As the month of July wrapped up, I found myself very, very, very busy at work. I suffered through another restaurant week and made it out someone sane. Each night I got home from work, I found myself a little bit happy. Each night I got home, I found the time to approach something I knew to be satisfying.
That something is Monte Cristo. When I first found myself staring at Monte Cristo, I knew it was going to take everything I had to finish it. I knew that it couldn't be done in one sitting, and depending on my energy maybe multiple ones. So I sat down and got started. Upon first looks, I told myself that is a big load. As I started, I realized that it was a little dry. It needed something, but I just couldn't figure it out. It wasn't tough. It was just needing a little something extra. As I progressed, I found myself enjoying it greatly. It was very satisfying. Once I got to the middle I realized that I was in the thick of it. The only problem was that it was a little too hammed up. Plus, I found that it was a bit too cheesy for my tastes. It tending to be overflowing with it and I wish that it was a little better contained. Once I finally got to the end, I was feeling very satiated. My only problem was that the end tended to be a bit crusty for my tastes. I wish it would have been better at the end. That just would have made it....complete, in my book. I felt that something was missing. Something to help you just put it away. Or wash it down.
I'm happy to say that I did finish it. Not many people will be able to say that they did, but I did.
I even have a picture for you.
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| You have to count how much you enjoy it. |
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Luckily we've been blessed to live in a world were something so wonderful as "The Count of Monte Cristo" has been written. While many people have read the abridged version, I decided to read the full tome written by Alexandre Dumas. The full version is about 1600 pages. It goes on and on and on and on, but I loved it. In reality, I read this book about a year ago, so I didn't reread it. I do remember the vast majority of it. I could give you a run down of all the storylines but I would rather you read it so you can see something so beautiful that your mind doesn't know what to do with itself. For me, I came into it a bit biased. One of my favorite movies is "The Count of Monte Cristo," starring Jim Caviezel (he played Jesus in Passion of the Christ) and Guy Pearce (he's the guy from Momento) and Richard Harris (the first Dumbledore). That movie had me frustrated while reading. Mainly because I found myself saying, "That's not how the story goes." Then I would realize that the movie got it wrong.
It's not that the movie got it wrong, it's that they left a lot out. When I say a lot, I mean A LOT. There are more interwoven storylines than in all the daytime soaps put together. That I loved. The story of Edmund Dantes and Fernand Mondego is not as close as the movie tells you it is. The book has more involvement with Danglars and Dantes early on than you realize. I love the fact that Dumas uses the history of his current time in his story. He allows the reader to feel involved. To feel that they are taking place in 19th century France. You see the naiveness of Dantes. You feel for him when he is taken away. You are torn in your heart when he goes to a secret prison of the coast of the country. (Wait, that seems a little to modern). You are saddened when you find him taken from an old man who is to make him boss and a lady who wants nothing more than to be his wife.
He goes to this island prison hell and lives in a state where he leaves God. That is the part of the book that I found most honest. At least FOR me, not TO me. But one day, an old man appears in his cell. He was trying to dig out and found than he made a wrong turn. The old man is a priest who has had to live a life in a cell for a horror from his past. But he knows a secret. A great secret. The book goes into more detail than the movie ever could. Dumas makes you feel for the old man, but not for Dantes. Mostly because Dantes does not see "God's" plan for him. Eventually Dantes gets out of prison. I won't tell you how, because you should read the book. He is rescued by some pirates, saves one of their lives (who in turn becomes his assistant), and runs around the world causing havoc with the pirates. This part I enjoyed because the movie showed no details of the adventures of Dantes. Finally, he leaves the pirates and embarks on a journey of the most vicious revenge. He returns to France and lets out the hell hounds.
Dumas's Dantes is more mysterious. He carries more intrigue and travels in a different direction than Jesus's Dantes. This irritated me at first, but soon I came to realize that I liked Dumas's Dantes better. Mostly because I found that my inner soul side related to him more than my hopeless romantic side did. Jesus's Dantes makes your heart and soul happy because he finds God again and his reunited with his lost love. If you saw the movie, then you know what I'm talking about. Dumas's Dantes is way better. He goes about his mission to correct wrongs and to punish those that deserve it. His punishment though is not quick and painless. He turns the screws slowly so that everything they had dear is turned on them. He even cares little about the children of his enemies and makes sure they are turned around. While he doesn't return to his love, he lets her know in his own way who he is. She realizes it, but knows that her life with him ended years before. That might have been the hardest thing to swallow (no pun intended) out of the whole thing. But leading up to that point, I should have known that Dumas would not let that happen.
While the prose and style are not the things I am best at reviewing, this book I truly enjoyed. While I still love the movie, it can't hold a candle to the original. The music that you hear at the beginning of this review was the same thing I listened to while I read it. Every time I hear it, I see the passages in their full majesticness. I see the details of the ship. I see the details in the opera house. I see the hate, hurt, love, pain, joy of all the characters. Mostly of Edmund Dantes. While a vast wealth can help you escape from your past, you can never run from the person you've become. It takes a lot to change, but it is harder to change back to the youthful virginity of bliss and brighteyedness. I appreciated Dantes for his honesty of self. He knew that his life could not be complete without a sense of closure, but you cannot have closure if you don't forgive. That's what they tell you, but Dumas does not allow for that. He follows the times of the 19th century and plays to the fantasy and romanticism of sailing off to a new start and a closed past. That might be the truest dream that "The Count of Monte Cristo" provides for all of us.
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