The Count of Monte Cristo

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 1,476 ratings

Price: 5.99

Last update: 08-17-2024


About this item

An epic adventure and one of the most enduring fables in Western literature

Edmond Dantés has a life that any man would envy. A promising young sailor about to be made a captain, he has come home to Marseille to marry his beautiful fiancée, Mercédès. But on the eve of his wedding, Dantés is betrayed, accused of treason, and sentenced without trial to life in prison. For the first six years, Dantés can only mourn his stolen future and dwell on the treachery that landed him behind bars. On the verge of suicide, he meets a fellow prisoner who gives him not just an education in revenge, but the means to accomplish it, as well. After an ingenious escape, Dantés recovers a hidden treasure and returns to Marseille as the Count of Monte Cristo, a man whose unlimited resources are matched only by his boundless thirst for vengeance.

An illuminating portrait of early nineteenth-century France and a timeless tale of justice achieved, The Count of Monte Cristo has inspired numerous adaptations, from comic books and Broadway plays to the hit TV series Revenge.

Top reviews from the United States

D. Blankenship
5.0 out of 5 stars The only novel my father ever read
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2016
What can you say bout The Count of Monte Cristo that has not already been written over the years other than adding your voice to the thousands and thousands of readers who have enjoyed this work since it was first published.

I read this as a very young man and decided to give it yet another read.

I admit that one of my favorite genres is that of revenge. Well CMC was probably the original revenge novel and more or less set the standard for all that followed. This is one of the few classics that young people; even in our non-reading world of today, will and do still enjoy reading. It sort of grabs you in the first chapters and builds from there. Every time I see or read this work I have to smile. My father who was an extremely intelligent man and an extremely educated man only read one novel. He read it late in life just before his death and loved it...yup, it was The Count of Monte Cristo...go figure...I was proud of him!

I do love this Kindle edition. Yes, I know you can get this one for free since it is public domain but I really don’t care. The version I received from Amazon and paid .99 cents for is perfectly formatted. I have ordered books from Project Gutenberg and other such organizations and while I appreciate their efforts I must be frank and tell you that I have been extremely dissatisfied with much of the formatting and presentation. I simply did not want to take that chance with this work.

This is a great read and I would recommend it to anyone.
grammyk
5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful and humorous BUT very, very lengthy
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2016
I'm not sure if the author intended to have so much humor in his story, but when a 21st century reader is reading a 19th century author, the drama and lengthy communications become quite humorous! I almost didn't read the whole story, but the more I read, the more I wanted to find out what was happening in all the characters lives. I did skip over some of the more descriptive parts. Edmond Dante (alias Count of Monte Cristo) who is wrongly accused of a crime he did not commit, ends up in a French jail for 14 years. He befriends an abbe, where he learns a lot. After his escape he plans revenge for the characters that put him in the jail. Humorous were the parts when one person was trying to relate something to another person and that person kept interrupting the teller. This happened in a lot of the different dialogs and with all of the characters...I kept thinking, just spit it out already!! I loved the way the author weaved the different characters and how shallow and egotistical most of the upper class of France were in those days. Everything had to do with how much money they had and their status in society. What a hoot! This is a very, very long book. The longest I have ever read, but it was well worth the time spent in reading it. What a classic! I would recommend this to everyone, there is no foul language or sexual scenes, just beware of the very long, and sometimes boring descriptive scenes.
Ron Rodger
4.0 out of 5 stars Alexandre Dumas - a great escape to another world
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2014
O loved every minute of my reading of Alexandra Dumas- The Count of Monte Cristo. Yes its a bit turgid at times but the serialization format with lots of short chapters creates an episodic pace that has many virtues. Dumas was the French serialist writer, not dissimilar to the role played by Charles Dickens, in capturing and reflecting the voice of the industrial England, and post revolutionary France. But Dumas was also a science hobbyist, a travel writer, an avid conversationalist and keen gatherer of stories and adventures. As such, his writing is infused with vigorous description of people and events. Its incredibly romantic in an awkward, clinging manner; his observations of passion, psychotic drugs, boundless wealth and steely revenge is monumentally structured deserving every accolade Dumas received recently in recognition of his tremendous contribution to French Literature. Dumas really has it all. I particularly enjoyed his peculiar take on the English. Whenever Dumas satirizes the English he comes up with synonyms not found often, eg: ...like the English businessman who smiles at the end of his teeth.... perfect observation; and there one or two dozen other observations of polish travelers, jewelers, bread makers and stable hands. The whole story of urban and regional transport by horse and carriage in pre-industrial France is covered in the course of this book. The introduction of Radio also features and many of the salutations, behaviors and etiquette, fashion events and social milieu of Paris, Rome and Marseillaises are described in minute social and historical detail.
Kalala
5.0 out of 5 stars ReReading About the Count
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2022
I read this in High School...I liked it way back then and I enjoyed it now. There are classics that are timeless & this is one of them. Change the costumes & speech...this book could have been written last year.
maggiemoonbeam
5.0 out of 5 stars Better even than I remember it from reading it as a little girl.
Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2014
This is a book which everyone thinks they read, or thinks they know from the movies which have been made of it. I had forgotten the enormous scope of it, and remember only what the movies told. If a movie were really made of the entire story, it would be at least five hours long and would still not give the viewer what the reader will get. This is THE BEST novel I have read in the 62 years I have been a reader. I only wish that I could read it in French, because despite the marvelous translation, something is always lost. I recommend reading it slowly, just a few short chapters a day. Thank heavens for Kindle, because this is a HUGE book. I'm so happy that I read it again, and recommend it to everyone.
Michael
5.0 out of 5 stars Revenge is worth it sometimes, when you have been betrayed at the worst level
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2015
Read it in high school. It is a bit long, but it is good.

Sometimes revenge is something that is worth spending the rest of one's life going after. People these days, in the modern world, often say that when you are angry at someone who has hurt you, or betrayed you, you only hurt yourself by being angry.

However, before the modern era, it was generally believed that holding a grudge and taking revenge is something that is accepted.

Sometimes, we can't let karma and time come along to gives us some type of satisfaction due to what some might think of as universal justice. We need revenge.

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