RATING: 5 stars Cover Synopsis: Thrown in prison for a crime he did not commit, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. The story of his long imprisonment, dramatic escape and carefully wrought revenge offers up a vision of France that has become immortal.
Why not start off my project with a bang? At 1,462 pages (whew!), this book was an intimidating first choice. But it's been on my list of books to read for a while, I've just been lacking in motivation. And now that I've actually finished it (and in such good time) I have one question for Dumas:
Where have you been all my life?!
Seriously, this was an awesome book. I couldn't put it down. Reading it was far from the chore I imagined, and in it I've found one of my new all-time favorite reads.
I don't speak French, so I got hung up a bit on the French names and titles, but the plot keeps surging forward so this was a very minor issue. I expected the book to veer off on long historical tangents (a la Les Miserables), but I was wrong. Every single twist or turn this novel takes is pertinent to the story. And what a ride.
I was trying to think of my favorite scene, but too many came to mind. There's Edmond's terrifying escape from prison where he is unexpectedly thrown over the cliffs into the ocean in a body bag. The painfully suspenseful part where Morrel is counting down with gun in hand to the moment his debts are due that he cannot pay. (My fingernails were very short that day!) And the scene with Madame de Villefort and son that throws you through a half-dozen different emotions you're left unsure of what you're feeling. This is a book I should have blogged about as I read it instead of trying to sum it all up in one entry. But if I had to sum it up in one word: WOW.
