I am going through the hardest time of my life. I wanted a good distraction, and what’s better than a 1276-page book about revenge?
It just added to my misery.
The first 100 pages were solid. I liked how the events were fast-paced, I liked Abbe Faria, the despair, the hope, the depth of human feelings in prison.
Things fell apart the moment Dantes escaped. From around page 100 to 600, I tried to give the book a chance, but all I got were endless descriptions for the slightest detail and endless dialogues that seemed pointless. The dialogues that had meaning could be summed up in 10 pages.
I am so disappointed. The pages from 100 to 600 could have been reduced to 30. I didn’t pick the abridged version because I wanted to savor the whole beauty of a classic, but what was that?
This will give me a very long reading slump, which is the last thing I need now. Maybe the book is not for me, although I have no specific liking in fiction. I read everything, but this one was the biggest letdown since I started reading.
PS. I read the translation by Robin Buss, the Penguin Classics edition. I wanted to read s summary when I reached page 300, but at this point, I guess I will never know what will happen, since I am ready to throw myself out of the window from the boredom.
by Ready-Challenge7480
14 Comments
Completely agree. I wish I DNFed it instead of finishing it.
If you need some silly distractions, let us know. I have a stack of joyful absurdity that helped me through some hard times.
Sorry you had this experience. I read it when I was a teenager a long time ago and adored it. Maybe it didn’t age that well. Anyway, there are so many books nowadays that you can enjoy. Don’t feel bad, move on. Happy reading!
If it makes you feel better I felt the same way but chose to finish it since I kept saying “Surely there is a reason people love this book!” I did not like it any better at all. Since I’ve read it, however, I just realized that kind of genre and prose is just not for me. I get why people enjoy it but I shall stick with what I love from now on lol
A lot of these old books had novelty when they came out, but don’t stand up so much against the test of time. They remain big names because of their cultural reach and impact, but they’re not necessarily good.
I was shocked when I read Catch-22. Awful book. Morally confused. Not historically authentic. But I keep seeing it lauded everywhere. I like anti-war literature, but Catch-22 is just a bad book.
One hyped-up book I grew to love as an adult is Great Gatsby. Didn’t think much of it as a student, but now that I’ve lived a decade as an adult, I loved it. Pretty short too. A good book to take on the go. Scenes are fairly concise. Dialogue has a flowery quality to it that makes even menial chatter amusing.
Agreed, the book is complete trash after he escapes.
I finished it but it was a slog. Read it last year. I felt like I was in high school reading an assigned book because I sure was not getting joy from it. I can’t remember which translation I read but I really don’t think that had anything to do with it. The story itself is good. I just think it was slow. Seems like people universally love it. I’m not one of those people.
This is my hill to die on… It just wasn’t interesting. People on this sub will respond with insults and downvotes, as if you insulted their mother, but I almost feel like they enjoyed because the subconsciously are proud they were able to complete it.
Understandable. One of the most overrated classics imo. And I read it during a time when I tried to finish every book I read, but if it were today, I’d probably DNF after 50 pages.
I recently forced myself to finish it. I wanted to do it because it’s a classic I’ve been curious about, so I wanted to have read it.
But yeah, slow and disappointing read.
I’ve discovered I need to be in the right mood for a book. I’ve had books I didn’t connect with but tried again much later and loved. Reverse is also true. I’ll revisit an author I love and just can’t settle into it.
I keep a stack of books with different genres and tones for this very reason. If it’s not working for me I shelve it and pick something else. I’ll cycle back around when I’m in a different frame of mine and see if the DNFs work any better. They often do.
Downvote magnet here: when things are falling apart you ought to get to doing what you need to be doing. It takes time to develop a dozenish characters and build the story, and it takes time to get your life back together… you can only do one at a time.
Yeah, I would never – NEVER – turn to books for help getting through life’s problems. All books do is suck you into the book world which is way too much like your own private fantasies about your life.
Instead, go camping. Go camping for a week. Leave your phone and computer at home. If you must take a book, take a book you’ve been meaning to get to all your life and never have because it’s just TOO BORING. This will ensure that it doesn’t fuck you up. And you might even enjoy it.
This sub freaking LOVES Monte Cristo, but, it is a slog! The middle is very slow and some of the plot points feel totally pointless with very little pay off.
It might help to keep in mind that this novel, like many of the time, was published in serial, a little bit at a time. Novels back then really functioned more like network TV shows, keeping the reader hooked with cliff-hangers and sometimes drawing out the story for more $$$. It’s a very different style than what readers of modern fiction are used to.