Rating: 
Summary: A brilliantly written book
Review: This book takes place in Napoleonic France and is about a young, innocent sailor named Edmond Dantes who is falsely accused of a serious crime by those around him and sent to the most horrible of jails, where he stays for a long period of time, until he finally escapes. Whence from there he begins to revenge himself on the ones who did him the great injustice that put him through the suffering of isolation in jail.
This is a brilliantly written book that only a few could even think of. Maybe the idea of a man getting revenge is common, but only Dumas could put it into words of such power, showing the cleverness of Dantes as he takes each step towards getting revenge upon all his enemies. Although it might be a bit confusing at first, with all the detail, once you understand everything that goes on in the intelligent mind of the Count of Monte Cristo aka Dantes, you will be captivated by this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Classic
Review: The Count of Monte Cristo is a great read. I decided to read the book after having seen the movie. Where the movie is an action adventure, the book is drama to its core. As always, I regret having seen the movie first and having it's characterizations impressed on me. In this case, the movie and book are so different that it didn't matter too much.The book is about a young man, Dantes, who is severely wronged. He is imprisoned and vows to get vengeance on those who caused him to suffer. He meets a mentor in prison, escapes, and then finds his mentor's treasure. With this treasure, as a older man, he is able to exact revenge on his enemies. His many twisted schemes form the bulk of the book (practically ignored in the movie). The way these plans weave in and out of each other is magnificent. The Count of Monte Cristo should be on everyone's "Must Read" list. It is truly a masterpiece that should not be missed.
Rating:
Summary: The Count of Monte Cristo
Review: As a 16 year old girl, I couldn't believe how amazing this book was. I read it after watching the 2002 movie version. The book differs from the movie in the endings and most of the details, but the general plot of prison, money, and revenge remains. I liked them both in their own respect.
This is one of those exciting books that you can't put down. I read this version and I am glad I did. At the book store, I compared it to the unabriged versions, and not only did this version contain more, the translator tends to use better word choice and has superior sentence fluency.
The plot of the story is intriging and exciting. If you like books that make you twist your head around and think, this is for you! Also this is NOT a boring classic (like many are): it actually keeps your interest for the majority of the time.
Therefore, I give the Count of Monte Cristo 5 stars and encourage you to read it. You won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: Read the _full_ English translation
Review: I've reviewed this book before. I'm writing another review of it now so that it will appear on my list of reviews next to my review of the butchered 2002 screen adaptation of this epic work. Alexandre Dumas's _The Count of Monte Cristo_ is one of the greatest novels of all time and in fact stands at the fountainhead of the entire stream of popular adventure-fiction. Dumas himself was one of the founders of the genre; every other such writer -- H. Rider Haggard, C.S. Forrester, Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, Mickey Spillane, Ian Fleming, Tom Clancy, John Grisham -- is deeply in his debt. The cold, brooding, vampiric Count (born Edmond Dantes; known also, among other aliases, as "Sinbad the Sailor," Lord Wilmore, and a representative of the firm of Thomson and French) is the literary forebear of every dark hero from Sherlock Holmes and the Scarlet Pimpernel to Zorro, Batman, the Green Hornet, and Darkman. And the intricate plot provides everything any reader could want: adventure, intrigue, romance, and (of course) the elegant machinations of the Count himself as he exacts his terrible revenge on those who have wronged him -- thereby serving, or so he believes, as an agent of divine justice and retribution. Brrrrrrrr. The book is also a good deal _longer_ than many readers may be aware. Ever since the middle of the nineteenth century, the English translations have omitted everything in the novel that might offend the sensibilities of Victorian readers -- including, for example, all the sex and drugs. That's why I strongly recommend that anyone interested in this novel read Robin Buss's full-text translation. Unlike, say, Ayn Rand (whose cardboard hero "John Galt" also owes his few interesting aspects to Monsieur le Comte), Dumas was entirely capable of holding a reader's undivided attention for over a thousand pages; Buss's translation finally does his work justice, restoring all the bits omitted from the Bowdlerized versions. The heart of the plot, as most readers will already know, is that young sailor Edmond Dantes, just as his life starts to come together, is wrongfully imprisoned for fourteen years in the dungeons of the Chateau d'If as the victim of a monstrously evil plot to frame him as a Bonapartist. While in prison he makes the acquaintance of one Abbe Faria, who serves as his mentor and teaches him the ways of the world (science, philosophy, languages and literature, and so forth), and also makes him a gift of a fabulous treasure straight out of the _Thousand and One Nights_. How Dantes gets out of prison, and what he does after that -- well, that's the story, of course. So that's all I'm going to tell you. However, I'll also tell you that the 2002 screen adaptation doesn't even begin to do it justice. The plot is so far "adapted" as to be unrecognizable, except in its broad outlines and the names of (some of) the characters. Pretty much everything that makes Dumas's novel so darkly fascinating has been sucked out of it. It's not a bad movie on its own terms, but if you're expecting an adaptation of this novel, you'll be disappointed. And if you've already seen it, don't base your judgment of the novel on it.
Rating:
Summary: The Best book of all!
Review: The Count of Monte Cristo is truly the best book I have ever read. The book is about a young salior named Edmond Dantes who is framed for a terrible crime by ones whom he named friends. In prison he plans revenge. Once free he seeks his revenge.
If you don't mind a challenge then the Count Of Monte Cristo is for you. This tale of adventure, vengence, and romance is one all should read.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best classic books of all time.
Review: The Count of Monte Cristo is truly one of the greatest classic books of all time. Recommended to me by my mom and as a choice for my World History class, I at first considered it to be overwhelming and incredibly long when I first picked it up. After getting into it, I couldn't put it down. The book, which is about a young man who is betrayed by the people who he considered his friends, is filled with love, revenge, murder and suspense. Yet it is full of European history and facts about the Napoleonic Era, which starts the book off. Alexandre Dumas' style of writing is extraordinary and even though it has a lot of detail, it makes you feel like you are a part of the book as you are reading it. He is constantly adding more and more conflicts through out the book and keeping you entertained. Just as you think everything is not coming together, he ties everything perfectly at the end. I definitely recommended this book.
Rating:
Summary: The Adventures of The Count of Monte Cristo
Review: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is an excellent book for people who like classics with an actual meaning to it. This book desribes a man's life and the friends who betrayed him because of their jealousy. As he makes a "comeback" as a completely different and sophisticated man, the Count of Monte Cristo gives no mercy to those who betrayed him. With all this merciless revenge, Dumas shows the real meaning of love and how forgiving may be the solution to your problems. The Count of Monte Cristo is my favorite number one book and I recommend this book to people of all ages!
Rating:
Summary: Better then the movie
Review: The depth of Edward Dantes' revenge upon his betrayers is only hinted at in the recent movie. Read the book and you'll be treated to some righteous and yet truly diabolical methods of vengance. The ending in the book is also quite different from the ending of the recent movie adaptation.
Rating:
Summary: Revenge and regret
Review: For the shear grandeur of the story, I don't think there's a better book to read than this one. And insofar as the Count is larger than life, he simply wants his life back. Does that give him a blank check on his actions and his morality? Perhaps the urge for revenge is as crippling as the pangs of injustice.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Story of Revenge
Review: This was a great book. I first read it in the eighth grade and thought it was pretty good... Then I saw it in a bookstore... four times the size of the original... I thought... well, there must be something to this, and I bought it. This was the Penguin Classics version translated by Robin Buss. My, my... what the other version left out. You cannot fully enjoy this without reading UNABRIDGED. I know you're going to get this book, since it is my second favorite book and you're here and notice it has good reviews and well... you want it. I just want to recommend that you buy an unabridged version... sit back... and read.
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