The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.
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- perusaphone
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The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.
I have witnessed various filmic versions of the story since and, I suspect many of you have to, however, I recently was requested to supply a title of a book suitable for my 60th birthday present. I thought long and hard about it and came up with 'The Count of Monti Cristo'. I scoured the airwaves for an unabridged version, nothing, zilch, zero. Many examples are mentioned, but nothing available it would seem. I ventured into a favorite s/h bookshop of mine and inquired and as usual, nothing doing. I purchased something else from the 1930's instead. I left the shop and went into a sort of gift shop, local and very cheap. As I perused the shelves I noticed a collection of Paperback classics. There were the Dickens, the Hardy's, the Elliots and so on, and then, right out of alphabetical order was a paperback example of The Count of Monti Cristo for the princely sum of £1.99, brand new and, the all important unabridged version. I bought it rapidly and exited the shop before someone mugged me for it.
I have now finished it. A fantastic book and read. It reached far beyond anything I ever knew of the story, it has all manner of extra avenues unexplored by any other version I have ever encountered, these all pale into insignificance by the side of the original translation. Yes the print is small size, yes it is a heavy book to hold up in bed, but that is so negative beside the positive.
I really do not read many story books, but, this is an exception, I cannot relay my enthusiasm enough. Although I missed out on a present at the time, I heartily recommend this to any reader of 1800 classics. It is published by the Wordsworth Classics mark and I may well invest in many more at these prices....
- RuqeeD
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I fell into the same trap. I read it a few years ago and was showing it to my friends after I recommended it and one of my friends commented that her sister has the book and it was a much bigger and thicker book than the pitifully abridged one I had. But I managed to get the full version quite soon after that. We have a great store that have an extensive collection of classics at really good prices so it works out great for me!perusaphone wrote:However, due to my youthful exuberance in reading material and, lack of knowledge, I missed the fact that what I was in fact reading, was an abridged version, I still own it after all these years.
- perusaphone
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-- Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:55 pm --
I just pulled the book from a shelf and it is all of 875 pages, small fonted print with precious little else except titles, and the spine is hardly marked. usually they become folded up like a tissue serviette and the pages open to well thumbed exerpts. My copy still sits flat as though brand new, is this my caring nature or quality in production one asks....!!
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- perusaphone
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- Va_treehugger
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- perusaphone
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Read it and give yourself a treat, the unabridged version and not the normal film versions though.......
- RuqeeD
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I actually thought the movie was rubbish and barely kept with the greatness of the book. It's because I read the book first and then I watched the movie and thought....what the hell are they playing at? Sorry to be so blunt but it just bugged me how awful the movie was but that's just me.Va_treehugger wrote:Have not read the book yet but I love, Love, LOVE the movie that came out in 2002. My entire family loved it. I got the feeling that it stayed true to the book. Anyone know how true it was?
- perusaphone
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Films tend to be an easier option to the task of reading books it would seem....!!
- shaphat
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I think that the book is so appealing to me because it has everything: Drama, Action, Romance, Mystery, etc. and is well mixed in. Plus the character of Edmond is quite likeable,I was cheering him on all through the book. The parts where he reveals his real identity to his enemies made my heart race, I even re-read those parts. I also watched several of the films and have yet to find one close to the feel I got from the book. The 2002 version was a huge disappointment, probably one of the worse adaptations.
- perusaphone
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long a film that people would lose interest, mainly due to uncomfortable posteriors. A filmic version of most books have to first be an account, as seen by the manufacturers, then reduced in total content to sustain visual interest, then the 'celebrity' input has to be adhered to by the hype people, then marketed as yet another 'new' film...??
I read because films are always a sad reflection on the authors writings.... and that is not even contemplating verbatim versions, running up against any existing copyright......
-- Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:56 am --
As an aside to the original C of MC story concept which was written about 1845ish, I have just finished a short story by the French author Francois-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), he later took the nom-de-plume Voltaire. Sometime around 1750, Voltaire wrote one of his shorter stories entitled 'L'Ingenu'. This has another male of lower status being wronged, imprisoned, taught by an older sage and sort of wreaking revenge toward the end. Written some 100 years previous to Dumas, one wonders if there was any influence taken from Voltaire's text by Dumas...????
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- perusaphone
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- Caron1
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