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 29 Summary

The House of Morrel & Son

• Still pretending to be an English investment dude, Edmond visits Morrel.
• Morrel is bad. His business is about to collapse: his one remaining ship should be coming in any day now, and if it doesn't, Morrel is up a creek without a paddle. Without this shipment, he won't be able to pay his investors, and he will find himself in heavy duty debt.
• Morrel only has two guys working for him at this point, one of whom is named Emmanuel Herbault. Emmanuel is in love with Julie, Morrel's daughter.
• Remember that Edmond-disguised-as-English-investor just bought out the largest of Morrel's investors, and so, now, Edmond is the investor. Edmond-disguised-as-English-investor gives Morrel a three-month extension to find his ship, get his goods in order, and pay him back.
• On his way out the door, Edmond pulls Julie aside and tells her cryptically to follow any orders she receives in the mail from a man named "Sinbad the Sailor." Dum-dee-dum-dum-DUM.

Today's chapter (30) was excellent.

Yes it was @FuzzyCaoraDhubh, my favourite yet.

Very well set up for the next part too.

Yes @lifeturnsonadime I think it's a turning point in the story.
All the emotions were engaged in this chapter. And such a nice touch how it was done (reluctant to say too much for anyone who has yet to read it!)

Yes, indeed!

There wasn't much to say about chapter 29 as it was a bit dry and just a set up for what happened next. Todays was so tense although on the face of it very simply written - a lot of it was people listening to other people walking up and down stairs and closing and opening doors! Good stuff!

Chapter 30 Summary

The Fifth of September

• This is a great chapter.
• Nearly three months have gone by, but Morrel still hasn't been able to come up with the money. He's totally distraught, and he doesn't know what to do. Where can he find the money? He can't. His name and his reputation are in ruins.
• Morrel decides he's going to kill himself. He even tells his son, Maximillian, about this plan. Max agrees it's a good idea (whaa?).
• But just before he's about to take his own life, Julie receives a letter from Sinbad the Sailor (drumroll please). She does everything Sinbad tells her to do, and, as a result, she finds the little red purse that Morrel had once given to Edmond's dad (Dantès Sr.) when he was on his deathbed. The little red purse is filled with documents that explain that Morrel's debts have been forgiven. AND it contains a big diamond that is specifically for Julie and her marriage to Emmanuel. Sweet.
• And if that wasn't enough, a brand spanking new ship sails into the harbor – it's the new Pharaon.
• Can you hear the shrieks of joy and the triumphant soundtrack getting louder and louder as the camera focuses on the happy scene in Morrel's home and then zooms out to the Marseille harbor and then zooms out even more, until Marseille is just a little dot on the horizon?
• This is to say, our protagonist, Edmond is leaving Marseille.

Ooh, can’t wait to see what Edmond does next! It will be darker though I think …

• Morrel decides he's going to kill himself. He even tells his son, Maximillian, about this plan. Max agrees it's a good idea (whaa?)

TBF, that's a bit unfair on Max! 😀

It's actually a very moving conversation.

Such a tense chapter! I was convinced the rescue was going to arrive too late

Me too, Edmond was definitely cutting it a bit fine here, I mean the pistol was literally in Morrell's mouth! It was a lovely chapter though, and I'm looking forward to the Downfall of Danglars even more often his treatment of M. Morrell.

Love this chapter! All glorious but how wonderful when the ship comes in in front of Morrell’s doubters.

I posted back on 11/1 that I had stooped reading as was confused with the storyline and was going to wait for you to catch up to where I am. I have since decided to rejoin and reread from chapter 28 with you all so that I can follow along with the discussion as you’re nearly at my last chapter. Looking forward to what happens next

I confess I did listen to chapters 29 and 30 together, I was on tenterhooks and couldn’t wait to hear how it played out for Morrel. I get that Edmond needed time to get the new ship built, but poor Morrel, he almost blew his brains out. I love the way Dumas writes ‘instantly they were…’ - is it just me that imagines them teleporting Star Trek style from one place to another? 🤣

Awesome quote:

“And now...farewell to kindness, humanity and gratitude. I have substituted myself for Providence in rewarding the good; may the God of vengeance now yield me His place to punish the wicked.”

Awesome quote:

“And now...farewell to kindness, humanity and gratitude. I have substituted myself for Providence in rewarding the good; may the God of vengeance now yield me His place to punish the wicked.”

You can almost see his metaphorical sleeves being rolled up!

He really did leave it to the last minute didn’t he! Like in films where the last 10 seconds until the bomb explodes lasts about 5 minutes 😄

It sounds like the nice stuff is done and dusted, and now we’re switching to vengeance…kind of sad about that, I want more happy Morrels!

Chapter 31 Summary

Italy: Sinbad the Sailor

• Ten years have passed, folks, and we meet yet another character. A French dude named Franz d'Epinay (he's a Baron) is hunting goats on the island of Monte Cristo. Really? Yes, but stick with us.
• Franz discovers a gang of suspicious looking dudes on the island, and he thinks they are smugglers or pirates. Who would live on an island like this?
• It just so happens that these suspicious looking dudes work for "Sinbad the Sailor," who we readers know to be Edmond Dantès.
• Sinbad lives in a really cool palace-like house on the island, among the rocks and the caves. MTV Cribs would be all over his place – he has decked it out with the most beautiful and luxurious furniture and objects from around the world. AND the food at his palace is mouth-wateringly, makes-you-wanna-weep delicious.
• Sinbad tells Franz that he travels all over the world doing good things for people. He's kind of like Robin Hood. He sets prisoners free and stuff.
• He tells Franz about a particular instance in which he saved the life of a Nubian slave named Ali who had been sentenced to death for getting too near the king's harem. Ali now works for Sinbad. But he can't speak because he has no tongue.
• And the drugs. Sinbad's all about drugs, and he's a big fan of the hallucinations drugs give him. He and Franz do lots of drugs, causing Franz to fall into a kind of dream-world trance.

Can't help feeling that Edmond is losing the plot a bit here & it's all about to go pearshaped - or maybe that's just from a 21stC perspective and the sybaritic luxury & drugs didn't have the same implications back then?

(Also, sounds a lot more like opium than hashish, surely?)

This is such a strange chapter!!!

Its so well written though, not so much the description of the cave, but all the sneaking up on the island, and winding up young Franz with the pirate horror stories. Real adventure stuff.

I would be surprised if Franz (WTF is he anyway?) isn't in for a rude awakening. We shall see.

Agreed, it's a weird chapter! I didn't like the casual cruelty implied in the story of how Edmond wanted a mute servant, so he waited for Ali to have his tongue cut out, and then intervened to save him. Hmm.

@Sadik I was also surprised by the hashish! A quick google turned up this article, which I haven't read in full (it's quite dense), but it shows that 19th c. French hashish-eating was definitely a subject of fascination.
https://mikejay.net/the-green-jam-of-doctor-x/

I think Dumas wrote the entire chapter under the influence of some very strong hashish! 😆

ETA: no idea who Franz is, except I caught he’s a friend of Albert, who I feel has already been mentioned by… someone? 🤷‍♀️ I think Edmond may use Franz as a way of getting contacts in Paris.

😂at Dumas writing while high!

I googled Franz because I was confused about who he was (yes, I'm addicted to googling everything), but I regret having done so because I encountered a few plot spoilers.

Anyway, Franz is definitely a new character, but his friend Albert is the son of Mercedes and Fernand.

Well! That took a bit of a strange turn!
I had to read it in instalments. It was long! I even read the second half of it in English to speed things up a bit. I may go back to it later.

Laughing at the comment about Dumas writing it while he was high himself. Yes!
Not finding the casual cruelty relating to the mute servant funny either. Dodgy.
Ah! Albert is Mercédès's son...yes. That makes sense. He's cultivating Franz's friendship to get close to him.

Anyway, Franz is definitely a new character, but his friend Albert is the son of Mercedes and Fernand.

I totally missed that! Good catch.

Well that was a step into some drug fuelled, at times Disneyesque, fantasty, I didn't see any of that coming!

I agree @cassandre about feeling uncomfortable about the situation with Ali though.

I didn't like the casual cruelty implied in the story of how Edmond wanted a mute servant, so he waited for Ali to have his tongue cut out, and then intervened to save him. Hmm.

Hoping that's a wind up, to make Franz more afraid of this ruthless pirate.