Bienvenue à Paris - The Count of Monte Christo, thread 2

I’m very flexible for another readalong and happy to take suggestions.

Obvious ones for me:
Les Mis (365 ish chapters, so maybe a nice year long one next year)
Tristan Shandy (Selfishly on my own list)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Don Quixote
Middlemarch
The Moonstone

Just off the top of my head.

Brilliant chapter! I enjoyed it very much.
I liked how the gendarmerie were alerted by telegraph. It ties in with earlier chapters.

Yes, I think this is my favourite chapter in the book, so funny.

@MotherOfCatBoy yes.

I can’t remember which chapter you are all on as I’m ahead, but was it the one with the chimney?

I’m really enjoying Eugenie’s storyline too!

Great point about how fitting the Count’s revenge on each person is CatBoy.

You mentioned another readalong Agualusa - do you have any titles in mind?

I did enjoy today's episode, it was all quite farcical!

It made me think of Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack) who was known to have gone off to Paris to indulge in some of her lesbian encounters. She died in 1840, and this was written a few years after that, so I'm guessing there was a definite 'scene' for gay women, as well as other sexual preferences I imagine.

Absolutely agree with this.

I was gobsmacked that Dumas wrote such a blatant lesbian story line. It was brilliant.

I would LOVE to read the Further Adventures of Eugenie Danglars and Louise d’Armilly!

I think today's chapter spells out as clearly as it was probably possible at the time, that Eugenie and Louise are a lesbian couple. The chat about how awful men are is hilarious.

I'm amazed that a contemporary author has never picked this up and written a sequel! You could have quite a lot of fun with it.

@cassandre I was disappointed that the incest thing didn’t come out into the open but that makes sense that it will be the final big reveal to destroy Villefort. Looking forward to that 😄

By the way, , I agree with your comments on Eugenie, but I don't think it's quite true that she's not in love; she's in love with Louise! (but this becomes even clearer in tomorrow's chapter).

I know! I had meant to say in love with another man, but missed the edit deadline. I've actually finished the book now, but am trying to keep to the pace of the thread. I'll comment further on this tomorrow.

Yes, great theory @MotherOfCatBoy ! Very true how the villains carried on with the same behaviour later in life; I hadn't thought of that.

By the way, @TonTonMacoute, I agree with your comments on Eugenie, but I don't think it's quite true that she's not in love; she's in love with Louise! (but this becomes even clearer in tomorrow's chapter).

I thought maybe the big reveal ruining the Eugenie/Cavalcanti marriage would be the fact that they're actually half-siblings, but I suppose that info is being saved until later as part of the Count's revenge on Villefort... because if their sibling relationship were revealed, Villefort as Cavalcanti's father would probably be implicated straight away.

@MotherOfCatBoy i really like that theory.

There are some very funny scenes here - Benedetto slinking away “well if nobody needs me right now I’ll be off then… “ and the bookcase scene with Valentine is quite farcical too!

Love how the pace is picking up.

On the revenge, I think it’s not so much exacted through loved ones (although they can’t help but be involved), as through picking on the person’s biggest fault and giving them enough rope to hang themselves, as it were. So for Caderousse it’s greed. For Fernand it was betrayal - he kept it up after he had betrayed Edmond to get Mercedes, and through Albert and Haydee his betrayal of Ali Pasha was exposed. For Danglars it was always about money, and the Count just gave him opportunities to over reach until he bankrupted himself. And for Villefort it’s pride - he will cover up and cover up to protect his family name. It’s fascinating how they didn’t just wrong Edmond and then live blameless lives thereafter - they kept on making the same mistakes.

It's InTheCludgie btw - forgot to change from my default username whoops!

Same, I had a vision of Benedetto sliding away against a wall, eyes shifting from side to side to make sure nobody spotted his escape.
Anyone else visualise the Count in a certain way whilst reading? For some reason he's stuck in my head looking like Aidan Turner as Poldark, and I'm not sure why 🤔

Enjoyed today's chapter too. Danglars's world completely falling apart around him, Eugénie not really caring.

I love the image of Benedetto slowly sliding backwards out of the house.

Talking of next week …

Monday: The Road for Belgium
‘A few minutes after the scene of confusion produced …’

Tuesday: The Inn of the Bell and Bottle
’Let us leave Mlle …’

Wednesday: The Law
’We have seen how Mlle …’

Thursday: The Apparition
‘As the crown prosecutor had told …’

Friday: Locusta
‘Valentine was left alone.’

Saturday: Valentine
’The night-light continued to burn …’

Only 15 chapters left after next week.

Well having got a couple of weeks behind I'm now slightly ahead, got some great chapters to come.

I love the development of Eugene in the book.

Regarding the poison plot. This will need to be revisited. Just goes to show how sharp Noirtier is despite appearances that he made sure that Valentine has the antidote to the poison in advance.

Eugenie is as coldly transactional as her father, she realises that she can do a deal but I have to admit that I don't really understand why her terms are for Danglars not to touch Cavalcanti's money. It is interesting that not only is she is not remotely interested in either of the men her father wants her to marry, she's not in love with someone else, like Valentine. It's just music, freedom and Louise!

One of the characters observes that the era of parents arranging their children's marriages is coming to an end, it might be the talk between Danglars and the count, or between Danglars and Fernand, so I assume that this reflects a view held in wider society too.

I realise too that although the love between Morel and Valentine is very sweet, he is 30 and she's only about 18, which is a bit 🤔.

A piece of cake, yes! He'll get it done in a jiffy!
I agree with your thoughts on the revenge hierarchy cassandre. I was thinking* *the same, from little fish to big fish.

I'm glad we get to see something of Eugénie in the book. She is really something else. I enjoyed her calling the shots on Danglars. That statement made me smile, the one that cassandre quoted about having the second point more or less cleared up. She's fierce!

Also, I'm intrigued by the Count aka Abbe Busoni moving into the house next door to chez Villefort and doing renovations on it. For a man who's spent years tunnelling through dungeon walls, this is going to be a piece of cake 😂

I don't have much to add but everyone's comments on the Count and revenge are very interesting. It's true as you say @FuzzyCaoraDhubh that he was more than happy for family members like Valentine to be collateral damage in his grand revenge project, until his affection for Morrel made him rethink... in a similar way to how his affection for Mercedes made him rethink the duel with Albert. He's definitely starting to seem less omniscient and more human again.

I'm also fascinated by the character of Eugenie! I really wasn't expecting to meet a 19th c. lesbian in this book! As you say @DuPainDuVinDuFromage Dumas seems to characterise her as 'masculine' and therefore (implicitly) butch lesbian.

As in this quote: 'So, there we have the second point more or less cleared up', said Eugenie, quite undisturbed, expressing as usual an entirely masculine composure in her words and gestures.

It reminds me a bit of late 19th c./early 20th c. theories of homosexuality as 'sexual inversion', where a lesbian would be perceived as a man trapped in a woman's body. I think that was the theory anyway.

But Dumas doesn't seem particularly negative or judgemental in his portrayal of her. And the statement she makes in the 'Valentine' chapter about wanting to be free in body, mind and heart could be interpreted as a feminist declaration on behalf of women in general, not just on behalf of lesbians.

On another topic I'm wondering if the revenge plot is happening with the villains being knocked off in turn according to ascending levels of guilt. So Caderousse (the most minor player) went first, then Fernand. Maybe next it will be Danglars (who hated Edmond Dantes more actively than Fernand did, I think) and finally Villefort, the most educated and privileged of the baddies.