The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Count of Monte Cristo has it all:  Murder and suicide, deceit, greed, envy, lust and adultery, and most all a complicated and convoluted story of revenge.  Yet some have said this is a children's story-- of a man overcoming terrible circumstances.  The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the more heavily edited and abridged books around, so I think some of the abridgements would work well for kids, but certainly not the 1276 page edition that I read.   (I like to brag about that number).   One critic has said of Dumas; that he wouldn't write a sentence when a paragraph would do.  But what paragraphs!    Dumas's language is lush and lurid.  The Count of Monte Cristo was serialized, so that may have something to do with the word count.  The pages just flew by as I was reading--I can tell when I am enjoying a book because I don't see the pages turn.  When I must put a good book down, I am frequently surprised how far I have read.  Books I don't like, I see every single page number, in fact I think I keep one eye on the number as I read, mmmm that is probably what is slowing me down.

Edmund Dantes is an innocent happily engaged young man at the start of this novel.  Four of his "friends" envy his good fortune, and one covets his fiancée, so they concoct a fake letter, that sends him to prison for life.  His father and Edmund's employer plead with the local prosecuting attorney to save Edmond. But the prosecuting attorney seizes the opportunity to further his career and condemns Edmond to life imprisonment.  Edmond is in prison for fourteen years, the first years are full of despair and anger, but he meets another prisoner, Abbe Faria, who teaches him philosophy, languages, science and the hidden location of a vast fortune.  Edmond escapes and finds the fortune and starts on his avenging path.  But first he discovers what happened to his father and rewards those who helped.  Obviously this a very thin bare bones outline--there is so much to enjoy, in some ways like a very very good made for TV movie, which it was.  I just sank, yes, wallowed in the language, and was amazed at the complexity of the revenge.   If you want a big story with it all you will certainly want to read The Count of Monte Cristo. If you are short for time you might want to read an abridged edition.  Or maybe start with the abridged and then read the other.  I read the abridged edition (441 pages) as a young teen and loved the story, but didn't realize it was abridged until I checked out this copy.