Just finished Count of Monte Cristo after seeing it recommended on here dozens of times. I am very disappointed. Spoilers ahead.

Looking to see if any others on here share the same thoughts I do about this book, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone on Reddit utter a single bad word about this book. How can a book so one-dimensional and hyperbolic receive such praise? Here are just a few examples of the kind of overwrought descriptions of the Count’s abilites that appear on nearly every page:

“Monte Cristo uttered a cry that was like the roar of a wounded lion.”

“Maximilien had never seen such an expression on a human face. He shrank bank in terror. Then Monte Cristo closed his eyes, as though dazzled by some sort of inward lightning, and struggled to subdue the storm that was raging within his heaving bosom.”

” ‘You’re lying!’ said the priest in a tone of irresistible authority.”

“At the same time the count seized his attacker’s wrist with his left hand and twisted it with such strength that the knife fell from Caderousse’s fingers and he uttered a shriek of pain.”

How many times do we need to hear about how cunning/strong/mysterious/powerful the Count is? The book practically became a parody of itself by the end. And this kind of treatment doesn’t just come from the narrator, it comes from the other characters too:

” ‘Enough, Edmond!’ said Mercédes. ‘Believe me when I say that the woman who was the only one to recognize you was also the only one to understand you. Even if you had crushed me on your way, Edmond, I would still have admired you! Just as there is a vast gulf between me and the past, so there is a vast gulf between you and other men, and I admit to you that my most painful turture is to compare you, for there is nothering in the world that can equal you and nothing that resembles you.’ ”

This is a direct quote from Mercédes near the end of the book. I mean really, who talks like that? Not just now, but back in Dumas’ day? I’m not talking about the style of speech but rather the ridiculous adulation she heaps on him. This reads like Dumas wrote himself into the story as the Count and this book is his fan fiction.

All the bad guys are bad and all the good guys are good. And the second the Count starts to show a bit of human remorse towards the end of the book, which would have made for a more interesting character, instead he decides to test how unhappy his friend really is – because only through making Maximilien happy again can he be happy himself. He requires his friend to believe he is killing himself before he will reveal that his fiancee is alive and well? What kind of friend is that? And don’t tell me that we aren’t supposed to identify with the Count as a good person, because Dumas spent the entire book justifying his actions and writing about what a great guy he is.

The length of this post ought to show just how let down I was by this book – which is in every top 100 list of books here on Reddit. If you’re like me and prefer complicated, realistic characters, I do NOT recommend reading the Count of Monte Cristo. Read The Orphan Master’s Son instead, amazing book.

by HayFeverTID