eBook Le Compte De Monte Cristo Tome 1 (Folio (Gallimard)) (English and French Edition) ePub

This is a French language version of Le Comte De Monte Cristo. My version has 117 Chapters, it is an oversized book with excellent illustrations published by Gaillimard. The type is slightly oversized print type. My version has the complete original version by Dumas. Dumas can be wordy, convoluted, but never redundant. His gift is in seeing the complexity of life. He uses words and vignettes of action and drama to bring to life the story of Edmond Dantes. This is the complete version of this work by Alexandre Dumas.

I fell in love with this story in a lightly abridged English translation 10 years ago. The intrigue! The twists and turns! It was better than any long-running TV drama. It inspired me to learn French so that I could one day read the full version in the author's own words. (Of course, learning a language has had many more unexpected benefits.)

This book is all I wanted: the full, unabridged first tome of Le Comte de Monte Cristo. If you want a more "deluxe" edition with things like a foreword, historical notes, or maps, well... this isn't the book for you. All you get here are Alexandre Dumas' words and a table of contents. Luckily, fans of the story have made plenty of additional resources available freely online.

As another point of interest, I noticed that the spine is printed American/UK fashion rather than French, so if you put it on a shelf with books printed in France/Belgium/etc. you'll have to tilt your head the opposite direction to read the title. Not a problem for me, just a funny quirk.

First, let me say, that I'm NOT rating the story. "The Count of Monte Cristo" is in my Top 5 Favorite Books List, and the story gets FIVE STARS.
My Review is to WARN future perspective Buyers of this particular Edition of the book.
That being said, please read below:

I bought this exact book back in on March 3, 2010. Please note title: "2 volumes".

Le Comte de Monte Cristo, 2 volumes (French Edition) [Paperback]
ISBN-10: 0685348911
ISBN-13: 978-0685348918
Paperback: 1450 pages
Publisher: French & European Pubns; Unabridged French edition (August 26, 1998)

Now, either there is an error in the description, or Amazon cannot get my order straight. They only sent me Volume II for my $45.78. I called Amazon and spoke to a Rep. She looked up my order and came to this page. And she told me that my order was correct and this book is only Volume II. (That it's not a 2 Volume Set)
I don't know whether she was dense or what, but she would NOT acknowledge that there is supposed to be a Volume I, and that it's a 2 Volume set. She asked me what the number of the last page was. I told her it was 1450. She said I got what I ordered.
I explained to her that this item is supposed to contain, "2 volumes", ("1450 pages" total). My Volume II book starts after page 700. I told her I wanted the first half of the novel (Volume I).
Well, after 15 minutes of trying to get through to this Rep., she told me that all she could do was Re-Place my order. (At no cost to me)
Two weeks later, I get Volume II. AGAIN.

Trying to get Volume I was futile for me. Apparently, the Reps. can't do anything but Re-Place orders that get messed up, and they cannot put you on the line with a supervisor. So, now, I'm stuck with two Volume II's, and I have no idea how to obtain Volume I of this edition. If anyone can help me, I would really appreciate it. I'd love to have the 1st Volume of this set.

Thanks,

D.
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Update: I accidentally stumbled on Tome I/Volume 1 of this book. If you're interested, you can find it on Amazon at this link: Le Comte de Monte Cristo, Tome 1 (French Edition)

Please Note: You do NOT receive both Volumes/Tomes as described in this Product Title. The $48.95 price if for Volume 2/Tome II, ONLY.

The ISBN Info for Volume 1/Tome I is:

ISBN-10: 2253098051
ISBN-13: 978-2253098058

I have to say, this is an EXCELLENT Edition. I just wish Amazon would correct the Item Description so people know exactly what they're buying.

This review is also showing up on the Tome I page for this title (see link above). I did not copy & paste this on the other page. Amazon linked the pages together.

If you have any questions about my review or need more information about this book, please feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to be of any help.

BTW: If it doesn't show up that this purchase is an Amazon Verified Purchase, I have my order info. to prove it.

Thanks,

Denise

The original version of this classic is in French. That's the reason I am reading it in such language (i.e. to get the writing style and messages unbiased that may happen as a result of translation).

PRO's: many; there is a reason why is a classic book and in some schools is a requirement. For the regular reader it is a great book to read while sipping foamy capucino's. Full of adventure and with key messages that you may well can apply to your present life (just make sure you take the essence and not literally).

CAVEATS: it will take you few days to finish it. You have to buy volume 2 to go to the end.

Great read (if you speak French), but the print is so small you need a magnifying sheet to read it.

This review is not about the story, which would of course get five stars. Instead, this is about this particular Kindle edition of the Alexandre Dumas classic.

The text in this Kindle book is basically that of the Project Gutenberg made available on March 15, 2006. Unfortunately, it still has too many typos, which seriously degrades the reading experience. In fact, after I detected the first few typos, I became obsessed with this and now I find myself constantly checking the printed edition. Very annoying!!!

In order for you to get an idea of the amount of typos and then decide if you still want to buy it, let me tell you that I have until now read the book until chapter XVII and have already found around 20 typos, but I am sure I have missed many. I have already reported these typos to the people of the Project Gutenberg and I will continue to do so until I finish reading the book. So, if I were you, I would wait until I finish reading the book ;-) and then simply download the Gutenberg version with the corrected typos.

A true classic and an epic of suffering, paying back the noble souls and seek unforgiving revenge against the wicked ones responsible for one's miseries.
Flying in the face of christian forgiveness, and for this reason a source of scandal in deeply catholic France when the book came out, Dumas' masterpiece tells perpetual truths about human nature, unsettling as those might be.
Like in all cases, the original beats translations. If you can read French fluently, get this version.

liked the book as a learning tool to refresh my french