Bienvenue à Marseille | 2025 The Count of Monte Christo, read-a-long

[AgualusasLover]

Following the success of the continuing Dickensalongs, Fallen Women and various other classics, please join The Count of Monte Christo read-a-long, kicking off on 1 January 2025.

The ultimate tale of revenge, with swashbuckling, chicanery and bare faced lies - The Count of Monte Christo has it all.

Editions: most important point is an unabridged version, coming in at just over 1,200 pages. This thread discusses the various translations – the Penguin Classics, trans by Robin Buss is very popular and the one I am reading but what you have already is likely fine and the nuances of translation are always fun to discuss.

What’s the best translation of The Count of Monte Cristo? • We Love Translations

I’ve been thinking about the best way to read-a-long. There have been red-alongs by the day, in chunks and every which way.

I think we have two options:

There are 118 chapter and my proposal is we do one a day, starting on 1 January, 2025. (W&P and all the Fallen Women books worked well this way)

We could also convene weekly e.g. no spoilers until Sunday and read it as it was released, in 18 parts c.65 pages per week. (I remember The Woman in White worked well this way and so do the Dickensalongs)

For now, I have assumed a chapter a day as it has served us well so far, if the majority strongly object, I have put placeholders in my copy breaking it down and can update in readiness for January.

Schmoop very handily has chapter by chapter breakdowns. Here is the Intro https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/count-of-monte-cristo/

MN meet up in Marseille 2025!

Thanks @FuzzyCaoraDhubh and @TonTonMacoute for the tu/vous comments! I should have noticed that but it sailed right over my head.

I can see what you mean, @MamaNewtNewt , about the father being a charismatic character. He certainly has panache and sangfroid! But he seems to share his son's casual disregard for human life. Father and son may be on opposite political sides but they're both ready to do whatever it takes to save their own skins.

@cassandre very true, I definitely don't see the father as a good guy, I just find his a-murdering style more enjoyable than the son's.

Agreed @MamaNewtNewt , it makes a welcome change from Villefort blushing and turning deadly pale every time anything incriminating is mentioned!

It's funny how father and son both have been awarded the legion of honour. Except that Noirtier has just thrown his away with his clothes.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh Good point! I assume his came from Napoleon, rather than from any King.

I'd say so 😄

Wouldn't it have been better to destroy the clothes rather than hide them?!

Chapter 13 was a fast-moving one. It appears that poor Dantes is being abandoned by everyone whether intentionally or not.

I think Morrell has been doing his best, in fact he's gone above and beyond what I thought he would do. Especially taking care of the funeral of Dantes's father, which is a crime by all accounts. Good to see at least one person with some honour.

Agree chapter 13 is fast moving, it ties up all of the original protagonists.

How awful that old Dantes is dead. I'm glad Morrell has done the right thing. It was also touching to see that Mercedes was there when he died.

Villefort really is despicable.

I wonder whether Fernande will return from the conscription?

And Danglers has he no shame?

It sounds like we won't hear from Danglars again. I was sad about Dantès Senior's death. Fair dues to Morrel for covering costs and trying to help Edmond.

Morrel did as much as he could, he had a small window when Napoleon was in charge again when he had a hope of getting Edmund out but once the monarchy was restored there was no chance.

I'm sure Fernand will turn up again, conscription could mean death or it could mean progression up the social ladder (potentially making him more attractive to Mercedes) and I can't see Dumas wasting a character like that.

Agree that Noirtier is a more attractive character than Villefort. I look forward to seeing him again at some point.

Chapter 14
The Raving Prisoner and the Mad One

• It's a year a later and Louis XVIII is back on the throne.
• The Inspector General of Prisons has decided to make a trip down to the Chateau d'If to see how things are.
• Edmond, made hyper-sensitive to noise by his year in prison, knows something's up. The inspector does his job, asking prisoners if they have any complaints or requests. The food, they complain, is awful; freedom is their only request.
• Though the inspector realizes how silly it is to be doing this kind of thing – he hears the same thing everywhere – he still takes it upon himself to visit the prison's "special" inmates down in the dungeons. The governor gets two soldiers to accompany them down – just in case.
• The inspector is told that Edmond has been thrown in the dungeon – a place he finds horribly disgusting – for threatening to kill a porter. Still, despite the smell, and the fact that Edmond and his fellow prisoner are pretty much insane – he visits them anyway.
• Seeing the inspector, Edmond summons up some hidden eloquence and tries to get the inspector to help him. All he wants, he says, is to know what crime he has committed, and to be given a fair trial; he even asks forgiveness for threatening the porter.
• The inspector is touched by his requests, and he agrees to look at his file once they get upstairs.
• Edmond tells the inspector that Villefort, the prosecutor, was kind to him, and that any notes that he might have left will prove his innocence.
• Before heading upstairs to look at the records, the inspector makes a stop at the other cell.
• Inside he finds the Abbé Faria drawing a very precise geometrical pattern on the ground. Upon hearing the inspector enter, the abbé covers himself up, trying his best to look presentable.
• The inspector asks if he has any requests. He does not. The abbé tells the inspector that he's been in jail since 1811, that the food is awful, and the lodging despicable. He goes on to say he has something else very important to tell him.
• He proceeds to promise him a huge amount of money – millions of francs – in exchange for his release. This is exactly the kind of thing that the abbé is known for, and the inspector has been warned in advance.
• The abbé goes on to tell the inspector that he is not mad, that the treasure exists, and that he knows where, exactly where, it is stashed.
• When the inspector will not listen to him, the abbé says good riddance and goes back to his calculations.
• His tour done, the inspector heads back upstairs to check on Edmond's records. There he finds a short note:
• EDMOND DANTÈS:
• Fanatical Bonapartist. Played an active role in the return from Elba. To be kept in solitary confinement, under the closest supervision.
• All the inspector can bring himself to do is write "no action" on the file.
• The inspector's visit gives Edmond hope, but the longer he waits, the less he believes he ever even received a visit from the inspector.
• A year after the inspector's visit, a new governor is installed in the prison. The governor cannot even be bothered to learn his prisoners' names. Edmond Dantès becomes Number 34.

Poor Edmond. Really felt for him in this chapter.

He has been 'buried in the system even deeper than before.

It's dreadful that he could be imprisoned without trial on the whim of a single man. Are Dantès and the Abbé in cells close enough that they can communicate. Neither are mad, despite the governor claiming they are.

I also felt really sorry for Dantes. Bad enough to be an innocent man in prison, but to not even have a trial, or to know what the charges are is terrible.

So Villefort is Chief Villain, the swine! Morrel and Mercedes are decent folk, but can’t do anything more for Edmond right now. Danglars, Fernand and Caderousse may have gone off to do different things but I hope they pop up later for Edmond to exact his revenge. R.I.P Dantes Snr. And Bon voyage Napoleon 😃

I also like Noitier’s panache, I have a feeling there is more to come from him - at least I hope there is.

[Apologies if I’m mangling the spelling of any names, I’m listening to the audio book, so not seeing them each time I listen]

Great chapter today! Shades of 'The Shawshank Redemption' :)

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh I was gripped by the slew of emotions Dante went through. To then have a plan of escape. Brilliant! The mindless scribbling of a deranged man was actually a calculation of how to break out.

Really brilliant. He fooled them saying he was working out a theorem (I think!).

I hope it’s ok for me to keep posting chapter summaries, I do find them useful to read after I’ve listened to the chapter.

Chapter 15

Number 34 and 27

• As you might expect, the whole rotting in prison thing weighs heavily upon Edmond. He asks for any and every kind of change: to be thrust deeper into darkness, to be given fresh air and exercise; he asks for a cellmate, even if he's the crazy abbé. Deprived of real human contact, he talks to his jailer, despite the fact that his jailer won't talk back.
• Eventually, he turns to God, praying fervently and furiously ever day, but his prayers aren't answered. He becomes obsessed with the idea that his life, so promising, was destroyed by fate.
• He begins to curse his jailer. He throws himself against the walls of his cell.
• He decides, at one point, that human hatred, not divine vengeance, must be responsible for his plight; he decides, too, that proper retribution requires a punishment crueler than death.
• His thoughts turn to suicide, and the simple thought that he could end his life, the knowledge that he retains some power over his fate, eases his pain. He decides there are two ways for him to go: hanging and starvation.
• Four years into his imprisonment, he decides to starve himself. He throws away his food each day until he becomes so weak that he cannot even summon the strength to do that.
• That evening, he hears a strange scratching, unlike the noise of vermin that he has become accustomed to. He writes it off as a hallucination.
• He hears the same noise, louder now, a few hours later. Edmond is intrigued. When the jailer comes in with his lunch, he makes sure to talk loudly, in order that he might cover up the noise – he's sure that a fellow prisoner, a fellow human being is responsible for it.
• Still, he can't be sure, at least not yet. Driven on by hope, he begins eating again, then sets about finding a way to test his hypothesis about the noise.
• He decides to knock on the wall: if the work resumes quickly thereafter, he'll know it's being done by a workman; if it ceases until the evening, he'll know it's a prisoner.
• The noise does not resume that evening, nor the next day, nor the day after that. It's only three days later that he hears even the faintest scratching.
• Encouraged, he begins to look for some tool he can use to work at the cement between the stones in the wall.
• He decides to break his water pitcher and sharpen the end of its handle into a point. He works all night, making little progress, but he's happy nonetheless.
• The next day, the jailer doesn't seem too concerned about the broken pitcher; he merely finds Edmond a new one.
• Four years into his imprisonment, he decides to starve himself. He throws away his food each day until he becomes so weak that he cannot even summon the strength to do that.
• That evening, he hears a strange scratching, unlike the noise of vermin that he has become accustomed to. He writes it off as a hallucination.
• He hears the same noise, louder now, a few hours later. Edmond is intrigued. When the jailer comes in with his lunch, he makes sure to talk loudly, in order that he might cover up the noise – he's sure that a fellow prisoner, a fellow human being is responsible for it.
• Still, he can't be sure, at least not yet. Driven on by hope, he begins eating again, then sets about finding a way to test his hypothesis about the noise.
• He decides to knock on the wall: if the work resumes quickly thereafter, he'll know it's being done by a workman; if it ceases until the evening, he'll know it's a prisoner.
• The noise does not resume that evening, nor the next day, nor the day after that. It's only three days later that he hears even the faintest scratching.
• Encouraged, he begins to look for some tool he can use to work at the cement between the stones in the wall.
• He decides to break his water pitcher and sharpen the end of its handle into a point. He works all night, making little progress, but he's happy nonetheless.
• The next day, the jailer doesn't seem too concerned about the broken pitcher; he merely finds Edmond a new one.
• Four years into his imprisonment, he decides to starve himself. He throws away his food each day until he becomes so weak that he cannot even summon the strength to do that.
• That evening, he hears a strange scratching, unlike the noise of vermin that he has become accustomed to. He writes it off as a hallucination.
• He hears the same noise, louder now, a few hours later. Edmond is intrigued. When the jailer comes in with his lunch, he makes sure to talk loudly, in order that he might cover up the noise – he's sure that a fellow prisoner, a fellow human being is responsible for it.
• Still, he can't be sure, at least not yet. Driven on by hope, he begins eating again, then sets about finding a way to test his hypothesis about the noise.
• He decides to knock on the wall: if the work resumes quickly thereafter, he'll know it's being done by a workman; if it ceases until the evening, he'll know it's a prisoner.
• The noise does not resume that evening, nor the next day, nor the day after that. It's only three days later that he hears even the faintest scratching.
• Encouraged, he begins to look for some tool he can use to work at the cement between the stones in the wall.
• He decides to break his water pitcher and sharpen the end of its handle into a point. He works all night, making little progress, but he's happy nonetheless.
• The next day, the jailer doesn't seem too concerned about the broken pitcher; he merely finds Edmond a new one.
• Edmond realizes that, had he spent the last few years working like this, he could have been out, or at least been closer to escaping; though he's disheartened, he doesn't give up, and in three day's time he's managed to loosen a stone.
• Unfortunately, he can't seem to move the stone any further, at least not with his current tools.
• To make a long story short, he comes up with a way to get a hold of the metal handle on the tin soup pot the jailer brings every day.
• Using the handle, he's able to dig deeper, but he runs into an obstacle: a large beam in the wall.
• He cries out in despair only to hear a voice from below answer his cry.
• The two voices get to talking. Edmond introduces himself and, when asked, describes the location of his cell.
• The other voice/person is distressed. He was under the impression that he'd been digging toward an exterior wall and would soon open up a tunnel to the sea, from which he could escape.
• The voice then introduces himself as Number 27. He tells Edmond to close up his hole, conceal everything and wait for his signal.
• Edmond, afraid of never hearing from 27 again, pleads with him to return soon.
• Number 27, reassured by Edmond's youth, promises to return soon.
• After sealing up the hole, Edmond is overcome with joy.
• Number 27 calls the next day, soon after the jailer leaves Edmond's cell. They decide that the coast is clear and, like that, a man, a whole man emerges from the hole.

The chapter summaries are great, thank you. I read them after I've read the chapter to make sure I haven't missed anything.

I wonder if number 27 is the abbe? He spoke of getting the drawing wrong and the exit should have been the sea, wasn't the abbe doing some intricate drawing when the Inspector visited.

Was he also, like Dantes, pretending to be mad to disguise the plan?

Ok, I'm getting there with it now