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The Count of Monte Cristo (Penguin Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Alexandre Dumas Pere
Creator: Robin Buss
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $8.19
You Save: $5.81 (42%)
New (38) Used (27) Collectible (3) from $7.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  113 reviews
Sales Rank: 3836
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 1312
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 2.3
ISBN: 0140449264
Dewey Decimal Number: 843.7
EAN: 9780140449266
ASIN: 0140449264
Publication Date: May 27, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Translated with an Introduction by Robin Buss
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| Customer Reviews: Read 108 more reviews...
A Tale as Rich as the Sandwich August 7, 2008
Perhaps the only work in popularity to rival Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers is The Count of Monte Cristo. As with many of Dumas' works, the story has huge cast of characters and several underlying plot lines dealing with political upheaval and scandals in France during that era. I found that the The Man in the Iron Mask had so many side political story lines that it made the novel confusing and hard to follow. And then I got bored. However, The Count, has just the right amount and ties together very well at the end, which does not subscribe to the generic formulaic predictable plot. In fact, I would deem it the ultimate revenge story.
There have been 11 films and 4 television series that have attempted to tell the tale of the wronged Edmund Dantes and his search for his fiance Mercedes and his pursuit of the man that wronged him. The most recent film was in 2002 starring Jim Caviezel and while casted well, paled in comparison to the novel in many ways and the liberal creative license taken with the story almost offending. The latter half of the film no longer resembled the masterpiece of the novel. Yes, most films pale to their written counterparts, but this one in particular deserved a Golden Razzie.
The novel has a huge story to go with the cast of characters, but is pretty basic in that a man is wrongly accused and seeks to right the wrongs, along the way, losing those that he cared about, mounting his need for revenge even further. Edmund calculates and plans out the most exquisite plans and is not completely heartless or merciless. In fact, his compassion and loyalty are overriding themes throughout the novel. I guess you could say the richness of the Monte Cristo sandwich rivals that of it's namesake!
The Count of Monte Cristo is not a novel to be missed.
And if you really need the short version, The Simpsons did a 10min summary in the episode "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Three Times."
An AMAZING book! July 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Wow. I am so glad to have bought this book. I cannot put it down! At first I must admit I was intimidated by its size as well as the period it was written. I find that many period books are really dense and difficult reads. Not this one at all!!! Easy to read and such a gripping tale! It draws you in and you do not want to put it down. I am so glad that I am reading the unabridged version because I cannot imagine it any other way. I am also so happy that it is so long because I do not want the story to end!
The perfect story July 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"The Count of Monte Cristo" is a literary masterpiece. It has everything one could want in a book and more: adventure, fighting, planning, tales of riches, tales of suffering, tales of ultimate betrayal and revenge, and even a little love.
This book may be long, but every single page is worth your time. It is written so perfectly and the story put together with such great design...an epic tale perfect for any reader.
Long and Worth It June 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I had never read Monte Cristo before and was at first reluctant to invest the time needed for this modern, unabridged version. I'm glad I did though, because it was a great story that moved along quickly in spite of its length. The freshly translated language helps, and because it's unabridged, it's satisfying to know that you're getting the full text that Dumas intended.
The archtypal revenge story. May 17, 2008
"The Count of Monte Cristo" is a phrase that most people are familiar with; the broad outlines of his story have become a part of everyone's general understanding via cultural osmosis: Edmond Dantes, wrongly imprisoned by the contrivance of four men, escapes jail after decades, and, armed with essentially limitless money, plots his revenge. With this in mind, those revisiting the original novel have a general idea of what happens with the principal characters. While it would perhaps be optimal to begin reading with no preconceptions, the novel does not suffer for knowing the general outline. In particular, adaptations always end up significantly cutting the original story, which clocks in at nearly 1300 pages in this edition; so there are plenty of story points normally omitted for the reader to discover.
An English professor once related that in the Renaissance genre of revenge tragedy, there were only a few that really examined the toll taken on the revenger (Kyd's "The Spanish Tragedy" and Shakespeare's "Hamlet" being the notable ones), while most simply offered a black-and-white story of wronged men slaying the demons who haunt them. Alexander Dumas' story, which has become perhaps the archtypal revenge novel, also falls into the more complex category. It is perhaps telling that while the novel follows Edmond Dantes' perspective from the beginning to the point where he escapes from prison and finds the treasure that will finance his scheme, as soon as Dantes becomes The Count of Monte Cristo the perspective largely shifts to other characters; Dantes, a young and happy man, becomes something different and less human; the Count is almost automaton-like in his calculations and actions, though, as the story wears on, pricked by resurgent emotions. It is the conflict between his assumed roll as the wrath of God and his mere humanity that serves as the major conflict in the novel's climax.
Dumas offers a panoply of other characters, generally well-drawn, and absurdly interconnected in the best traditions of the Victorian novel; particularly notable is the oblique sketch of a lesbian couple who ride off into the sunset, a risky inclusion for the time period (and generally sanitized from most versions of the story).
This is by no means a quick read, but it is very much recommended for fans of classic literature.
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