About the book
Set in France, Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean between 1815 and 1839, Alexandre Dumas's adventure novel begins on the day Napoleon leaves exile on Elba. Edmond Dantès, first mate of the merchant ship Pharaon, is about to be promoted to captain and to marry his fiancée Mercédès. Jealous rivals, among them the supercargo Danglars and Fernand, who wants Mercédès for himself, denounce him as a Bonapartist, and the deputy crown prosecutor Villefort, guarding his own career, has him locked away without trial in the Château d'If. Dumas expanded the novel from plot outlines by his collaborator Auguste Maquet, and it has been adapted into many films and television series.
Ryan Holiday found the full 1,200-page novel far richer than the shortened version he read as a child, and his notes on it ran to some 3,000 words. Examine.com co-founder Sol Orwell called it an unmatched revenge story.
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This book has 2 recommendations
Ryan Holiday (Founder/Brass Check)
I thought I’d read this book before but clearly they gave me some sort of children’s version. Because the one I’d read as a kid wasn’t a 1,200 page epic of some of the most brilliant, beautiful and complicated storytelling ever put to paper. What a book! When I typed out my notes (and quotes) after finishing this book, it ran some 3,000 words. I was riveted from cover to cover. I enjoyed all the stuff I missed as a kid: the Counts struggle with his faith in light of what was done to him, the Hundred Days of Napoleon’s return, his rants against technology, the criticism of newspapers, the influence of ancient philosophy, ultimately, a warning against being consumed by revenge. Please—if you’re going on a long trip or looking to check out of modern events for a while—get this book. I recommend the Penguin Classics edition.
Sol Orwell (Co-Founder/Examine.com)
I have to go with Count of Monte Cristo. An unparalleled revenge story.
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