Let's Bust a Recap : The Count of Monte Cristo

Well, the day has finally come. I'm going to try to put my thoughts together into a coherent post recapping The Count of Monte Cristo. I read this hunk of a novel last year, and it took me four solid months to do it. I started it at the beginning of June and made it to the end on the last day of September. When I finally finished it, I felt a bit lost. I had been reading it nearly every day for four months and was so fully wrapped up in the story that when it ended, I didn't quite know what to do with myself. 

I loved this story. Unlike The Three Musketeers by Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo hooked me from page one and nearly every single detail was vital to the plot. Most translated editions of The Count of Monte Cristo are abridged and after reading the unabridged version, I'm really not sure how. The only part of the book that I thought could have done with a bit of editing was Luigi Vampa's complicated backstory. But I digress.

The film adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo starring Jim Caviezel is one of my all time favorite movies and has been for several years. Up until last year, it was one of my secret bookish shames that I had never read the novel that inspired the movie. But have you seen the novel? It's huge. It definitely intimidated me. Because I've seen the movie approximately 534 times, and because I really invested a lot of time in reading the novel, I'm going to be comparing them and in doing so, I'll be discussing some major plot points that are definitely spoilers so if you don't want to know, this is your cue to exit. 

So for a quick overview: The Count of Monte Cristo is the story of Edmond Dantes' wrongful imprisonment (literally hours before his wedding to the beautiful Mercedes) and subsequent escape from the Chateau d'If. He then amasses an insane fortune that his prison mate the Abbe Faria told him the location of before his death, and then uses it to exact revenge on the three men (Fernand, Danglars, & Villefort) responsible for his incarceration.

The first major departure from the novel as depicted in the film is that the adaptation sets Edmond and Fernand up as best friends from the time they were young. In the film's version, Fernand is rich and privileged and jealous of Edmond's happiness despite his relative poverty. He's really eaten up over the fact that Mercedes is in love with Edmond, and ends up getting kind of roped into Danglars' plan to frame Edmond during a drunken fit.

In the novel, Edmond and Fernand do not give one flying rip about each other and Fernand is just as poor as Edmond but infatuated with Mercedes. He basically is just a tool of Danglars to frame Edmond, and, in my opinion, the least culpable of the three because he's just not very bright. 

Danglars is motivated to ruin Edmond because of his jealousy over Edmond's rapid success in their mutual career as merchant sailors. Danglars is the greediest, most ridiculous character of the novel and Dumas' portrayal of him is hilariously scathing. In the movie, Danglars really doesn't get much development past his initial involvement in the plot to sabotage Edmond, and that is truly a shame.

Villefort doesn't even know who Edmond is but when he recovers a letter Edmond was given by Napoleon Bonaparte addressed to Villefort's own father, he quickly destroys the letter and sentences Edmond to life in the Chateau d'If to protect his own political interests. This was actually portrayed perfectly in the film.

The thing that the film does not and could not possibly do is develop the multitude of characters and Edmond's meticulous and complicated plot of revenge. Or as he sees it, justice. Throughout the course of the novel, Edmond has several aliases and his revenge is a years long con on these men, much more than a matter of a few weeks or months as the movie might lead you to believe. He learns every intimate detail of their lives and their families' lives and employs all this information and his considerable fortune to bring each of these men to complete ruin. He drives Fernand to suicide after decimating his reputation, he bankrupts Danglars and has him begging for food which is the ultimate punishment for that sleazeball, and he literally drives Villefort insane in the most chilling and masterful plot of revenge I have ever heard of. 

four months : this book made it into a lot of photos

The novel obviously does a better job at developing the complexities of Edmond as well. As vicious and exacting as he is with the men who destroyed his life, he's as loving and solicitous of the people he deems worthy or feels indebted to. When his revenge is coming to the ultimate climax, he has to confront the fact that innocent people have been hurt as a result of his all-consuming crusade, and he wrestles with the morality of his actions. 

One thing I'll say: the movie and the novel both end somewhat abruptly each in their own ways, and to be honest, I don't necessarily prefer one over the other. Both endings play with their corresponding forms, but ultimately, they both leave me wanting more. 

Overall, I would highly recommend the book and the film. The novel is a masterpiece in its own right, and the movie is just plain good. Having been so intimately familiar with the movie gave me a good foundation with the major characters, and I really didn't have much trouble keeping everyone straight which seems to be the commonly held problem people have when reading the novel. The Count of Monte Cristo will certainly take an investment of your time to read, but in the end, I really think it's worth it.

Have you read The Count of Monte Cristo or seen the film starring Jim Caviezel? What book has taken you the biggest investment of time to read and was it worth it?