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Em Lost In Books's Reviews > The Count of Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo
by
by
Em Lost In Books's review
bookshelves: massive-tomes, 1800-1900, 2018, 5-star, translations, stand-alone-read
May 21, 2018
bookshelves: massive-tomes, 1800-1900, 2018, 5-star, translations, stand-alone-read
I generally don't read classics. it's only in last 2-3 years that i have started collecting these lovely penguin classics editions and i emphasis here on "collecting" as it is easier than reading. But now i have been slowly going through my physical bookshelf. last year I read David Copperfield and this year it's Idiot and now this. Okay, I started Idiot and Cristo last year and finally finished reading them this year.
Finishing this tome was a real challenge as you get to know within few chapters that it will be a revenge story. There are plot twists that one would guess about miles ahead, the character at times felt shallow and sometimes it seems like things were exaggerated for no reason. but would i change this for anything else? No. because it would feel like you have cut an essential limb from the body.
it is scary to see how close Dumas has come to predict the future through this story. He talks about betrayal, corruption, jealousy, politics, and love in this book and even after 170 years society has not changed, if possible things has gotten worse.
With a length of 1276 pages and utterly predictable, this book is still an amazing adventure to go on. I rolled my eyes at times, giggled like a child, felt angry for injustice, and fist bumped in the air yelling "YES". this story made me feel so many emotions and it's a story that will stay with me forever.
Finishing this tome was a real challenge as you get to know within few chapters that it will be a revenge story. There are plot twists that one would guess about miles ahead, the character at times felt shallow and sometimes it seems like things were exaggerated for no reason. but would i change this for anything else? No. because it would feel like you have cut an essential limb from the body.
it is scary to see how close Dumas has come to predict the future through this story. He talks about betrayal, corruption, jealousy, politics, and love in this book and even after 170 years society has not changed, if possible things has gotten worse.
With a length of 1276 pages and utterly predictable, this book is still an amazing adventure to go on. I rolled my eyes at times, giggled like a child, felt angry for injustice, and fist bumped in the air yelling "YES". this story made me feel so many emotions and it's a story that will stay with me forever.
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Reading Progress
March 15, 2017
– Shelved
March 15, 2017
– Shelved as:
to-read
August 1, 2017
–
Started Reading
August 1, 2017
– Shelved as:
massive-tomes
August 8, 2017
–
9.4%
"
"I am not proud, but I am happy; and happiness blinds, I think, more than pride.�
"
page
120
August 17, 2017
–
17.24%
"
"Learning does not make one learned: there are those who have knowledge and those who have understanding. The first requires memory and the second philosophy.�
"
page
220
August 24, 2017
–
28.21%
"
“We are always in a hurry to be happy...; for when we have suffered a long time, we have great difficulty in believing in good fortune.�
"
page
360
August 29, 2017
–
40.2%
"
“It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.�
"
page
513
September 4, 2017
–
43.26%
"
"You know that all human inventions progresses from the complex to the simple and that perfection is always simplicity."
"
page
552
September 11, 2017
–
50.94%
"
When you compare the sorrows of real life to the pleasures of the imaginary one, you will never want to live again, only to dream forever.
"
page
650
March 15, 2018
–
57.21%
"
"Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout as you did in Rome. Do your worst, for I will do mine! Then the fates will know you as we know you."
"
page
730
April 2, 2018
–
70.53%
"
"How did I escape? With difficulty. How did I plan this moment? With pleasure."
"
page
900
April 15, 2018
–
82.29%
"
"There are two ways of seeing: with the body and with the soul. The body's sight can sometimes forget, but the soul remembers forever."
"
page
1050
May 21, 2018
– Shelved as:
1800-1900
May 21, 2018
– Shelved as:
2018
May 21, 2018
– Shelved as:
5-star
May 21, 2018
– Shelved as:
translations
May 21, 2018
– Shelved as:
stand-alone-read
May 21, 2018
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-25 of 25 (25 new)
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message 1:
by
Supratim
(new)
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rated it 4 stars
Dec 18, 2017 08:15AM
Read and enjoyed this book a long time back. I look forward to your review. Happy reading!
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Oh wow, I haven't read this in years. I'm not even sure I remember it fully enough to mark it as read. Looking forward to your review.
It doesn't matter how long it takes you to read a book. It's just great that you finished! (Plus Alexandre Dumas doesn't do short books lol. I'm still intimidated to read his books for this reason, but I will...eventually.)
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I think, sometimes, it takes longer to read the really good books. Fluff stuff I can read in less than day - but I also forget them just as quickly.
Rachel wrote: "It doesn't matter how long it takes you to read a book. It's just great that you finished! (Plus Alexandre Dumas doesn't do short books lol. I'm still intimidated to read his books for this reason,..."you gave it two stars! lolss.. true, Dumas doesn't do short stories but at least didn't drag even after being predictable.
hope you like his work whenever you pick one. :)
Mackey wrote: "I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I think, sometimes, it takes longer to read the really good books. Fluff stuff I can read in less than day - but I also forget them just as quickly."i concur!
Manju wrote: "you gave it two stars! lolss.. true, Dumas doesn't do short stories but at least didn't drag even after being predictable. hope you like his work whenever you pick one. :)"
I forgot I didn't have a review written for it until you made me go back and look at it lol. It's been a while so I might go back and read it someday to write a better review and see if I still feel the same way as I did then. Even though I didn't like it doesn't mean I'm not glad others enjoyed it.
hope you like it on reread. :)
My did you like this overrated classic, Manju? I think that, if you only give modern books a chance, you'll never look behind.
Don't think I will survive 1k+ pages of a book unless it's a SA but this one kept me on tenterhooks even after being achingly predictable.
Great review Manju! Absolutely agree with everything you said. It was very predictable yet too sad and really good at the same time :)
Thanks, Fuzalia! Too bad we don't have many stories like this.
Yeah it is unfortunately. Have you read Les Misérables?? This book reminded me of it, but there are quite different actually.
yet to read Les Miserables but am scared of it's length... have you read it?
I read the local translated version and it was a bit shorter too. But it's amazing!
I’ve collected way too many books and it is about time I actually read them. I have a few classics in a beautiful leather-bound collection and I hope to get to them as well soon. This one is on my list as well but the size makes me hesitate.
*drooling at mention of leather bound classics*;)Don't hesitate. You will be hooked after few chapters and if you don't then dump I. You have books waiting for you. :D
Manju wrote: "*drooling at mention of leather bound classics*;)Don't hesitate. You will be hooked after few chapters and if you don't then dump I. You have books waiting for you. :D" i will try it. Agree about dumping. I am the chief book dumper this year.
Oh you finished this last year!!!! :) I'm happy to read this review. So true about the book being predictable in parts yet being enjoyable. :)
Your review is pretty much inline with my thoughts about this book. The foreword mentions how this book has become more of an classic adventure novel over the past decades. But I feel it's far more than adventure. I just completed it recently and such books encourage me towards reading more classics.
You pulled some awesome quotes! Great review!
@jayanth, @Bookworm, @ Michelle - Thanks! :)
Great review! I've always loved this book, although its been many years since I've read itDo you still collect penguin classics? I had few somewhere but never went into collecting
I noticed I liked this before we were friends when I couldn't write a comment. I am so glad I can write something now, Em. You bring up so many good points! Yes, it is always interesting how writers of the past can see into our future. Does that mean we keep repeating ourselves? Yes! We just aren't learning from our mistakes, right?! Excellent review Em! 🙂
Great review, Em. I had to read this classic back in college, but I'm glad I did. It's not called a classic for nothing. Great story!
