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!

Chapter 21

The Island of Tiboulen

• Miraculously – there's really no other word for it – Edmond manages to cut himself out of the sack and struggle free of the cannonball. He swims desperately in the rough seas, and after some quick and tortured thinking, he decides that he must swim to one of two islands, Tiboulen or Lemaire, both of which are a league – about three miles – away. Encouraged by the memory of Faria, he manages to make it Tiboulen. Yes, that's right, he swims three miles after being thrown off a cliff with a cannonball attached to his leg.
• He immediately collapses on the shore and falls asleep.
• Awoken by a clap of thunder, he soon sees a small fishing boat off in the distance. He watches as the boat breaks apart and the sailors are thrown into the sea.
• Edmond, afraid that his escape will be discovered soon, realizes he needs to get going. The next morning, he sees another boat off in the distance, but afraid that his ragged clothing will tip off the sailors as to his true identity, hesitates in flagging him down.
• Then he notices that the cap of one of the drowned sailors has washed ashore, and decides to take a chance. He takes the cap, leaps into the sea, and grabs onto a floating beam from the other ship's wreckage. After anxiously waiting to be seen by the other ship, he finally manages to get their attention. They send out a small rowboat, and soon enough he's on the ship.
• Edmond tells the ship's captain that he's a Maltese seaman that washed ashore on Tiboulen in the middle of yesterday's storm. They're a little skeptical of his story – his long beard and hair make him look more than a little odd – but they decide to take him in anyway.
• He quickly impresses them with his nautical knowledge by showing them a shortcut to Leghorn. Edmond then promises to pay them back for any food and clothing they give him if they pay him a regular sailor's wage. Jacopo, the sailor who hoisted Edmond from the sea, agrees to lend Edmond some clothing. Edmond is grateful for clothing, and for the food and drink he's given him soon after.
• Only a short time later, the captain sees a puff of smoke rise above the Chateau d'If. Edmond tells them that that means a prisoner has recently escaped. The captain is suspicious, but he gives Edmond a free pass on account of his abilities.
• Edmond turns to Jacopo and asks him what day and month it is; Jacopo quickly replies, but he's confused when Edmond goes on to ask him what year it is.
• Jacopo tells him that it's February 28th, 1829 – fourteen years, to the day, after Edmond was first imprisoned.
• Thinking it over, Edmond feels the urge to get his revenge on the three men responsible for locking him up for so long.

Well I had patience and didn't read until today. But it was the FIRST thing I did with a cup of coffee!

Didn't disappoint!

A children's classic?! No, I don't think so.
Or else I'm a big kid :) I'm delighted that Dantès has made his escape.

I think maybe in France Dumas’ works are regarded a bit like we now regard YA? Or like Kidnapped or Treasure Island. Swashbuckling stuff that you read as a teenager.

So exciting! Today I was thinking, imagine the light! After all that time in that cell!

I did a lot of looking at Google maps again today. That’s some swim! For anyone who has done any outdoor swimming, 5k in rough seas is no joke.

Yeah, I was looking at the map and thinking, surely there was a closer uninhabited island than Tiboulen. Plage des Catalans was a lot closer!

I'm also very impressed that despite an atrocious diet and no exercise for 14 years he's still capable of that long swim in a rough sea. Edmund is clearly superhuman.

I think Plage des Catalans was too much of a risk (and too far from the treasure!)

I know! Not a bother on him!
Clearly he's superhuman.

@JaninaDuszejko Are all the places mentioned in the book real and geographically correct? Of course, I have heard of some of the place names but never thought that the islands etc would be how the book described. If so I will also look at the maps of France and surrounding areas.

It's great to read about Dantes's sailing knowledge when he was rescued from the water. He competently sailed the boat, taking over from their captain. This shows that Dantes was quite rightly considered for promotion on the Paraeon.

Yes, all the islands mentioned are in the bay of Marseille. There is also an island of Montecristo about 20 miles south of Elba.

Oh great! I will have a look as then it will add another layer to the book. Reading the book as slowly as this allows for this extra interest.

I quite fancy a trip to Marseille! I've always fancied it but this has added an extra reason.

@lifeturnsonadime Ooh, I have just had a look at some pics of Marseille. It looks beautiful, especially in summer. On the tourist map you can see some of the places mentioned in the book. I just didn't think that the book was geographically correct so didn't bother looking it up.

I’ve had Google Maps open as I read, especially for this chapter - it really brings it alive! And yes, bloody long swim! 😄 I really want to visit Marseille too.

DS went to Marseille last summer but he didn't go to Chateau d'If, I just asked him! I would love to visit - actually Montecristo is closer to me so maybe I'll pop over to see if there is any treasure.....

I had always heard of the book as being a children's (or I guess young adults') book too but that wouldn't put me off. Some of my favourite books are children's books.

I’m doing some literary holidays/breaks this year and Marseille is high on my list. Need to renew my passport.

You'll have to plan it for the end of the readalong then post photos for us all.

I've definitely always thought of it as at least YA suitable - similar to Jules Verne's books.

There was a point in this chapter where I was like, wait a second chaps, isn’t he naked? Didn’t he actually get naked so that he would seem more like the dead Abbe. Then there is a whole convo about his nakedness. I’m really excited for a Marseille trip now. I reckon I can the family into this one.

I always thought Monte Cristo was a fictitious place 😳
Yes. There was a casual conversation around his being naked alright 😄

Ha, yes, I was very amused by the nudity bit, partly because we're told at the beginning of Dantes' escape that he's naked, but then I kind of forgot about it, and then he goes on to have all of these adventures and stand at the helm of the ship that rescues him and give amazing steering directions, and everyone is very impressed, and they have a conversation about him joining their crew. At which point someone finally mentions that he's naked, and that maybe they should give him some clothes. 😂 So I belatedly realised that Dantes was naked the whole time he was demonstrating his captain skills. For some reason I found the mental image of naked Dantes at the helm very funny. Yes, I am immature.

By the way, the wikipedia page about the novel has the image below, labelled '^Dantès sur son rocher [Dantes on his rock] affiche de Louis Français pour Le comte de Monte Cristo^ d'Alexandre Dumas.'

I don't know the date of the image but Louis Francais was a 19th c. lithographer.

At least Dantes has a loincloth here, but check out the muscles! He's totally giving off the vibe of a man who's been incarcerated in a dungeon for 14 years. (Not.)

Actually it looks like the poster was for a theatrical production?

MN suggested that I might want to label the image as 'sensitive' but I thought we brave readers would be hardy enough to view a close-to-naked Dantes.

Blimey, lithograph Edmond is ripped! So glad he has made his, somewhat improbable, escape now. Let the treasure hunting and revenging commence!

After 14 years in captivity the naked Dantes is strong and can manage a 5km swim across stormy waters.

Swoon.

Or am I letting my imagination get away with me! ?"

Yes, ripped is the word I was looking for 😂

As @Sadik says btw, I think there are certain 'classics' that can be classified as YA lit but that have an adult readership as well. I'm thinking of other adventure stories like Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, or Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.