Description: Acceptable. Book is in good reading condition. Cover has wear at edges and corners, and may have creases. Spine has wear at edges and creases. read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
"I read an abridged version of this book in middle school. I remember liking it and I decided to read it unabridged this time. I found that when the book was over I was depressed and glad to put it down. For anyone that knows this story you will know it's a book of despair and revenge. I know Edmond Dantes was greatly wronged and I'm sure everyone will agree that those who wronged him deserved punishment. Yet, I wasn't happy to see Dantes avenged. In the beginning of the book Edmond Dantes was sweet, naive, and happy but as soon as he understood what his "friends" had done his heart changed and became worse until Edmond Dantes changes into a bitter black heart.
I hated the changes that took place with Dantes and I realized that as for me, if I am wronged, I am going to forgive and forget and not allow hate and vengeance change who I am. The scripture "vengeance is mine...saith the Lord" obviously applies here and I'd rather let Him deal with everything and live my own life the best I can."
I love well-written classics, and this one fits the bill perfectly. Granted, there were some discrepancies, mainly to do with time and ages (saying Mercedes had a portrait of herself done when she was 25 when she really would have been 32, etc), but if I had not been reading this edition, I probably would not have noticed those things. In any event, it did not detract from the story at all.
Pretty much everyone knows what The Count of Monte Cristo is about, so this isn't going to be a rehash of the plot, but rather the feelings that I had while reading it.
I first have to say that I was enthralled with this book from start to finish. It took me 9 days to read, but I think that if I was not as addicted to Goodreads as I am, I'd have probably finished in half that time.
I'm glad that I read the unabridged version of this story. I'm glad that I was persistent in wanting to experience the nuance of this book, because it was worth it. I'm sure that the abridged editions are exciting, but that's like eating a Hershey's kiss when you could be eating the finest Belgian chocolate. There is just no comparison.
Poor Edmond Dantes broke my heart. After his arrest, when he is taken to prison and spends the entire first night standing in the middle of his cell, crying and alone, it broke my heart. To know that people could be so cruel broke my heart and I wanted revenge for him.
His relationship with Abbe Faria made me happy, because it made Edmond happy. I couldn't imagine the kind of torture it must be like to never be able to speak to another person. So, for being subjected to that fate, on a whim, I prayed for him to get his revenge.
I was glad when he did, and it was a beautiful thing. Intricately woven, well planned, and executed perfectly. At times, I felt that The Count was a bit cruel, but I realize that it was necessary for him to detach himself from those whose punishment he was delivering. Danglars got off easiest, which did slightly disappoint me, as he was the mastermind behind Dantes misfortune, but I understand Dantes decision in allowing him to live, and I think that it was the right one. Danglars will, until his dying day, know what forgiveness and mercy is, and wonder why he should have been granted his pardon when by all rights Dantes could have made him suffer endlessly. I hope it drives him mad.
But listen to me... I'm talking about these people as if they are real. They felt real. I had dreams about this story, and reading it wasn't so much reading as experiencing.
I would highly recommend this book. If you haven't already read it, do so. Now.
"I have read this book about 4 times and I would give the abridged version 5 stars but this unabridged I'm giving 4. Surprisingly the sections that have been "cut out" don't really add that much to the story and I didn't really learn anything new."
"Raising my clasped hands to heaven and casting my eyes upward with an indescribable expression of suffering as the vital force deserts my body causing me to fall senseless to the floor only to rise a moment later filled with a restlessness that cannot be assuaged, pacing endlessly, unconsciously twisting and tearing between my ever moving hands a white cambric cloth soaked with the crystalline tears that drop ceaselessly from my swollen orbs, I cry "Why, why is this book so looong!!" Finished at last. All due respect to those who love this book, and I see why they do love it it is an epic swashbuckling story, I just can't quite get with the extreme mood swings of the characters. I know its high melodrama, I know its a romantic product of a romantic age which elevated and cultivated feeling as a source of right knowledge. I still find all the fainting and gasping and palpitating and weeping and sweating and leaping to be faintly absurd. Also, probably because it was written as a serial, there are some continuity problems. Its a good book, I liked it, if there were three and a half stars I'd probably go with that and I'm glad I read it."
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