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!

Oops sorry @MotherOfCatBoy already mentioned RL Stevenson!

I think that's why I was initially reluctant to join this read-along; I had the novel categorised in my head as an adventure story, and that's not normally my genre. But I'm loving it.

Lol at the 'sensitive' image 😅

Regarding the nakedness, didn't he get a fisherman's red hat to look more convincing. So he was naked with a red hat on which is an even more hilarious mental image.
I hadn't clocked he was naked driving the boat though. Finding that they let a random pulled out the sea have a go at an important job like that quite amusing

I’m a day behind but was several days behind - nearly caught up!

One of the reasons I was so keen to join in was because one of my favourite films is The Shawshank Redemption. They make a passing reference to the book and I love following connections through films and books.

Now I get more of the humour behind the line in the film when they are sorting out the library and one of the men asks where TCOMC should go.
Andy replies “File it under education.” And how the film eventually pans out - the parallels run much deeper than I had realised.

Chapter 22

The Smugglers

• We learn that Edmond has found his way onto a smuggler's ship – it's right in the chapter title if you hadn't guessed it before.
• Accustomed to breaking the law, the captain doesn't worry too much about Edmond's origin.
• When they get to Leghorn, Edmond sets off to get a haircut. When he looks in the barber's mirror, he finds his face greatly changed. His complexion is pale, his eyes sad, his eyebrows arched, as if he were in constant thought. He finds himself an older, more compact and muscular man, and he realizes that his years of living in darkness have given him the ability see clearly even at night. He is, in short, totally unrecognizable.
• The captain of the smugglers, eager to hold onto a skilled seaman like Edmond, asks him if he will stay on. Edmond accepts. Edmond buys himself a new outfit and gives Jacopo back his clothing.
• One day, while out sailing, Edmond comes up on deck to see the island of Monte Cristo less than a league away. He considers leaping into the sea and making a swim for it, but decides it would be better to wait.
• Over time, Edmond befriends Jacopo; he takes the sailor under his wing and attempts to teach him in the same way that Faria had taught him.
• A few months pass.
• It just so happens that the captain wants to use the island of Monte Cristo as a meeting place for an upcoming smuggling operation.

I feel like he's settling into the story now Edmund has escaped from prison and after the first 20 chapters ending with cliffhanger after cliffhanger we're slowing down a bit because he has us hooked. Something tells me Edmund is going to find the treasure on the Isle of Monte Cristo...

I’m enjoying this so much - the sense of freedom and possibility is huge.

It’s such a fun read! I totally get the children’s classic/YA thing - it really is an adventure story and things happen so fast (for us - not always for poor Edmond!). Like the end of today’s chapter - just when we were wondering how he would ever get to Monte Cristo in a manner that would enable him to hunt for the treasure in peace, the opportunity suddenly arises. Although the island is going to be pretty busy so I wonder how he’ll sneak away from everyone…

@Scatterbugg You're right about the red hat, how could I have forgotten that? 😂

Maybe he used the red hat to preserve his modesty.

A multifunctional Phyrgian red cap 😅

@JaninaDuszejko 😂A Phrygian cap would be kind of the right shape for that. Oh dear! 😜

Yup 😜

Great minds think alike @FuzzyCaoraDhubh , thanks for the photos!

Geniuses we are @cassandre 😉
Etsy is telling me that I can buy a Phyrgian cap, with or without a rosette 🤔

Me too. I was reading it on the tube thinking "hot"! I have been lagging a bit behind and while I was enjoying it I wasn't gripped by it. But then he got chucked over the parapet and suddenly I couldn't put it down.

I was a bit said to see the change in Edmond, not physically but emotionally. Still it wouldn't do for him to be squeamish when he has so much revenging to do!

Yes, me too @MamaNewtNewt . In chapter 23 Dantes seems completely at ease with deceiving his colleagues, even Jacopo.

I was expecting Dantès to enlist Jacopo as a companion and as a helper. Or even the crew. He is going to need help as well as a boat to carry the haul. Has he thought things through?!

The Island of Monte Cristo

A day after he makes the plan known, they find themselves docked off the island's coast.That night, they make landfall. Edmond asks Jacopo where they are going to sleep that night. When Jacopo tells him that they'll probably sleep on the ship, Edmond suggests that maybe they'd be better off sleeping in the caves.Jacopo has some bad news: he doesn't know of any caves on Monte Cristo. Still, Edmond doesn't lose hope. He knows the directions by heart, and he intends to follow them.The next day, Edmond takes a gun and goes off "hunting" on the island – which is populated by a bunch of wild goats. Jacopo insists on tagging along, but Edmond quickly dispatches of him by killing a goat and forcing Jacopo to carry it back to camp. Edmond spends the day searching the island with little success.
When dinnertime rolls around, the rest of the crew fires a shot to get Edmond's attention.
Edmond runs back toward the group, moving quickly, recklessly. He loses his footing, cries out, then falls out of sight.
Jacopo finds Edmond lying on the ground, covered in blood. Edmond claims to be badly injured and will not even let them carry him back to camp.An hour later, they return to find Edmond looking no better. The captain suggests that they delay their departure so that Edmond can recover, but he'll hear nothing of it. He asks to be left alone with a gun and a pickaxe, so that, you know, he can build a shelter. Though the captain warns Edmond that they won't be back near Monte Cristo for at least a week, he tells the captain not to worry. If they run into another boat headed in the right direction, he says, tell them to come my way; I'll pay them for their trouble.
Once again, he turns down Jacopo's offer of help, and, finally, they leave.
After watching the ship disappear over the horizon, Edmond hops up, filled with energy, and sets to work.

I have a feeling we might see Jacobo again. He seems very devoted and Edmond is going to need help at some point.

He might pop up in a minute from behind a rock! It's that kind of book @TonTonMacoute

I'm assuming unless we know there's been a corpse that anyone could turn up again.

Edmund is being very devious even with the people who saved his life. I hope he gets redeemed somehow after getting his revenge on the baddies.

I feel he didn't shine today. I didn't like his attitude towards his rescuers.

Yes, he’s really snobby about his crew mates, it’s disappointing. I suppose we would complain if he was too perfect though - maybe this is all part of his learning curve? Definitely think we’ll see Jacopo again soon, and I don’t have a clue how he’s going to get the treasure off the island! (Although I’ve read the book before, the only chapter so far that I actually remember reading previously is the one where he first meets Faria…I have no idea how the story is going to develop!)