The Count of Monte Cristo discussion

I read this book last year, and though I found it entertaining, I really can't understand how people can rate it 5/5. As far as I could tell, the main characters are very simple and 1 dimensional, the plot is filled with extraordinary coincidences, and the main character's unlimited wealth and excellence in everything gets somewhat annoying after a few hundred pages...

There are many books that are better than this one, IMHO. If you rate this book 5/5, what rating will you give to better books? For this reason, I can not give this book more than 3/5.

It`s all someone`s opnion. I personally loved this book. I liked it mostly because it had a little of everything, again, it`s everyone`s opinions...

Feel the writing is excellent. The reader needs to understand the motivations of Edmund Dantes and how he plans his revenge after the conspirators had him convicted. Look at their motivations as well for having him convicted. Would give it 5/5 as well. Also look at the time in history. Would also recommend the Three Muskateers and the Man in the Iron Mask.

Thanks for your replies and comments, everyone.

I think the only book I have rated 5 so far was "War and Peace" by Tolstoy. That book has such wide variety of characters and situations, from the soft scenes of happy family life all the way to the raw chaos of the battle scenes. Tolstoy is an amazing writer.

If would have to compare "War and Peace" with "The Count of Monte Cristo", the latter would be like an exciting comic book while the former is a series of equally exciting Rubens paintings. Both are masterpieces, but I feel there is a clear difference in the overal quality.

Still, that's just my opinion.

I have read "the Three Musketeers", and I personally liked it better than "the Count of Monte Cristo".

Um. Yes. Even though it is contrived, cliche at times, and transparent, it is still a masterful story: timeless, and meaningful. It transcends its base nature and has become a beloved "classic."

It is rated so highly and critically acclaimed because of its universality. This feature does not mean that everyone will like it, or hold it in as high of a regard.

Opinions are widely known to be as common as gastric orifices. These opinions can vary from love to hate and somewhere in between. The consensus, however, is that The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the best loved books of ALL TIME.

HECK YES! Dumas is an amazing writer for every age. This is, personally, one of my top ten favorite books. I do admit however, that it can be a little cliche and predictable at times, but it is still a great read. I have read almost all of Dumas' books and The Count of Monte Cristo is my favorite by far.

monte cristo i found bloated, but then dumas was paid by the page so he was never going to be brief. but yeah, it's a 3 star novel but an enjoyable one

This is my favorite book. I love the plot complexity, Edmund's long and detailed revenge, each of the traitor's losing what they desire, the Count's struggle with the morality of revenge, and his struggle with God. I didn't see there being that too many coincidences and rather liked how deep his revenge goes. He spent 10 years biding his time in freedom in order to bring down the men he most hated. They were bad guys who would do anything to get ahead so they left a trail of dirty secrets behind that Edmund took the time to discover.

This book may not be for everyone, but I loved each and every second of it.

I would have to agree with those who say it is a matter of personal opinion/taste. I love the way Dumas writes. Loved Monte Cristo and adored the Musketeers. I too found Monte Cristo exciting and the few coincidences were not an issue for me. It had to have taken great restraint for Edmund to plan out everything and wait for the perfect timing. Honestly, most people would rush in guns blazing the first chance they got.
I couldn't read more than a few chapter of Tolstoy. I really tried because I heard War and Peace was a great read but I found it so boring that it became a chore to read it rather than an enjoyment and that is why I chose to put it down. To each his own I guess. :)

"To each his own I guess."

Yes, that seems to be the general conclusion :)

Books can also hit people different ways depending on where they are. The frist time I read The Count I feel in love with the book and Dumas. Parts that I loved was The Count's complex revenge, Dumas' comments on revenge, and of course I am a sucker for a good redemption story as well as a trickster hero. I did see though my brother's point that the story was too long winded. It took me about five readings though to see that.

I did read War and Peace. I was glad then ending was such a good payoff but, I found it be a bit of a hard go. My finale conclusion is if someone tells me a book is no War and Peace my response is thank god. :)

Having discovered Scarmouche The Count of Monte Cristo has lost some of its shine. Scarmouche covers the same terriority in half the amount of pages. It also has the plus that all the characters are well drawn and it is not dragged.

I suppose that part of the craze for the book The Count of Moute Cristo is because there has (or at least I haven't found it) a reasonable movie version done of it. Every version I see has the Count with the wrong girl. So, the only option for fans is to re read the book.

My father had falllen in love with The Fable by Faulker while fighting in Korea. Why I don't know. Both my Mom and I tried to read. My Mom quit but, I finally finished it.

Its my 86 year old father's favourite book of all time and he has been an avid reader all his life!

The reason this is so highly rated is that this is the book/story that pretty much established Revenge/redemption as a plot, and did it so well that nearly everything that has revenge or char redemption gets compared to it.

Sure you could say another book in the Gene is better, and some newer books are, but they owe a lot of credit to the founder.

It would be like saying some of the newer Womens Lit is better then Jane Austin, and wondering why she was so great.

Robert wrote: "Um. Yes. Even though it is contrived, cliche at times, and transparent, it is still a masterful story: timeless, and meaningful. It transcends its base nature and has become a beloved "classic."
..."

Is the story a cliche, or did it create the cliche because so many people copied it?

I love this book, though I guess I can see what you are saying. In high school I thought I would write a term paper on Alexandre Dumas, because I enjoyed this book so much. When I began looking a for topic, I found that Dumas didn't really so much have a point or deeper message to his books, but just told an entertaining story. If, as a reader, you demand depth and social commentary, you likely won't enjoy this book.

That being said, I still love this book, and have no compunction giving it 5 stars.

I think so. It's one of my all time favorites. But, everyone had their own opinion. If we didn't the world would be a horribly boring place.

The story has a good premise, but is overly long and complicated. Dumas just didn't know when to stop. Plus, *possible spoiler* the Count and Mercedes don't even get back together! I thought that was sad. The movie with Jim Caviezel is sooo much better. It shortens the story, plus there is a good happily-ever-after for the Count. My advice is to watch the movie. It is really good.

I believe that the story wasn't a novel when it was written, but a series of stories in a paper. That would explain the length. . . It's like a television series compared to a full length movie. He had more time -- and an obligation -- to make the story longer in order to keep it moving forward, and to keep getting paid for it. The man had drinking and gambling to support. Lucky for us.

Edmond Dantes reminded me a lot of Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. Both were obsessed, but Dumas's character is cold and calculating, while Ahab is completely mad. Edmond lets go, but Ahab never could.

The Count of Monte-Cristo is timeless and elegant, and even though much of the themes are very familiar to most of us today, remember this was written over 150 years ago.

And, as with all books, it's better in its original language. 5/5.

I'm wondering how many of the "5-star" people have read the book recently. I thought there were a lot of great parts - the beginning, especially, kicks ass. But there is an awful lot of filler, and maybe 300 pages in the middle that could've been cut without anyone noticing. Seriously. Much of the book is just the author talking about how incredibly rich and fancy the main character has become, which is fine for a while, but, you know, after a few hundred pages you think, okay, maybe this guy needs to be slapped around.

Like a lot of "classic books," it's memorable and interesting, but often overrated. And my theory is that it's better in retrospect than it is while you're reading... in a few years, your brain will have edited out most of the boring stretches, and it will seem like a much more thrilling book than it actually was.

Hi Marius. I had to read your comments several times through before grasping the essence of your comment. My response would be that people have vastly different criteria for what a 5/5 looks like. Some people are giving Fifty Shades of Grey a 5/5 (???!), and others like you are reserving that mark only for the best that has ever been written.

For myself, I will give a 5/5 to anything that leaves me in an almost transcendent state afterwards.
That could be on account of my joy at the beauty and style of language, thematic complexity, or literary construction. It could also simply be the audacity or novelty of the plot, or an impossibly well-realized imaginary world created for the novel.

I rated Count of Monte Cristo 4/5 based on its outstanding revenge plot, and the fact that so many enjoyable scenes stayed with me well after I finished reading. It does, however, share my same frustration with Dickens: An amazing plot ruined (for me) by the constraints of serialization (i.e. the need to keep the story going with fanciful plot inventions that stray from the story at hand).

Many thanks for starting the discussion. I always appreciate the opportunity to understand how others treat the ratings system here.

Literary lists always seem to feel that James Joyce's "Ulysses" is the best book ever written. I have tried four times to read it and have yet to get past the first hundred pages. Ratings on books are, to me, an indication that people have found the book interesting but the reader needs to explore them for themselves. What appeals to one reader will not necessarily appeal to another as indicated by the posts above.
I read the Count of Monte Cristo in high school (1958) an re-read it several years ago to see if my perspective had changed. Found it just as interesting the second time as I did the first. Good literature is timeless it seems.

Why discuss the ratings? The variety of tastes in books makes it all interesting. Rather discuss the pro's and con's of Dumas' writings.

I found this book longer than it needed to be, but having read how the man was getting payed it all makes sense. Great book, brilliant story.

I loved the book, read it many years ago and enjoyed it lots. Brilliant story indeed. Well planned.

Cristobal wrote: "treacly"

ooh, a new word! thanks! :D

This book is really good. It has unexpected twist in it. 1st you will think it's boring and suck, but wwhen you have finished reading a quarter of the book then, it will capture you and you will get hook into it.

Tried reading it when I was 13, got half-way through. Again when I was 18, three-quarters of the way through. Now that I'm an English Lit major I figure I'll have to finish it at some point. :p

Guy wrote: "Tried reading it when I was 13, got half-way through. Again when I was 18, three-quarters of the way through. Now that I'm an English Lit major I figure I'll have to finish it at some point. :p"

lol, 3rd time's the charm, right?

I absolutely love the book and it is my all time favorite. I don't think there were coincidences. The Count planned everything and I loved how meticulous he was!
The only thing I regret about the book was not reading more about his travels before he returned to France.

I read this book a few years ago. I didn't know what it was about when I bought, I just figured I'd give it a shot. It is one of my top 10 favorites. I will admit that the beginning could be a little slow but it really is a great book.

I'd say don't read it unless you have a powerful brain and cncentration and/or are good at following all kinds of plots.

Samuel wrote: "I'd say don't read it unless you have a powerful brain and cncentration and/or are good at following all kinds of plots."

So, if you're smart?

Basically, yes. I read "The Count of Monte Christo" and it was more toil than fun. It had it's good parts, but I didn't like it that much.

Well, I thoroughly disagree that you need a "powerful" brain to read this novel. It's been one of my favorites since 8th grade, and I had no trouble following the plot then.

Good for you, Will. For me, it did not make much sense. :/ Maybe you are relatively or very smart, at least at reading.

Reading the latest comments here again, I again feel I really don't get what makes this book get such high ratings.

Some say "well planned", "The Count planned everything", etc. But just the fact that the revenge was well planned (or "unrealistically well planned" IMHO, it seems the count can predict even when and where horses will go crazy...) doesn't make a story worth 5/5. I think any author can write a story about a perfect character making a perfectly planned revenge. Quite on the contrary, the fact that everything goes perfectly as planned, that the count is basically perfect (knows everything, can do anything, is rich enough to buy anything) becomes rather annoying for me after a while. Can you really symphatize with a personage who you know will succeed in anything he tries? I can't, and it makes the count a very boring character for me.

Let's give a simple example. I read "Anna Karenina" by Tolstoy a few months ago. One of the main characters, Konstantin Levin, at one point goes hunting together with an inexperienced hunter. While I read these scenes, I actually got worried that Levin would have a hunting accident and get accidentally killed.

Compared to that, the Count of Monte Cristo is almost like a story for children. At what point in "The Count of Monte Cristo" have any of you been worried about whether or not the count would succeed?

Me? At no point.

Now, does a story like that deserve 5/5?

Seems like you read the ending first. The literary style and the development of the three scenarios is what makes the book great, in my opinion. It is not what he does but how he does it. The reader also fins out why he was betrayed in the first place.
Read The Man in the Iron Mask or the Three Musketeers and he uses the same style.

Personaly, this is my absolute favorite book. I read it with my book club and we all felt that it meant something different to each of us. Some took away the negitive effects of revenge and anger while others just enjoyed the fast moving, relitvly relastic plot. At some points i felt as though this could have happened;while at others it seems almost laughably imposible. It has a little something for every one no matter what they enjoy. I think that is why i liked it enough to give it 5/5 stars.

Now now, Cheryl, there is no need to be offended. This is just a discussion. I think I have every right to ask what people found so great about this book. It's as you said: no one HAS to explain it to me. But some friendly person MIGHT try to, no?

"people give it a 5/5 because they enjoyed the story."

Are you aware that when you give 5/5, this means that you thought "it was amazing" ? I gave it 3/5, which corresponds apparently to "liked it", because I actually did like it. But, to give a book a score of 5/5 also implies that there is no book you can give a higher score. You apparently gave this book 5/5, which suggests you found it was amazing, and that you think you will never encounter a better book.

I for one find that hard to understand, and I would be very happy if you could tell me what parts, ideas, characters, etc you found so amazing about this book. What parts touched you so much that you thought "this is amazing"? I obviously didn't get it.

Sadly, at present I still haven't seen any comment here that convinced me. Were there any really interesting characters? Any moments that made you think? Is there any part of the Count's personality that you thought was described in a great way by Dumas? Any parts of the plot that you found Dumas had planned very carefully?

I would have to answer "no" to all these questions. It was an enjoyable story, but not much more than that. The characters seemed one-dimensional, the story has no deep content at all, the count is perfect, and the story - although not boring - is just a series of (often unrealistic) events and coincidences.

Marius wrote: "But, to give a book a score of 5/5 also implies that there is no book you can give a higher score. You apparently gave this book 5/5, which suggests you found it was amazing, and that you think you will never encounter a better book."

No, that is your interpretation of what "it was amazing" means. This rating system is FAR from perfect. What if I actually rated it closer to a 4.5-4.6 /5, but just rounded? Maybe I thought the plot was great, but the writing was tedious, or the characters shallow, but I still loved reading it more than most other books? 5/5 doesn't mean perfect, it is completely subjective and is based on enjoyment.

"Sadly, at present I still haven't seen any comment here that convinced me."

Well this is ridiculous. You aren't looking to be convinced it was amazing. You've already read it and rated it. You've already made up your mind on what you think of it, so anyone else who likes it more than you, or who thinks it's a better novel than you think it is, isn't going to convince you otherwise, you will just disagree and say, "well, I didn't see it that way."

Will,

I am sorry, I should have been more clear. When you rate a book, and hold your mouse above the amount of stars you want to give, Goodreads shows a line corresponding to that score. For 5 stars, it says "it was amazing", for 3 stars it says "liked it", etc.

You are right in saying that I am not looking to be convinced it was amazing. I am trying to understand why others thought is was. I don't think there is anything ridiculous about that.

"I am sorry, I should have been more clear. When you rate a book, and hold your mouse above the amount of stars you want to give, Goodreads shows a line corresponding to that score. For 5 stars, it says "it was amazing", for 3 stars it says "liked it", etc."

No, I completely understood this when I wrote what I wrote. There is only 5 ratings you can give a book here, and only one of them is a negative (I didn't like it). The rating is not precise and 5/5 does not mean the book is perfect, or that everything about it was enjoyable to the maximum level. It is a subjective rating based on enjoyment and not how well it was written.

"I am trying to understand why others thought is was. I don't think there is anything ridiculous about that."

It is ridiculous. I'll explain: You said, "Were there any really interesting characters? Any moments that made you think? Is there any part of the Count's personality that you thought was described in a great way by Dumas? Any parts of the plot that you found Dumas had planned very carefully?" Any answer I give to these you would just dismiss because you disagree. You say "no" to all of these and I say "yes" to most of them. It's as simple as that.

Observe:
"Any parts of the plot that you found Dumas had planned very carefully?" Yes

What more are you trying to understand?

Well said, Will. It does seem a little silly to ask people to convince you that a book you've read was better than you thought it was. Much more interesting to just talk about what people liked or disliked about the book.

with all those last comments said... what I liked about the book was the fact that so many men ruined lives, lied cheated, killed, etc and didn't get away with it. the book focused a lot on karma and karma was implemented through a man seeking revenge. there was a lesson to the story that life is handed out in equal terms. the ones with it all, lost it and the one with nothing, gained everything. However, I can't say this is all I liked about the book... the characters' personalities were all well defined, the descriptions were enough but not too much, etc.
For a classic it had a very modern read and I wish the American movie stayed closer to the book.

The book is a work of fiction. A such it presents a set of characters enacting a series of events which are for the reader to enjoy. This makes it an individual thing for each person. As such it should be read and enjoyed or not enjoyed. It is not a work of philosophy intended to influence thinking or set pathways for a life experience. I enjoyed it very much as a great story and will continue to do so as I have with Dumas other writings. I hope some others will do the same.

Marisa wrote: "HECK YES! Dumas is an amazing writer for every age. This is, personally, one of my top ten favorite books. I do admit however, that it can be a little cliche and predictable at times, but it is sti..."

I totally agree!

This is also one of my Favorites. I think it is Dumas' best. I have read it at least 5 times and I'm sure I will read it again some day.

Anne wrote: "The story has a good premise, but is overly long and complicated. Dumas just didn't know when to stop. Plus, *possible spoiler* the Count and Mercedes don't even get back together! I thought that w..."

I would have liked the movie if it hadn't been named "The Count of Monte Christo". So NOT the same story! Really annoying, since I love this book. Very entertaining!

Thank you Kristin and others who took the time to write down their valuable opinion.

It's quite refreshing to read something else than just "yes" or "to each their own" or "don't discuss"...

there is a, I think it's, French movie that follows the books really well. loved that version. it is long but so is the book.