Comments

Posted by christianmusician1

I have seen some of the movie. But never read the book. Oooh it sounds good, I can't wait to go to the library and get it!

God bless.

Luv,
Arya

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Posted by writer4him

Oh my goodness, I love that book!!! But yes, few books have ever confused me so completely concerning the main character....
Personally, I think the story is all about the revenge/forgiveness in Dante's life. In the beginning (well, more like most of the book...) he is totally consumed by it, and in the end, after causing the deaths of so many people, he turns around and realizes that he's been pretty stupid :-D. I need to re-read it, though...it's been a year or two, so my memory's a bit dusty ;-).
~writer4him

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Posted by Earthling

Oh, you managed to get through it! Kudos to you, it's a long read! lol
Hmm, I always saw Edmond as an incredible, and yes, complex character. He's probably one of my favorites in all of literature--he's the perfect example of revenge and forgiveness, and how revenge isn't always ours to give. As a Christian, I guess I read it more as "in the end, there will be a judgement for everyone as they deserve, but man is not always the one to give that judgement."
Edmond also had such a change throughout the book. At the begining, he was a pretty normal fellow. Poor, but happy, with a loving almost wife and a father that loved him more than anything. Yet as time went by, and he lost everything he had lived for, he became bitter, angry, and hurt. Who can blame him? Ironically, however, he set himself up to be basically one of the wealthiest men in France at the time. And he devoted his life to ruining the men that had ruined him.
Funny, though, I didn't see Edmond as becoming a jerk once he became the Count. He had wealth, yes, he tried to ruin the people who had caused him so much harm, but look at what else he did. He helped and was a great friend to Albert, Valentine, Maximillien among others...even though some of these were family of his enemies.
But as to him being hero or villain? I don't know. He's heroic sometimes, yes. He's human most of the time, though. I don't think that makes him villainous, though. I just think it's a honest portrayal of man and human nature.
Was he truly repentant? I don't know. I think at first, Dantes honestly thought he was doing the work of God--getting revenge on these people as an agent. But once things kind of got out of hand, I think he realized that maybe this wasn't his place. Who knows? But it does seem that he tried to "redeem" himself by his role in saving Maximillien and Valentine.

I can say that I think this is def. a book that isn't just a good read, or an exciting tale. It has a lot to think about! Considering Dumas wasn't exactly the moral role of the time, I think this book has a lot to say of morality. Yeah, the big themes are forgiveness, revenge, justice, and mercy, but there are a lot of little subplots with things that are interesting to think about--one seems to be the value of human life. I saw this as one of the key minor points in the book--there were murders galore, infanticide, sexual encouters, adultery, yet they all ended up with severe consequences because of them. People def. didn't just do things and get away with them--consequences and justice always came in the end.

I'm sure you want me to shut up now. Thanks for posting your thoughts--everyone has such interesting perspectives with this book I'm delighted to hear yours!

(oh, and just because I'm curious, have you seen the movie? It's interesting to see to compare it to the book, but it sways from the book A LOT. I think they missed the big picture in the movie...but it's interesting to contrast just the same.)

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Posted by Bluejane

Hello,

Thank you for the comment you bestowed on my blog!

I have only had my template like that for a few weeks.

Bluejane

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Posted by totustuus

It was neat to read your thoughts on it. There were a lot of things about Dantes that seemed incongruent and that really bugged me. Here's sorta my take on it...

In the very beginning of the book, he was an innocent, hard-working, virtuous young man, but because he was terribly wronged, he harbors anger and revenge for Villefort, Fernand, and Danglars. That makes sense. He was very human. He was cruel to those who were cruel to him and kind to those who were kind to him. But, the way that the book portrays him, he is justified in taking revenge. There are no real consequences for his actions. There's no repentance or anything along those lines at all (granted, there is that one scene with Albert right before their duel). He gets his revenge and then goes off to start a happy new life with Haydee. No sorrow for what he's done. I don't think he truly believed that he was the vessel of God's justice. I think it was his excuse. He was far too intelligent not to be culpable.

I think that he should have been the villain, but he was portrayed as the hero, which makes the whole story unbalanced. He was malicioiusly cruel to some people and completely benevolent to others. Good fruit can't come from a bad tree. Either he is evil or he's not. Yes, good people make mistakes, but with Dantes, we're not talking about minor mistakes that he later pays for. He makes major mistakes and never pays for them.

Another thing that bugged me about the story was Abbe Faria. I liked the character, but he didn't seem very devoted to God. There was hardly any mention of God (that I remember) in the prison. God just seems absent in the overall story.

If think that the story would have been much better either if:
A. Dantes completed his life miserably, committed suicide, or went into some sort of depression.
B. Dantes experienced conversion, had mercy on one of the people that he had planned to take revenge upon, and lived the rest of his life in holy penance.

Either of those would have made sense. I was disappointed with the ending; you would think that a book that long would have a good conclusion, but Dumas takes you on this huge roller coaster ride and abruptly stops it in an odd place. The story doesn't resolve well.

I guess I'm cracking down kind of hard on it, but that doesn't in any way decrease the literary value of the book. Dumas was a MASTERFUL storyteller. I enjoyed the book immensely. I just wish that he had the devotion to God to make the story truly meaningful.

And that was much longer than I set out for it to be. ;-)

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Posted by totustuus

RYC: Yes, I definitely agree. Very good thinking material.

And my librarything library mostly has books that I wish I owned. ;-) Lol. My mom actually has the Joan of Arc book, and I've been meaning to read it.

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Posted by TheSAYR

Hello,

The SAYR blog has been updated!! We are preparing to read The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis. Make sure to stop by soon and find out what's going on. :-)

Regards,
Sylvia (totustuus)

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Posted by Earthling

Oh, your goal in life is to spit really far, too? Imagine that! Who knew we were so similar! LOL!

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Posted by ChristineDaae

Hello,

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving! I awarded you.

God Bless, Christine

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Posted by Anonymous

Well... i read the book. got confused by the last part... needed some one to tear the chapters of the book part by part for me to truly understand. well, maybe not that much of explanation, but i needed to reread several chapters. I still don't understand the Count's last line to Maximilian 'Wait and hope'... and i saw both of the movies... I liked the latest movie with the happy ending. Though it changed a lot from the book, (which got me more confused of why hollywood did that)... over all review... Dumas was a very intelligent man. I mean... he practically made a puzzle novel that somehow leave the readers baffled and astonished. also... i might as well suggest a book that was a pretty good read... The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. hope you check it out. i would love to know what you think about it.

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