ENJOYING THIS BOOK AS A BED TIME READ... COLORFUL AND ENTERTAINING.... A GREAT CLASSIC TO READ!

A novel for the ages and one of my favorites. You almost already know what will happen, and having that knowledge makes you want to continue all the more. A better revenge novel has never been written. ( )

A rollicking adventure story. ( )

This is what life, and therefore the novel, should be. This exact thing. If it weren't for...air conditioning, indoor plumbing, and modern medicine, I would fervently wish to live in this time period. Dumas covers pretty much all relevant themes: love, hate, loss, God, revenge, war, forgiveness, honor. And you never feel like you're trudging through an epic. That's the one problem I had with War and Peace; the historical bits seem so out of place. But Dumas weaves history in so perfectly. The characters are deeply developed, as are the themes. This is actually a very Christian book, with a very Christian message...similar to War and Peace, and not just because it's long. ( )

The Count of Monte Cristo is the tale of Edmond Dantès, a young man facing a bright future. Even though he is barely twenty, the young sailor is looking forward to rapid promotion in his job and a joyous marriage to the love of his life. Unfortunately Edmond has rivals for each and these men conspire to get him out of the way. Through their actions, Edmond is falsely accused of conspiracy and imprisoned. Years pass and life passes Edmond by. Eventually people assume that he is dead. The truth however, is that Edmond eventually escapes imprisonment and finds the means in which to prepare an elaborate revenge. Upon a second reading, it occurred to me that this really is a big, fat, honkin' melodrama that really doesn't offer deep insights into the human condition. But, oh, what fun! I truly enjoyed the story, though it was a bit disillusioning to discover that Batman, the Shadow and Captain Christopher Pike weren't quite as original as I thought.
--J. ( )