The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas
I loved this book, but before you dive in on my recommendation, rent the Gérard Depardieu 4-part miniseries. It’s very well acted, extremely entertaining, and if you don’t see it before reading the book. . .you’ll be sorry. The language—well, the translation, I should say—is beautiful, but extremely old-fashioned, so it will take all your concentration to keep up with the complex sentences. Throw in a plot so complicated only a Frenchman could come up with it and dozens of characters with confusing French names, and you will absolutely get lost if you don’t already know the story. There have been other film adaptations, but they’ve all strayed from the book and condensed selected plot lines into two hours. The Depardieu version is the only one that will teach you the entire story.
If subtitles aren’t your thing and you don’t want to rent the movie, that’s okay. Just make sure to keep a notepad handy while you’re reading so you can take notes on the characters and plots.
Just to give you a hint of the story, the lead of the story gets imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, and in order to seek revenge (yes, the TV show Revenge was “inspired” by the classic novel) he comes up with scheme after scheme to make sure the bad guys “get theirs”. That notepad will come in handy, trust me.
The exact version I read, translated and abridged by Lowell Bair, is linked above. Since that version is pretty rare (I got it at a local used bookstore) here's a link to a more commonly found abridged version.
I can't even imagine how complex the unabridged 1200-page book is! But for those of you who are very brave, the full book is here.
Be sure to check out Hot Toasty Rag's review of the 1998 miniseries here!
If subtitles aren’t your thing and you don’t want to rent the movie, that’s okay. Just make sure to keep a notepad handy while you’re reading so you can take notes on the characters and plots.
Just to give you a hint of the story, the lead of the story gets imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, and in order to seek revenge (yes, the TV show Revenge was “inspired” by the classic novel) he comes up with scheme after scheme to make sure the bad guys “get theirs”. That notepad will come in handy, trust me.
The exact version I read, translated and abridged by Lowell Bair, is linked above. Since that version is pretty rare (I got it at a local used bookstore) here's a link to a more commonly found abridged version.
I can't even imagine how complex the unabridged 1200-page book is! But for those of you who are very brave, the full book is here.
Be sure to check out Hot Toasty Rag's review of the 1998 miniseries here!