The Hoarders accomplished the buddy reading of The Count of Monte Cristo!
Similar to the journey we took when reading Lonesome Dove, The Count of Monte Cristo provided us with an epic reading adventure. We listened in on the hype from many saying The Count was one of the best books written, and as was the same with the hype surrounding Lonesome Dove, we can confirm the same for The Count as well. It was an outstanding book. It about playing a very long game to execute well thought out revenge against your enemies. It’s not just about that though, as Hoarder Elizabeth said, “it’s not the satisfaction of revenge that makes this a beloved book. It’s the understanding that love is more powerful than any plan for retribution.“
Now, this journey did not come without many frustrations. The Count of Monte Cristo is over 1200 pages and there is a significant amount of patience required when reading. The many, many exasperated text messages that flew back and forth between Elizabeth and I were just as epic as this novel. The tearing out of hair over begging for Dumas to get to the point required many restorative and conditioning hair masks.
For me, it wasn’t until after a lengthy conversation with a co-worker (who’s an aficionado of 19th century literature if you will) and with my son, where I was better able to settle into the story and just allow myself to let the tale take me on its journey. During these conversations, I expressed how incredibly frustrated I was with the pages and pages of description of front doors, carnivals, and just about every single detail covering the numerous pages. My son said that “maybe I was reading it wrong”, and then I was kindly and patiently explained by my co-worker how differently people read back in those days, about the time they had available to them for reading, how reading would be done together like in salons, or sewing circles as examples, and how authors were paid by the word or page, etc. This helped me very much to just settle down, enjoy the journey and just take my time with it. This is definitely not a page-burning thriller for much of those 1200+ pages, but once the pieces start to fall into place, and the Count’s painstaking efforts come together, you cannot stop reading. It becomes brilliant.
This is definitely a grand and epic tale about good triumphing over bad/greed/evil. And to read at the end about the Count’s remorse and regret for having spent so many years eschewing happiness by only focusing on revenge saw me shed a tear or two.
It felt strange now that my time had come to an end with this book. I lamented my frustration so much during my time reading it, but then I lamented my time with it had ended. This is certainly not a book that will be forgotten. I am very happy to have read this classic. I did remove one-star from my rating because of those earlier frustrations, so it sits at a 4-star rating. But, it’s a very high 4-star! My reading of The Count also meant I’ve gone out and bought more of these classic novels, but for the time being I planned on taking a break from 19th century literature.
The break from 19th century literature was short-lived! Well, actually, reading Jane Eyre came about during the time I was reading The Count of Monte Cristo.
Jane Eyre was the book selected by me for our book club. We’ve changed the format for how books are selected for our book club. The person that will be hosting next is the one that makes the decision on the book to be read for that meeting. I thought we could use a book that was completely different from our “usual”, and with the exception of one member, none of us had actually read Jane Eyre before!
I see clearly why Jane Eyre is such a beloved novel. And it is owing all to Jane. She is an exceptional character that fully carries this story. The story of her independence, passions, thoughts, and desires are very well portrayed. Those were some of the very best parts inside and I can see how this was both shocking and beloved in its time. To have such a strong female character and one that voices her thoughts on her independence and desires would have been remarkable to read at the time. She is a very strong female character and I loved her. I struggled some with Mr. Rochester to be honest. A romance I did not endear myself to here, or consider it to be, for much of it, this “great romance story”. However, in the end, Mr. Rochester redeems himself considerably in my eyes, and the novel closes with a very satisfying end.
Those that hadn’t read Jane Eyre in our book club expressed the same thoughts, saying how much they really enjoyed reading it. We talked about how it required us to slow down, concentrate, and focus deeply – it’s that 19th century style that is so much different from our contemporary reading isn’t it?
Now I’m really taking that break from the 19th century and reading books that are more contemporary, but not necessarily completely current. I’m listening to The Body by Stephen King, originally published in 1982. It’s the novella that was adapted into the movie, Stand By Me, and the greatest part is it is narrated by Wil Wheaton. Hoarder Elizabeth and I are also embarking on another Buddy Read, Moving On by Larry McMurtry which was published in 1970. (More on that in a separate post.)
Have you read these classic novels (The Count of Monte Cristo and Jane Eyre)? What are your thoughts?
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