The Count of Monte Cristo – Review

“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.”

Why hello there Dantès! I thought it would be nice to reach out to you, telling you about the epic experience I had in getting to know you and your story. I’m going to add dated entries to this letter because there is quite a bit I need to say. Becoming acquainted with your plight over 7 weeks and over 1,000 pages will take some time to explain. So patience my dear Dantès, we will prevail.

⚔️ May 11, 2019, Ch 1-30

You’re home and excited to see your beloved father and of course everyone you see knows about your beloved soon to be betrothed Mercédès. I couldnt be more happy for you. Things are looking up with your current employer, prospects of being promoted captain couldn’t have come at a better time. That must be a relief as you rush home and prepare for your wedding.

But wait a minute. Everyone doesn’t rejoice in your happiness. In fact there are some who are quite jealous of you. They are about to take advantage of your kindness and naivety. Edmund, hello, I’m waving a red flag over here but of course, you can’t see me. Things are about to get ugly Dantès. I can see it.

Caderousse is not the “good neighbor” you think he is. He a selfish and greedy drunkard. And can you believe he’s just sitting here watching Danglars, your colleague, conspire with Fernand, Mercédès cousin, who hates you because she’s in love with you and not him! They accuse you of being “an agent of the Bonapartist faction” which they know will mean your arrest.

You have no idea but I’m running to catch you, hurry up mate, marry quickly because the coppers are after you. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This cannot be happening. Talk about wedding crashers. You’re being arrested at this moment. It feels too early for this because I *just* met you.

The travesty is further compounded when Villefort, the deputy procurer, hears your case, seizes and destroys the evidence that could clear you. This evkcemce incriminates Villefort’s father but Villefort cares only about himself so what does this mean for you going forward as injustice spirals out of control.

After seventeen months in prison, you remain hopeful. But as the years pass you meet another prisoner, Abbè Faria, who lift the veil of naivety from your eyes about your imprisonment. Dantès, you and the Abbè are good for each other, although now I think your keen on exacting revenge on those who have wronged you.

“For there are two distinct sorts of ideas, those that proceed from the head and those that emanate from the heart.”

⚔️May 25, 2019, Ch 31-60

“It was fourteen years, day for day, since Dantès’ arrest. He was nineteen when he entered the Château d’If; he was thirty-three when he escaped.”

I was holding my breathe, turning pale, I almost fell out of my chair. Talk about an escape Dantès! I assumed you had to succeed in making it out alive because there’s so much left to read but YES! It was an excellent scene, I think even you were surprised.

But wait, Count, I’m confused. Albert and Franz are strangers to me and I’m trying to figure out why they are here. I’m continuing on and things are starting to make sense. Franz is engaged to Valentine, she’s Villefort’s daughter. And Albert is Mercédès and Fernand’s son. Maximilian, Morrel’s son, happens to be in love with Valentine. Oh my heart! They are some of my favorite people and I can’t wait to find out what happens with the two of them.

“Well! What does it signify, Valentine, so long as I am satisfied, and feel that even this long and painful suspense is amply repaid by five minutes of your society, or two words from your lips. And I have also a deep conviction that heaven would not have created two hearts, harmonising as ours do, and restored us to each other almost miraculously, only to separate us in the end.”

It took me a while to figure out who Franz and Albert were but now that I know, what’s going to happen next? And Caderousse, I wasn’t expecting him to show up again, but oh my goodness, he’s still greedy and selfish.  Am I surprised by what Bertuccio revealed to the you about Caderousse, not so much.  More scandal regarding Villefort but I’m glad his father, Noirtier, just one upped him. The relationship between Valentine and her grandfather is tender and compassionate. I believe he’s the only allies Valentine and Maximilian have, not to mention you Count.

⚔️June 8, 2019, Ch 61-90

Villefort is warning Madame Dangler to beware of you! But are they catching up to you Count? I’m disgusted by their behavior and I hope that you will expose them. I know you are so many steps ahead of everyone but they have a secret they don’t want you to expose.

Dangler and his wife, there was a heated dispute between them but I wonder what it will mean. My gosh, not Caderousse again! Can we be done with him, he makes my skin crawl and he’s just so greedy.

And Maximilian, the son of the friend you loved, his heart is broken about Franz and Valentine. How can you help them, it feels impossible with the pressure from Villefort and now Valentine’s grandmother that she should marry Franz before she dies.

There are other people I’ve failed to mention but that’s fine. I must end this week’s letter because I have to see what happens next.

⚔️June 13, 2019, Ch 91-end

“What is missing from argument with myself now is a proper understanding of the past, because today I can view my past from the opposite end of the spectrum.  Indeed, as we advance through life, the past fades faster the further we move away from it, like a landscape through which we travel. What is happening to me is what happens to people who have suffered some injury in a dream: they see and feel their injury but do not remember how they came by it.”

Talk about an ending. This journey was full of intrigue, suspense, secrets and revenge. Despite the paleness and falling into chairs, this is one for the books. Hats off to you Count!