"You must needs have wished to die, to know how good it is to live."

 

 

[Source]

Well, this was fantastic.

There were draggy parts in the middle of the book, which is my only minor complaint. But the intricate plot and the characters are outstanding. And the ending ... I loved it. What a book!

Not even the concierge had seen the man´s face, either when he was coming or going out. In winter he buried his chin in one of those red scarves that high-class coachmen wear while they are waiting for their masters to leave the theatre; in summer he was always blowing his nose just at the moment when he might have been seen going in front of the lodge. It must be said that, contrary to all usual practice, this inhabitant was not being spied on by anone and that the rumour going around that his alias disguised a most eminent personage - and one who could pull lots of strings - had led people to respect the mystery of his coming and goings.

 

[Source]

I wonder who that guy is ... ;)

ETA: Never mind. It´s not the count.

Almost all were young men who had been forcibly struck by [...] death and who, despite the cold mist of the century and the prosaic spirit of the age, felt the elegiac poetry of this beautiful, chaste, young woman, struck down in her prime.

 

I don´t think it can get anymore dramatic than this.

TITLE:  The Count of Monte Cristo

AUTHOR:  Alexandre Dumas

TRANSLATOR:  Robin Buss

DATE PUBLISHED:  originally 1844

                                  (Penguin edition 2012)

FORMAT:  Hardcover

EDITION:  Penguin Classics (Clothbound),

                  complete and unabridged

ISBN-13:  9780141392462

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DESCRIPTION: 

"Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel of wrongful imprisonment, adventure and revenge.

Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantès is confined to the grim fortress of the Château d’If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and becomes determined not only to escape but to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration.

A huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s, Dumas was inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment when writing his epic tale of suffering and retribution."

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REVIEW:

I don't have a very good relationship with classics.  Most I find long-winded and tedious.  However, the Count of Monte Cristo was rather enjoyable, not at all boring or overly verbose.  The unabridged Robin Buss translation was excellent.  This is a tale of revenge (the convoluted kind), but includes drama, intrigue, suspense, action, romance and some wonderful (and not so wonderful) characters.  An entertaining reading experience that whizzed by when you consider the book is 1200+ pages.

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NOTE:

Which English Edition of the Count of Monte Cristo Should I Read?

Went back to the Count and, oh my godness, this suddenly became so intense. Unbelievable. The count, though ...

I cannot wait to get back to this in the afternoon.