The Count of Monte Cristo

Shortly after we were married, Michael discovered I had never read this book. Once he recovered from his shock, he urged me to read it. Sixteen years later, I decided it was finally time.

It's a very fun read.

Alexandre Dumas wrote it roughly twenty years before Victor Hugo wrote Les Miserables. Both are French novels with long time lines. Both involve one character pursuing another through the years.

But there the similarity ends.

The Count of Monte Cristo reads like a soap opera: jealousy, intrigue, disguise, murder, revenge, secret romance, fabulous wealth. The story is very plot-driven, and Dumas keeps the story moving at a modern pace. No fifty-page tangents here.

It's a good classic to give a young teen, and I plan to assign it to EM before our trip to France, but IM has asked to have a stab at it first.