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!

That was an enjoyable chapter 18. It reminded me of Treasure Island.

Oh yes, definitely. The autobiographical ones are charming, moving and funny. La Gloire de Mon Père and Le Chateau de Ma Mère are the ones I have read.

Thank you for the recommendation @TonTonMacoute and @cassandre - I will have a little explore when we have finished this - maybe over the summer..

I mean I knew it was coming but I'm gutted to see the Abbé go. I would have loved to see "The Adventures of Abbé and Edmond: A Tale of Dastardly Revenge."

Hello, please can I join too? I was also catching up with you all and now have.

I'm enjoying this a lot which I wasn't expecting. DH has been saying it's great for years but like others was put off by the size and age.

Loving how fast it moves and how it's quite funny thrown in with the otherwise sad story. Like how does the Abbe have all that stuff undetected, it's great.

I've enjoyed reading Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources in French. I would say give them a go, @MotherOfCatBoy. They're good stories and not too daunting in length. Interesting that you say the English translation is poor @AwardGiselePelicotTheNobelPeacePrize (excellent username btw. What an incredible woman she is).

@TonTonMacoute Good point about the readability of classics. They've stood the test of time for a reason.

I'm sad the old abbé isn't going to be around to see the fun which I assume is on the way (I'm not familiar with the plot but guessing revenge is on the cards).

Can I join or is it too late? I'm ordering the book on amazon. Thank you.

Welcome @polkadotmonstera and @Scatterbugg - it should be easy to catch up, the story rolls along so fast!

Today’s chapter (The Cemetary) is a nail biter for sure!

I have been reading if not commenting the last week (as work and admin seem to have got in the way).

I have to agree with everyone as to how readable it is (against my expectations) and I love how resourceful the abbe was - Edmond would have been lost (and possibly dead or insane) without him.

Chapter 20

The Graveyard of the Chateau D'If

• Once everyone leaves the cell, Edmond heads over to look at Faria's sack-covered body.
• After despairing and contemplating suicide, he suddenly gets a brilliant idea.
• Using Faria's tools, he cuts a whole in the sack and removes Faria's body. After putting the body in his own bed and covering it in bedsheets, he gets into the sack and sews himself inside.
• He has a plan of attack all thought out:
• If the guards figure out he, a living man, is inside the bag, he'll cut it open with the knife, scare them, then run.
• If they bury him, he'll wait for a suitable moment to dig himself out of the grave – which will no doubt be shallow – then run.
• If he can't get out of the grave, then so be it. He was probably going to end up dying anyway.
• After suffering the whole night through, Edmond finally hears the guards enter. He gets confused when he hears them discussing "the knot."
• The guards carry him a short while, then stop. A moment later, he feels a rope being tied around his feet. Now the guards are discussing the roughness of the sea; one remarks, "Yes, the abbé runs a serious risk of getting wet".
• Edmond is confused. Suddenly, he can feel the guards swinging him, and then he's falling, flying through the air. He cries out the moment he hits the water. He's being dragged to the bottom of the sea by the thirty-six pound cannonball attached to his legs.

How will he survive the cannonball?!

I just knew I would get sucked in to learning more about Napoleon. I've just started Napoleon: A Life in Gardens and Shadows by Ruth Scurr which combines two of my favourite subjects - history and gardening 😀

I love the last line of the chapter - "The Château d'If cemetery was the sea!"

Had to read to the end of volume 1, I just couldn't put it down. Nail biting stuff.

Well! I certainly didn't see it coming!
Had to read the next few lines and then put the book away.

Holy moly what a cliffhanger! I might have to read ahead 😅

Goodness me! I kind of guessed he might do the body impersonation bit to escape but how is he going to survive this?

Spoiler: he doesn't, the rest of the book is his ghost haunting his enemies.

(that may or may not be true 😎)

I did carry on listening to chapter 21, but only because I’ve got a busy day ahead in work tomorrow… 😁

I love that we are all slowly cheating so we can read on. Clearly buying the book of a serialisation was the binge watch of the 19th century 😂

I'm another one that skipped ahead! I do love the twists in this book, they keep coming

I am still here! Got a bit behind over the weekend and had to catch up.

I'm surprised the story bolts along so quickly and is so readable even when it's just Dante trapped in a cell. I can't wait to see what happens next!

I did think he might do the whole body swap thing but I was not expecting the burial at sea! Bloody good job he took that knife with him I'm guessing! Reading my chapter, then rushing on here to read the comments, is fast becoming one of the highlights of my day.

I am muting this thread for a while as I read ahead and eventually devoured the whole thing. I want to say that this book is WORTH IT, even when you may lose some steam partway through. What a read! I feel like it has ruined me for future novels as it was just so so good. Enjoy!

God, I’m slow - there was me thinking he should be ransacking the abbe’s cell for all his tools/manuscripts etc and not even thinking about escape!

Managed to restrain myself last night from reading ahead but can’t wait to read on….

in other news, I am reading Shy Creatures which has just referred to TCOMC as a children’s classic - really?