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Reader discussion: The Count of Monte Cristo
Public reader discussion about The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas, Alexandre.
Unpopular opinion: The Count of Monte Cristo is not a must read
By TinyChapter
This book really isn’t all that great. There’s clearly some good story under all the extra-heavy text, but you have to work way too hard to get to it. The prison stuff and the escape were awesome, but after that it just sort of falls flat. I think I’m probably done with it at this point (I’m on page 392 of 875). The writing feels old-fashioned and kind of a slog to get through.
And just to show what I mean by overdone, here’s a bit from a scene where two characters are arranging a future meeting:
'Have you decided yet when you’ll be there yourself?'
'Yes, I have; in about two or three weeks, as soon as I can manage it!'
'No,' said the count; "I’ll give you three months before I join you; that should cover any delays or problems.'
'So in three months,' said Albert, 'you’ll be at my house?'
'Should we set a fixed day and time?' asked the count; 'just so you know, I’m known for being very exact about keeping appointments.'
'Day and hour exactly,' said Albert; 'that works for me.' - 'Very well,' replied the count, and pointing toward a calendar near the mantel, he said, 'today is February 21st;' and taking out his watch, added, 'it is exactly half past ten. Now promise to remember this, and expect me on May 21st at half past ten in the morning.'
'Perfect,' shouted Albert; 'breakfast will be ready.'
'Where do you live?' - 'No. 27, Rue de Helder.'
'You have bachelor rooms there? I hope my visit won’t be any trouble.' - 'I live in my father’s house; but I have a pavilion at the far end of the courtyard, completely separate from the main building.'
'That’s fine,' said the count, writing down 'No. 27 Rue de Helder, May 21st, half past ten in the morning' in his notebook.
Do we really need the exact address and time like that? And does the count really need to repeat the whole thing so precisely? I don’t get why this book gets brought up in every “essential books” thread on here.
The Count of Monte Cristo
By WildHeron1980
Can someone point me to a few books you think are just as good? I’ve only got like ten pages left of The Count of Monte Cristo and I genuinely have no idea what I’m supposed to read after. I don’t think I’ll ever find something that matches this, and I’m kind of falling apart knowing it’s almost over 😂
The Count of Monte Cristo left a sour taste in my mouth
By GlimmerBrocaded
I gotta say, I really, really liked this book. I was basically reading it anytime I wasn’t doing something else, and I’d even listen to the audiobook while doing chores. At one point my arms were actually sore from holding the book so much.
That said, the last couple chapters really soured me on the Count.
For one thing, he ends up with Haydee. He’s known her forever—since she was a kid—and he also “owned” her as a slave. He acted like she was a princess and didn’t go all creepy about her, but still… how do you even get together with someone you’ve seen like your child?
Also, I wasn’t happy with how Fernand and Villefort’s stories ended. With Villefort especially, it feels like a lot of the damage came from inside the family, more than the Count’s doing, aside from the part about his illegitimate son being revealed. Early on I thought the family really had it coming—like they deserved the bad stuff. But once it actually happens, it just doesn’t feel right.
I’m honestly trying to figure out why I don’t like the character I was rooting for so much.
Is the Count of Monte Cristo worth it?
By cosmicChair98
I’m trying to get through it, but it feels like it’s dragging so much. Should I just keep going?
Edit: thanks everyone—okay, I’m gonna stick with it. I’ll just read it like it’s a soap opera.
Is it worth it to finish The Count of Monte Cristo?
By faintLynx
I started The Count of Monte Cristo back in August and was honestly flying through it at first. I knocked out the first hundred pages in a day because I thought it was amazing. Then somewhere around the middle, I think around page 560ish, I just started dreading opening it again because it’s so long and I still wasn’t even close to done. So I put it back on the shelf and haven’t touched it since.
But for the past few days I’ve been weirdly thinking about picking it up again. A lot of the chapters were pretty short and not hard to get through. I’ve been in a really bad reading slump since the beginning of the month, and finishing something like this would feel awesome, but I also worry the length will just keep me stuck.
So what would you do? Start over? Continue from where I stopped? Or just give up on it completely? I left my bookmark where I stopped because I always figured I’d come back, I just don’t know if I should and whether the remaining 700 pages are even worth it.
Thanks!
I just finished The Count of Monte Cristo and my love for reading has changed
By Mountain
I just finished *The Count of Monte Cristo* and the ending straight-up wrecked me. I was actually crying, like ugly huge tears. The reunion with Edmond and Haydee is one of the most emotional scenes I’ve read, and then when he finally realizes she loves him and he’s able to be happy again… ugh. And don’t even get me started on Maximilian seeing Valentine again and thinking he’s in heaven. Dumas really said “here, have your heart shattered.”
Honestly the whole book was amazing. Every chapter felt like a TV episode to me, not a regular book chapter, and I’ve never had another book do that. It did get a little slow at times, but I agree with that take that some of those chapters were necessary for everything to make sense. It’s not just plot—it feels like you’re dropped into a whole other world where the characters feel real, not like you’re reading some storyteller. I genuinely think it’s the best book I’ve ever read, and it was my first classic for getting into classics. I didn’t think I could even read stuff like this, but Dumas somehow flipped that switch for me.
I also really liked that Edmond ended up with Haydee. I know some people wanted him with Mercedes, but I felt like Dumas made it pretty clear Mercedes messed up too—like she didn’t hurt anybody on purpose, but she still ended up damaging things for herself and for what Edmond had. The whole “I’d die without him” thing at the beginning, and then she marries Fernand after eighteen months… that part hurt, especially since Edmond’s first instinct after everything was to go find Mercedes. To me, eighteen months is nothing compared to the kind of love Edmond and Mercedes had in the first place. And it makes you think Mercedes basically got seduced by what Fernand offered—comfort, safety, all that. She thought she’d be happy building a life with someone she didn’t actually love, and then later she realizes it wasn’t enough. Meanwhile Haydee loved Edmond and didn’t waver, even knowing he might not ever love her back. That hit hard, because Haydee feels like the love Edmond thought was gone for good.
The only thing that kind of ruined it a little was that I watched *El Conde Amor y Honor* first. It was the reason I even wanted to read the book, but I didn’t realize how close it would be. So when big reveals happened, I was like… wait, I already know this is coming. I don’t fully regret watching the show and reading the book, though. Yes, I missed out on that total “unexpected twist” feeling people talk about, but also it made me appreciate the book even more—plus the show too. I even downloaded the show’s music and played it during key moments, and that was honestly such a cool experience. I still loved the book’s ending way more than the show.
Now I’m just sitting here with this empty feeling because I finished it, and I’m going to miss that whole world. But it definitely left an impact on me.
The Count of Monte Cristo Help
By WildHeron1980
Hey folks, I’m trying to get started on this really big book and I’m only a few chapters in, but I’m stuck on something. I don’t really get why the “false crime” Dantès is accused of matters, especially the way Danglars and everyone around him treat it. I did read the letter Danglars wrote, but I feel like I’m missing what the accusation means in the bigger picture since the historical side is a little lost on me. I checked the appendices for clues and they didn’t really spell it out, and when I searched online I just found broad stuff about the novel. I haven’t watched the movie/TV versions in ages either, so I’d really rather not have any spoilers. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
The Count of Monte Cristo - The awesome power of a serialized novel
By DesertDog95
So a little while back I asked on a book rec thread which super long novels (like 1000+ pages) were actually worth it. Monte Cristo ended up getting way more votes than anything else—like double the next most popular one, Shogun. I still had a couple things I meant to read first, but I figured that post basically gave me permission to start with Monte Cristo.
Finished it today and… yeah, it totally blew past what I thought it would be like. It might be the best-put-together story I’ve read so far, and I’m saying that with real excitement for whatever comes next for me. I’m not claiming it’s the single best-written thing ever made, but the way Dumas built this whole thing felt like it gave me basically everything I was hoping for and then some.
I was definitely warned there’s a stretch in the middle where things move slow for a few hundred pages. And to be fair, there’s a big part that needs a ton of setup—like carefully setting each “domino” in place before everything finally kicks into gear and you get that emotional rush when the first one goes. Still though, even during the slower section, it wasn’t just dragging. I actually like delayed payoff, and those pages still felt like they mattered instead of just stalling.
Thinking about that middle part made me wonder if it being originally serialized had something to do with it holding my attention the whole way. If each installment was basically only a chapter or two, I can see how that would force you to make sure there was always something engaging coming up right away. Like, “okay, what can I leave off on that makes people want the next bit?”
I don’t mean to say a long novel has to be serialized to work, because obviously plenty of huge books do fine without that. But still—I can’t help wondering how it changes the way an author writes if they’re putting the story out in pieces instead of dropping it all at once.
Overall it was basically perfect for me. Sure, there are some nitpicky 21st-century things I could complain about, but it’s over 150 years old, so I get it. 9.5/10, and I’m seriously looking forward to rereading it again and again later.
Utterly disappointed with Count of Monte Cristo
By paperbackmarket2003
I finished The Count of Monte Cristo last night. It had been sitting on my list for ages, and I only finally started it a couple weeks ago.
Honestly, I did not like it at all.
My issues with the book are pretty big:
- Dumas really doesn’t write women well.
Almost every woman in this is so naive and one-note, it was kind of ridiculous. No wonder people say male authors can’t write believable women — this book almost feels like proof of that.
Most of the women don’t have any real agency. They’re there to be saved, tricked, or hurt. The one who does try to push back, Eugénie Danglars, is basically treated like she’s trying to get away from being a woman entirely.
And Mercedes really annoyed me. She didn’t do anything wrong, and she knows that. But she’s so wrapped up in her love for Edmond that even after he kills her husband and her son is in danger, her last talk with him is still full of praise for him. She tells him there’s no one like him. Like, what? It was so frustrating.
Maybe that’s just what Dumas, or people in that era, expected from women.
I read Pachinko by Min Jin Lee last month, and Sunja is one of my favorite female characters I’ve read recently. She felt so much fuller and more real, with actual emotional stakes.
- The characters are all way too one-note
From the villains to the main guy to side characters like Luigi, Lucien, and Maximilien, they all felt really flat. For 1200 pages, there’s barely any change in them, either emotionally or psychologically.
Everyone acts the same way from beginning to end, like they’re just there to fill a role instead of being actual people.
There are like 100 pages spent making us see how brave, humble, and almost godlike the count is. Then another 100 pages on how awful Danglars is. It got tiring fast.
- The endless weird monologues got on my nerves
Someone would ask the Count a straight question, and instead of answering, he’d go off into some dramatic, cryptic speech about random abstract stuff. He talks in circles about things that don’t even matter, and everyone around him treats it like genius. The second he shows up, the other characters are already acting like he’s some kind of divine being. We keep being told how stunning he looks, how perfectly he moves, but I never really felt like the book showed why he deserves that kind of reaction.
Were people really that shallow back then that rich and attractive automatically meant worship? Near the end, when Maximilien says something about dying, he does it again with another monologue. I got so annoyed and was just like, can you please stop talking? Nothing was stopping him from saying Valentine was alive. He’s easily one of the most narcissistic characters I’ve read in a while.
- The ending felt kind of flat
The last part just didn’t work for me. I wasn’t really happy with the twist where the Count suddenly falls in love with her foster daughter, not as a daughter anymore but something else. And the supposedly fair, humble, godlike Count still can’t see that Mercedes did nothing wrong and leaves her to suffer.
And then there’s Valentin — her father has gone mad, her step brother is dead, and she’s basically just like, fine, whatever, worth it for this two-year love story.
It’s one of the most praised classics out there, and I honestly don’t get it.
I’ve read a bunch of books from the same period and loved plenty of them, so it’s not like I hate classic literature. A couple months ago I read Crime and Punishment and Wuthering Heights, and I can’t help comparing them to TCOMC. Those books felt so much more layered and well done. I loved them.
Would be interested to hear what others think.
P.S. I tend to have pretty extreme reactions to books. Either I love them so much I reread them, or I completely hate them. Hope that’s okay. I used to post on Goodreads, so I’m glad I found this place.