The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Links may lead to spoilers

The story of The Count of Monte Cristo is a marvelous adventure that likely rates with Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Edmond Dantès is Dumas's protagonist. There are a number of antagonists and contagonists. Indeed, the number of significant characters in this volume challenges my ever more feeble memory.

Dantes is a young and talented sailor, but ignorant of politics. His primary concern is his aged father and his soon to be fiance, Mercedes. Nothing is of much importance to him beyond father, fiance, and perhaps the possibility that M. Morrel may promote him to Captain of the Pharaon, which would greatly enhance his future prospects for providing for his father and future wife. Unfortunately young is often naive. Additionally, happiness and success too often produce enemies unknown. Such as Dangler's, the supercargo on the ship Pharaon, which Dante's sails home to Marseilles after her Captain Leclere unexpectedly dies on their voyage to Smyrna, Trieste, and Naples.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved it and HIGHLY recommend Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Don't wait 65 years to read it, it is surely better than near anything you might read this year. Try Frankenstein instead.

This review is of Frankenstein (Amazon Classics Edition) ebook ($2.99) and companion Whispersync Audiobook ($1.99) narrated by Nico Evers-Swindell, who I hope to comment on later.

I believe the book is a classic in the same class as Robinson Crusoe, and Gulliver's Travels, both books with deep and significant examinations of human behaviors, emotions, ethics, and morals. Frankenstein in the same vein examines the darker side of human ethics, compassion, morality, and our responsibilities to our society and neighbors.

My impression upon completing the novel is that nothing in my experience related to "Frankenstein" had prepared me for what is actually written in the book. After writing 2500 words of draft review, and revisiting several sections of the book I realize I may not have been giving it my full attention at all times. I was regularly surprised at the directions the story took and was gobsmacked when the "dæmond" demanded an audience with Victor Frankenstein, and with the content.

Emma

Emma by Jane Austen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I believe this novel, Emma, by Jane Austen rates 3 stars but still recommend I as a 5 star classic. I might have given it 4 stars if I hadn't thought more than once to abandon it entirely. My frustration isn't entirely an issue with the book. I was trying to listen to the book while doing other things.

I'm reviewing two versions of the audiobook and the ebook by Feedbooks. Volume 1 of this 3 volume book I primarily listened to the audiobook read by Juliet Stevenson. Ms. Stevenson is a fine narrator but the speed of her reading and my unfamiliarity of Jane Austen's style, verbiage, and vocabulary of the era, along with a large Dramatis personæ with regularly changing names via marriage or adoption left me feeling lost and confused. Such was my first 5½ hours with the audiobook.

I obtained another copy of the audiobook read by a full cast of the "online stage". I don't generally like dramatic readings of books but it was an unabridged edition and I thought I'd try it since I was struggling with Ms. Stevenson's reading. My next 10 hours and two volumes was more pleasant. I didn't struggle so much with the dialog with different artists reading the dialog, which is a largest portion of the novel.

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