At just under 1300 pages, this is a daunting tome of a classic, and I was apprehensive about the sheer length of the book in the context of potentiallAt just under 1300 pages, this is a daunting tome of a classic, and I was apprehensive about the sheer length of the book in the context of potentially antiquated language that I've come to associated with classics. The premise sounded interesting, and I tend to enjoy works set in a comparable historical time period, but I wasn't sold on the colossal number of pages. However, after several friends identified this as their favorite classic of all time, I felt compelled to give this one a try. And after all, there is a certain sense of accomplishment after completing a 1000+ page classic!
The writing was enticing and captivating, and dialogue is clearly one of Dumas' strengths. The prose was not overly wordy or circuitous, although perhaps this is a reflection of the particular translation that I chose. I enjoyed the Penguin Classics translation - it had an excellent balance between poetic language and more simplistic descriptors, and the variation was refreshing. The plot varies from exciting and action-packed to meandering and wandering at times, and it never settled into a consistent rhythm or pacing. The plot itself is clever, setting up twists and turns hundreds of pages in advance that are difficult to identify during your first read.
The romance elements felt like a weak distraction, and they surfaced far too often in the tale for something that served as a subplot at best. The characters seemed to have no chemistry with one another, and I had difficulty buying into the relationships that were presented. Perhaps this speaks to literary conventions with respect to romantic relationships at the time, but I found these segments of the book boring, off-putting, and tiresome. There was also a fair amount of redundancy with respect to these subplots, and I didn't enjoy the cyclical or formulaic nature to which the relationships seemed to adhere.
This book serves as an excellent character study in which readers glean excessive insight into the mindset and thought processes of the protagonist. I enjoyed seeing his progression and growth as he aged throughout the book, and his character arc is poignant, well-defined, and clearly shaped by the events that transpire during the novel. Spending so much time with a single character allows readers to approach his circumstances with a level of understanding, empathy, and compassion that would be very difficult to capture in a more abbreviated work. This also adds far more gravity, depth, and dimension to the character's revenge arc in the latter half of the book, and I found myself rooting for the protagonist far more than I expected to.
Unfortunately, the length of this book seemed excessive and unduly extreme with minimal payoff for the amount of time that I invested. This was originally published in serial installments, and I think it may have worked better in shorter, spaced out increments rather than read cover-to-cover in a relatively short period of time. I was readily able to identify where one serial installment ended and another began by the placement of cliffhangers, and the writing began to feel episodic and repetitive in structure to accommodate the start, middle arc, and end of each installment. This felt oddly reminiscent of fanfiction, which I found to be a very discordant and disorienting comparison for a revered and beloved classic. Ultimately, I didn't love the somewhat rambling narration, sidetracked subplots, and extraneous details and scenes that felt included solely for the purpose of extending the number of installments that were published. Quite a few of these could have been eliminated altogether, and the central themes and messages of the novel would have remained unchanged.
Overall, I enjoyed this book far more than I initially anticipated, but I think it suffered from its length and original publication format. I'm not sure that it was worth the extensive time investment, but I'm glad I can say that I've read it in its entirety. It also reinforced that we need more revenge tales among the classics, and I don't think I've had this much fun rooting for a protagonist in a very long time!...more
