/lit/ - Literature

I'm really intimidated by it length and haven't read it yet. Please tell me why I need to read this book.

>>6097862
The only part I didn't like is near the end of the first tome (around pages 300-400), when the plot shifts to as of yet unknown characters in Rome. That was, not really boring, but kinda weird.
Other than that, all other parts were amazing. I'm especially in love with the part where the bed-ridden Noirtier, communicating only with his eyes, manages to hatch a scheme to help the young girl by threatening to disintherit her, and, near the end, when the greedy noble is almost starved, like the Count's father died.

>>6098038
fuckin spoilers failure
Really great book, finished it in less than three weeks, which is rather fast for me.

>>6097862
>It's like the wave of fulfillment that overcomes you after achieving your biological prerogative and ejecting your seed into a woman while eating a freshly fried cream filled from Krispy Kream and sipping on an aged tawny port.

Don't write. You're not any good at it.

>>6098044
Don't criticize. You're not any good at it.

>>6098044
nigga i wasn't even writing for real

damn why you got to be a lil bitch

>>6098038
Yeah, at first when the characters switched I was quite confused, but once everything falls into place and you know the reason why everything is happening as it has it's just...incredible. I know that Dumas was paid by word, but to me, nothing in the book feels superfluous (I know many on /lit/ would disagree). It just all interconnects so beautifully and builds to a staggering and awe inspiring climax.

My favorite part would have to be when Edmond returns to Marseilles after revealing himself to Fernand and completing the plot in Paris and finds Mercédès in the garden of his father's house. I was bawling my eyes out like a bitch. He had spent his entire life fighting for her but he had to move past her and find a new life. Inspiring and tragic and romantic and heartbreaking all at once.

>>6098017
>intimidated by the length of a black mans work

>>6097862
The most satisfying scene for me in this book is the court scene when Villefort's son reveals himself to his father, his father goes crazy and his mother faints. That scene had me reeling.

>>6098017
The length is intimidating at first, but the only thing about the book that is somewhat daunting is the massive cast of characters. It's worth the effort, however---it is an endlessly rewarding and immensely satisfying book, and probably THE greatest revenge story that has ever been told. It may be 1,400+ pages, but they practically fly by, because the story, characters, and writing (which is beautiful, but not overly purple) are all extremely engaging---by the time I got to page 500 after a few weeks, I was completely entranced by it, and read the last 900 pages in 3 days of straight 12 hour reading. If you want a book to get totally immersed in, this is it---it was the first time in a long, long time, maybe since the time I was a kid, that a book has so completely seized me and refused to let go until I reached the last page. It builds from a story of jealousy and betrayal to a quaking examination of the consequences of revenge, love, desire, death, and the burden of dreams.

This is one book that /lit/ is completely right about. I seriously consider it one of the greatest novels ever written and definitely the most satisfying. Seriously, anon, once you're immersed in the story, the length becomes a non-issue. You will devour this book just to find out what happens next.

>>6098017
That's like being intimidated by the length of Harry Potter.

Monte Cristo is an easy reading page turner, it's like watching a movie.

>>6098750
Thanks anon, I am glad to hear it doesn't drag and is worth the investment. .

>>6098761
I ain't fraid nothin

>>6098776
Some people complain that it drags in some places, but it's because the book shifts its perspectives a lot of times---it's generally classified as a "megapolyphonic" novel, with many points of view, plot threads, and competing voices. And at first, some of it may seem a tad bit superfluous (for instance, I got a little bit bored at some of the Danglars sections which were mostly concerned with economic shit), but the mild tedium in some very few sections and plot lines of the book are more than made up for in their respective conclusions. None are superfluous and all have importance to the main plot line. The weight, charisma, and influence of the Count is felt everywhere and drives everything along so you really don't care about a couple pages here and there.

How sad is it when you finish it though? Not because of the story but because there is no more of it.

I think it's the best book I've read, my my favourite at least. I'll have to read it again I think but I'm quite interested in his other stuff.

It's funny that many people are intimidated by the length but when you read it you wish it were twice as long.

>>6097862
I have never in my life been completely blown away by a book in the way that this book had. The characters, especially the Count, should be held as prime examples of how characters should be written. The Count of Monte Cristo is the best book I've ever read and will probably hold that status until the day I die. The Count is the best character ever written, hands down.

e-read it 5 years ago and plan on ordering a physical copy for the re-read. i m honestly surprised when i hear its length being discussed...i just remember not wanting it to end and for the count to continue on sailing and saving the world.

Regarding the ending...
Do you really consider Hope and Wait to be a good message, and in tune with the rest of the book?

Is it worth reading the abridged version instead?

And don't say 'no' just because you're a try-hard faggot.

>>6100133
It's not worth to read an abridged version of anything.

>>6100180
You know who deals in absolutes?

Try-hard faggots.

>>6100197
You know who read abrdiged versions of anything?

Fucking morons

>>6100203
u smell

>>6098750
>by the time I got to page 500 after a few weeks
Are you serious? I've read the book in 6 days, how did it take you so long for only 500 pages?

I remember this book being way shorter
recall is a trip

>>6098750

>read the last 900 pages in 3 days of straight 12 hour reading

that's pretty slow bro

>>6097862
>Can we just talk about how incredible this book is?
you must be french

>>6100641
Nobody cares about this book in France (and more generally about Dumas). The teachers of my school advised us to not make references about any Dumas' work, it would be like quoting Harry Potter
The only Dumas that is worth reading is Dumas fils, but there's far better in the XIXth anyway so..

>>6100614
Not everyone has the time to put in 1,400 pages of reading in 6 days big hoss.

Literally the equivalent of todays genre fiction, pleb reading, no literary value.

I don't remember it being tediously long but there is a reason why its plot has been copied by so many.

Reading it though I only felt regret that I can't parlez Francais and read it the way Dumas intended it to be.

>>6101311
Especially when you're shitposting on 4chan.

>>6098044

I felt disappointed thatEdmond ends up just forgiving Danglars. Even after what he went through in Luigi's cave, I wanted to see him die. If anyone should have been forgiven, it should have been Based Villefort. Danglars and Fernand were straight up villainous, Villefort was a good guy at heart who just made some incredibly stupid decisions in life. He did not deserve the resolution that he got.[\spoiler]

>>6102865
>Based Villefort
He was a scumbag.

I was really thrown off by the time shift, I went into the book fully expecting a narrative of Edmond's actual adventures post-jailbreak.

Really enjoyed the book despite that, but I was slightly disappointed

>>6101311

1400 pages is a 5 day book at most, pleb

>>6103351
>Being a NEET

>you will never fuck your daughter-wife-slave-lover haydee

WHY

EVEN

LIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

>>6103437
>lol i just cnt read as fazt as u guys i guess I must have 80HD

Excuses, excuses. You were born to be human cattle. Go serve some fries. Stop trying to be an intellectual, stop posting on this board.

>>6103445
neither will Edmond

>>6103465

did you even read the book

>>6103477
yes
it never happened

>>6103521

illiterate fraud confirmed

Monte Cristo turned around; Haidee was standing pale, motionless, looking at the count with an expression of fearful amazement.
"Because to-morrow, Haidee, you will be free; you will then assume your proper position in society, for I will not allow my destiny to overshadow yours. Daughter of a prince, I restore to you the riches and name of your father."
Haidee became pale, and lifting her transparent hands to heaven, exclaimed in a voice stifled with tears, "Then you leave me, my lord?"
"Haidee, Haidee, you are young and beautiful; forget even my name, and be happy."
"It is well," said Haidee; "your order shall be executed, my lord; I will forget even your name, and be happy." And she stepped back to retire.
"Oh, heavens," exclaimed Valentine, who was supporting the head of Morrel on her shoulder, "do you not see how pale she is? Do you not see how she suffers?"
Haidee answered with a heartrending expression, "Why should he understand this, my sister? He is my master, and I am his slave; he has the right to notice nothing."
The count shuddered at the tones of a voice which penetrated the inmost recesses of his heart; his eyes met those of the young girl and he could not bear their brilliancy. "Oh, heavens," exclaimed Monte Cristo, "can my suspicions be correct? Haidee, would it please you not to leave me?"
"I am young," gently replied Haidee; "I love the life you have made so sweet to me, and I should be sorry to die."
"You mean, then, that if I leave you, Haidee"—
"I should die; yes, my lord."
"Do you then love me?"
"Oh, Valentine, he asks if I love him. Valentine, tell him if you love Maximilian." The count felt his heart dilate and throb; he opened his arms, and Haidee, uttering a cry, sprang into them. "Oh, yes," she cried, "I do love you! I love you as one loves a father, brother, husband! I love you as my life, for you are the best, the noblest of created beings!"
"Let it be, then, as you wish, sweet angel; God has sustained me in my struggle with my enemies, and has given me this reward; he will not let me end my triumph in suffering; I wished to punish myself, but he has pardoned me. Love me then, Haidee! Who knows? perhaps your love will make me forget all that I do not wish to remember."
"What do you mean, my lord?"
"I mean that one word from you has enlightened me more than twenty years of slow experience; I have but you in the world, Haidee; through you I again take hold on life, through you I shall suffer, through you rejoice."
"Do you hear him, Valentine?" exclaimed Haidee; "he says that through me he will suffer—through me, who would yield my life for his." The count withdrew for a moment. "Have I discovered the truth?" he said; "but whether it be for recompense or punishment, I accept my fate. Come, Haidee, come!" and throwing his arm around the young girl's waist, he pressed the hand of Valentine, and disappeared.

>>6103549
I could see how you could think that

Dumas literally saved me from hating books.

Before I read Count of Monte Cristo I had had no experience with books outside of white guilt garbage courtesy of my fucking awful school system

>muh slaves
>muh indians
>muh six million

Garbage book after garbage book.

Suddenly I picked this up and I'm reading about princes and Sultans, swashbuckling adventure, bandits and treasure, dappled greys and unlimited credit.

Thank god for Dumas

Get the Lowell Bair translation. It has the best "quotes".

>>6103600
Thank god for sage, hidden and >>>/pol/

If it was a good book you wouldn't be fulfilled with an end, you would want it never to end.

>>6103673

stay mad you fucking pleb

>>6103673

You seem a bit rustled amigo

>>6103722
not everyone is desperate to live forever and ever

>>6097862
My favorite book. I had read it once every year for the last 15 years.

>"My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a Negro, and my great-grandfather a monkey. You see, Sir, my family starts where yours ends."

Has anyone ever been btfo as hard as this? Fucking based Dumas.

>>6103722
I didn't want it to end---I wanted to follow the Count on his adventures with Haydee beyond the sunset.

But even if I didn't want it to end, I most definitely felt fulfilled, and that I had read something truly incredible and whole.

Everything has to come to an end, anon

>>6103673
>author with black ancestry
>write an unapologetically good novel that saves anon from white-guilt-induced disgust of literature

Pretty good actually. Dumas showing the way a nig can matter.

>>6103773

based Dumas. The quintessential romantic.

>>6100133
usually not, when you actually get into reading it you will probably regret it. Im not too sure how much shorter it is.

So is there any consensus on what translation's the best? Or is >>6103657
right?

>>6098750
Any other books like this?

>>6103913

Just read the Collins updated version of the anonymous translation.

http://www.modernlibrary.com/2010/09/25/featured-classic-the-count-of-monte-cristo/

>>6097862
The Three Muskateers is his work.

>>6098750

>mfw trying to keep all the names and titles straight

>>6103913
>translation

>>6103949

>implying it's worth learning French in 2015

pretty soon they'll all be speaking Arabic anyway

>>6103952
>he doesn't know every language

>>6103955

>implying there is good literature in Swahili

>>6103962
>he subscribes to the good/bad dichotomy

>>6103952
Except the Arabs already speak French, so it'll merely be like a pokemon card exchange.

>>6103971

with bullets

>>6103993
So like a pokemon card exchange. Courtyards get more dangerous every year.

>>6098750
Holy fuck, you sound like a teenage girl with no reading experience talking about how the last YA novel she read is a masterpiece

>omg its soooo good i read 374 pages in 46 minute omg!!!! i cried everytime

Shut up, this is not art is about

>>6104092
suck a dick, whore

art can be exciting as well as introspective, you twat

>>6104092
>/lit/ - no discussion of literature allowed

I keep hearing 1,400 pages.
Yet my Oxford World's Classics edition of this was only about 1,100 pages. Did I miss shit or is it just the formatting?

>>6103600
>unlimited credit
Lol'd
Great you enjoyed it, nonetheless