to move on to Fernand and I'm glad Dantes was able to move on.
- Of all the revenge stories, I think the revenge on the procurer Villefort was the best. Too much to go into with the buried child and the murders in his house but man all of that was so awesome.
- I really wanted Danglar to be killed. But he was so money hungrey that 50,000 franks was basically destitute for him. That is about the worst punishment you could give a man with his level of greed.
Anyway, if you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend. It immedietly jumped near the top of my all time favorite fiction books.
DAMN. So glad I picked this back up again. What a treasure this book is. The only thing I remember was really really liking it because high school iwyLSUiwy was not a reader at all so to finish a 1300+ pager was a triumph in itself.
1300+ pages and honestly not many lulls at all in there. No wars, no gun fights, no extreme action, but somehow was intense all the way through.
The 2002 film, which looking back is basically what Rings of Power is to The Silmarillion. Basically the same in name only. But it was kind of a treat in that I was expecting the book to end the way the movie did and it was completely different, so that was a nice surprise.
Just random tidbits/discussion about the book:
- Outside of the Count, Albert is hands down my favorite character. Holy crap he is hilarious, and unintentionally. He's such a drama queen but somehow in a good way. Love how his character was written and loved his ending. Spoiled but was still a man of honor.
- Was pretty pleased that the Count ended up with Haydee instead of Mercedes. Though you have sympathy for Mercedes and she's a great woman, she moved on from Dantes after 6 months. Sure she prayed and thought about him for years, but she was quick to move on to Fernand and I'm glad Dantes was able to move on.
- Of all the revenge stories, I think the revenge on the procurer Villefort was the best. Too much to go into with the buried child and the murders in his house but man all of that was so awesome.
- I really wanted Danglar to be killed. But he was so money hungrey that 50,000 franks was basically destitute for him. That is about the worst punishment you could give a man with his level of greed.
Anyway, if you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend. It immedietly jumped near the top of my all time favorite fiction books.
4
Posted on 8/26/25 at 1:18 pm to iwyLSUiwy
I read it for the first time this year. I watched the 2002 movie right after and hated it. So many unnecessary changes and they tried making it an action movie. Don’t get me started on Luis Guzman as Jacopo. It was nice to see a young Henry Cavill as Albert though.
I’m not sure when it will be available to stream in the US, but I really enjoyed the limited series that came out last year in Europe. I pirated it, so if you don’t sail the high seas you’ll have to wait. It’s a joint French/Italian venture but all the dialogue is in English. Sometimes some obnoxious English pronunciations of French names. It’s not perfect, but it’s by far the most faithful adaptation I’ve seen.
I’m not sure when it will be available to stream in the US, but I really enjoyed the limited series that came out last year in Europe. I pirated it, so if you don’t sail the high seas you’ll have to wait. It’s a joint French/Italian venture but all the dialogue is in English. Sometimes some obnoxious English pronunciations of French names. It’s not perfect, but it’s by far the most faithful adaptation I’ve seen.
Posted on 8/26/25 at 1:51 pm to iwyLSUiwy
Read it for the first time this month and it's up there. Probably 2nd behind Lonesome Dove for me.
Anyone thinking about reading it should. It's such a great revenge story and so much going on.
Really want to watch the adaptation once it becomes available in the US
Anyone thinking about reading it should. It's such a great revenge story and so much going on.
Really want to watch the adaptation once it becomes available in the US
Posted on 8/26/25 at 1:52 pm to Esquire
quote:
I watched the 2002 movie right after and hated it. So many unnecessary changes and they tried making it an action movie. Don’t get me started on Luis Guzman as Jacopo. It was nice to see a young Henry Cavill as Albert though.
I wanted to rewatch it but I think if I rewatched it now I wouldn't enjoy it. If my memory serves just trying to think about some things they did right, I feel like the Chateau D'if part was done good. Or I just remember really liking that part.
quote:
I’m not sure when it will be available to stream in the US, but I really enjoyed the limited series that came out last year in Europe. I pirated it, so if you don’t sail the high seas you’ll have to wait. It’s a joint French/Italian venture but all the dialogue is in English. Sometimes some obnoxious English pronunciations of French names. It’s not perfect, but it’s by far the most faithful adaptation I’ve seen.
Yea I tried looking it up but didn't see it anywhere. Hopefully it'll pop up on something soon.
I did watch the 2024 French movie. I liked almost all of the cast but it's definitely suited to be a mini series, just too much has to be left out in a 2-3 hour movie.
***Movie spoilers if you haven't seen it****
Also really hated the ending to it though. I guess every movie just wants to end it in a sword fight. And Albert ending up with Haydee
So dumb. 
Posted on 8/26/25 at 5:40 pm to iwyLSUiwy
I need to reread it. Its been about 10 years for me. Great freaking book.
Posted on 8/27/25 at 6:52 am to iwyLSUiwy
One of the few books that made ME better, noticed improvement in my own writing for months afterwards.
Posted on 8/27/25 at 1:21 pm to LSUfan20005
Nice.
One thing I did kind of laugh about was just how often women apparently fainted back then. Like anytime anything even remotely shocking was said, the women either fainted or had to sit down in a chair because they were about to faint.
One thing I did kind of laugh about was just how often women apparently fainted back then. Like anytime anything even remotely shocking was said, the women either fainted or had to sit down in a chair because they were about to faint.
Posted on 9/2/25 at 2:46 pm to iwyLSUiwy
great book. i also liked the movie. but, they almost seem like separate stories in my head for some reason. I normally don't like movies based on books because they change too much. but, i did like this one for some reason.
Posted on 9/2/25 at 3:55 pm to hashtag
I saw the movie in theaters just killing time and it became one of my favorite movies ever. It’s very well paced and every character plays their part well.
I read the book about a year later. I admittedly am a much bigger nonfiction reader, but I’ve read plenty, and I get how drama works. However, the book wasn’t as compelling to me as was the movie.
It must have been popular in the 19th century to write about people in disguises and people having all these weird coincidences happening. I’ve seen in Dickens’ stuff also. Dantes is constantly changing into a different character. I remember one scene where Dantes changes character in something like a hallway and the person with whom he is speaking doesn’t even notice even though it’s only been about thirty seconds.
I like the idea of revenge being served the way that hurt the person the most. Danglars is greedy so he fleeces him, Mondego loses his reputation that he worked to hard to obtain, and Villeforte or his wife is a murderer so they have him lose a child (I may be misremembering, it’s been 22 years).
Plus I liked that Mondego’s son was actually Dantes’. How did Dumas miss that?
I read the book about a year later. I admittedly am a much bigger nonfiction reader, but I’ve read plenty, and I get how drama works. However, the book wasn’t as compelling to me as was the movie.
It must have been popular in the 19th century to write about people in disguises and people having all these weird coincidences happening. I’ve seen in Dickens’ stuff also. Dantes is constantly changing into a different character. I remember one scene where Dantes changes character in something like a hallway and the person with whom he is speaking doesn’t even notice even though it’s only been about thirty seconds.
I like the idea of revenge being served the way that hurt the person the most. Danglars is greedy so he fleeces him, Mondego loses his reputation that he worked to hard to obtain, and Villeforte or his wife is a murderer so they have him lose a child (I may be misremembering, it’s been 22 years).
Plus I liked that Mondego’s son was actually Dantes’. How did Dumas miss that?
This post was edited on 9/2/25 at 3:57 pm
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