I’m reading The Count de Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and, although the heft of it makes my wrists tremble, I read anxiously and stay up late and resent any and all intrusions.
Palace of the Popes in Avignon, which has nothing to do with The Count de Monte Cristo but looks neat.
Why is this torture device disguised as a book such a time-honored classic? I quake with sympathy for the original readers who had to read this in serial form, waiting in suspense for each new installment, unaware of the conclusion. Personally, I would have headed the torch-bearing mob that stormed Dumas’ loft and demanded the immediate release of Edmond Dantes.
Do you know that innocent young Edmond Dantes gets thrown into a dudgeon and spends years and years and years locked up in darkness? Well, of course you do. Everyone does. But reading the story is so much different then watching the anime version!
I didn’t think I’d be upset by the novel since I know what happens, since the entire world knows what happens. I’m reading it because it’s one of the great enduring adventure stories of all time and I happen to be writing what I hope is an adventure and looking (always) for inspiration. The Count DMC is 1200 pages. I haven’t even read 200 yet and I am feverishly concerned with Edmond Dantes’ misfortune, waking in the night and worrying about his young life wasting away. I could never do something so horrible to one of my characters; not one I like anyway. So why, when I know perfectly well he’s unjustly imprisoned for many years, do I feel so anguished when I read it? Is Alexander Dumas that good?
I have to conclude that yes, he is. I feel Edmond’s pain. I feel the stupendous agony of youth, love and life’s promise lost. But because I know he gets out someday I can bear it. I don’t think I could read this book if I didn’t know in advance he escapes and wreaks vengeance on those who wronged him. Yikes! I’m sure there are people who could write and read a book in which Edmond never gets out, but not I. I’m too soft-hearted toward the fictional characters we bring to life with our rapt attentions. As a writer, I constantly question the why’s and wherefores of such misguided empathy. I lie awake at night, telling myself, it’s only a story! This is not real! So how is it that I, a writer, and occasionally a dastardly one who puts her characters through all sorts of torments, how is it that another writer can trick me into forgetting this?
As a reader I certainly meet a good writer half-way. Give me a character I can care for and some extreme peril, and I’m hooked. Tease me with hope and despair intricately woven, and I’ll follow you anywhere, even through how many years of horrible imprisonment? (God, don’t tell me now or I’ll have to quit reading.)
All the while I long for the payoff that makes it all worthwhile. All the while I curse the author and threaten them with psychic harm if they let me down. I think I’m safe with Dumas, which is why I dare to tread in such dangerous waters. The author who torments me in this way and then releases me to the blissful light of day, through love requited, dreams redeemed, dog saved from drowning, dork turned prom king, quest fulfilled, young lives saved, old lives blessed or vengeance wreaked, earns my eternal gratitude. Even as I curse Dumas I wonder, how can I do this?
Nutshells & Mosquito Wings 
That was another excellent post today. You make it look so easy. Thanks so much for sharing. I really enjoyed reading it very much. Have a wonderful day!
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I re-read The Count of Monte Cristo after I graduated in May. I might venture as far to say that it is my favorite novel. Dumas’ ability to engage the reader in Dante’s misfortune is what makes the novel a page-turner, in my opinion. Nice post. I hope you enjoy reading the whole novel.
Fantastic blog entry. As always, looking forward to the next. This one nailed my roller coaster emotions when I first read Stephen King’s “Misery.”
Oh that wonderful, horrible book.
I might have to risk my wrists and read Dumas’ novel. Sad to say, but I’ve never read it before.
Me, either, and I’m old =D Fortunately, our library system has 30-day check-out with multiple renewals. No excuse for me left . . . maybe this bleak winter? I felt your post, Christina! Tazz
Those 1200 pages go fast, Taz. You might not even have to renew.
I felt upset by a lot of things reading Harry Potter, even though I knew what would happen in them. All the deaths for one thing, not Voldemort’s of course. I’ve never read Monte Cristo, though. Although a high school boyfriend made me watch the movie once. I don’t remember much of it, but I remember thinking that the book was probably a lot better, and I should probably just read that next time instead. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written in installments, as well. I had to read it for an American Lit class my junior year of college and remember thinking how awful it must have been for people waiting for the next chapter. I always say I’m glad I waited until all the Harry Potter books and movies were out in stores before really getting into the series, because I don’t think I could stand having to wait for them to be released. It’d drive me nuts.
I guess it’s time to suit up and read those. I read the first one and enjoyed it, but like you, couldn’t stand the idea of dragging it out that long.
I know for the first time, that there us a reader tortured by her reading. Thanks for sharing. nice post really 🙂
Sometimes I think it is the almost utter lack of hope that grips me. Perhaps perversely, I become intrigued to find if a character is indeed confined to ruin. Characters of Dostoyevsky’s certainly do this to me.
Well, one person’s intrigue is another’s fingernails down the chalkboard of the soul. That said, Crime & Punishment is still one of my favorites. Go figure.
Wow, the way you talk about this book makes me feel like I’m missing out!!
I have to admit it’s in my top ten now.
Well, I s’pose you’ll have buff forearms and an even greater depth of literary knowledge once you’ve finished. Nothing wrong with that… 😉
Great post! Please come and check out my blog @ http://thedailydoseofliterature.wordpress.com/. The more followers, the more posts 🙂
Great post – I also loved that book and yes, stuck with the entire unabridged version because it’s such an epic story, masterfully told. Enjoy the book, looking forward to more of your posts.
Yes, I’ve been warned that the abridged versions can be very confusing as they tend to cut out vital information. Thanks for stopping by.
I just finished Crime and Punishment and felt the same way. Why would Fyodor Dostoevsky make his wonderful, promising character do something so awful and then make himself miserable in trying to escape? The same is true for Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables: why put Jean Valjean through such torture? It seems that these truly great authors know how to push their characters to their breaking points and actually succeed in breaking them. The beauty is in how they put them back together. Good luck in your own journey to master this art!
Very well written! One of my all time favorites!
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I love to read. I am an empath by nature so I really get into books when I read them. I was glad that I waited until all of the Twilight books are out too because I hate waiting for installments. When I sit down to read, I want the whole story. The Count of Monte Cristo is a classic. It was one of my favorites. Enjoy!!!
I have to say, this novel has sat on my bookshelf, waiting to be picked up and devoured for years now. Honestly, I’m afraid of it. It’s so big and intimidating. I don’t know why I feel that way other than it simply is a big novel. Your post though makes me want to at least add it to the stack next to my bed and place it “on deck.”
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it!
The nice thing about having it ‘on deck’ is it makes it own nice little nightstand. But seriously, it reads easily and fast.
I’m always amazed at the amount of empathy I have for characters in books and movies. My first Count of Monte Cristo exposure was in the TV show Wishbone. As a 6-year-old, I was terrified for Dantes (“played by” the dog Wishbone).
That’s too funny. It’s amazing how much the story has infiltrated our culture.
this novel has sat on my bookshelf, waiting to be picked up and devoured for years now. Honestly, I’m afraid of it. It’s so big and intimidating. I don’t know why I feel that way other than it simply is a big novel.
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A friend of mine read this a few months ago and then we rented different versions of the movie. I may have to put the book onto my must-read list, what with his recommendation and now yours. Nothing is better than getting completely sucked in to a great book — not only suspense, but emotional and moral depth, great language and descriptions, perfect timing. I don’t have the talent to write it, but I’m a fantastic appreciator.
Congratulations on being FP for such a terrific post!
Watched the movie a couple of years ago and I like it; but after reading the book, that’s how I truly understand the story and came to love it. 😀
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Great post! I recently read The Art of Fielding — a totally different, new novel — but felt the same sort of empathy for its characters. It is a powerful sort of magic that great authors possess.
This reminds me about several other literature gems, like Grimm fairy tales. Especially ‘Godfather Death’, which had kind of irony in it. These are quite simple stories, but in The Count de Monte Cristo the relationships are much more complex. Which makes it to harder to see the irony.
Since I can tell you’re a literary masochist something like me in your attachment to long(ish) novels and serial ones, I’d like to recommend two different sorts of books for your review attention. One is that if you haven’t already read the whole series of Three Musketeers books by Dumas, you do so (it’s great). There’s also (on that topic) a great literary mystery/fantasty by Arturo Perez-Reverte (set in contemporary times). Then, as to fantasy novels outright, there’s a great new gender-bending fantasy trilogy out by the Cherokee author Daniel Heath Justice called “The Way of Thorn and Thunder: The Kynship Chronicles.” I’ve just had the opportunity to start on this one, but it’s got me hooked already, and I have to confess to something I don’t usually do; that is, a certain amount of peeking ahead. Great post, by the way. Congrats on Freshly Pressed!
Thanks for the tips. The Way of Thorn and Thunder sounds especially intriguing. I love getting glimpses into other cultures and mythologies. I just read The Three Musketeers- Dumas must’ve been a literary rock star at that time.
Probably my favorite adventure book of all! I have an 1895 published copy, and it is from this book that I first read the story. It was difficult for me to put down. I also have his “Three Musketeers” and “Twenty Years After” all published in 1895. That’s when books were books and not paperbacks.
I must admit I prefer The Three Muskateers, which I reread recently (like revisiting an old friend!)
Dumas, technically, is not a particularly brilliant writer in my opinion. In particular, I find characters and subplots to sometimes be started, dropped and then forgotten entirely. And his style can switch dramatically even within a novel. But he captures such life, passion and sheer joy in his writing as to make his works genuine classics. That is a talent that surpasses any other lapses. Great author.
I love his playfulness. I’m sure I caught him making fun of himself in few extended dramatic scenes. And we have to remember that with a public clamoring for the next installment, he couldn’t really go back and weed out those dead ends.
The same issue occurs (to lesser extent, IMO) with Dickens. You’re right, the demands of serial publication would surely tax even the greatest writer.