Wednesday Widening Gyre

[evelyn_b]

What I've Finished Reading

How Dear is Life - war comes to Europe, Philip joins the local Territorials, suffers embarrassment and shame, and is marched all over France and Belgium. At home, a familiar situation: the number of news sources has exploded, but no one knows what's true and what's false, and hardly anyone has the time to wonder in the

Comments

[osprey_archer]

Oh Fernand. I must confess I felt a tiny twinge of sorrow for him when he shot himself, because he had just lost absolutely everything he cared about and, well, of course that's exactly what he did to Dantes so you can't say it's unjust, but. I did still feel a little sorry for him.

Also: aaagh, Valentine! Does Dantes realize that his little poisoning scheme has gotten out of hand now that three people have died? Or was his plan always to have Villefort's entire family die around him before Mme Villefort finally gets around to killing him? Dantes, Dantes! But thank goodness Noirtier is there to act as Valentine's guardian angel. All he can do is blink and he's still tougher than his son.

I am a couple chapters ahead of you, I think. All the Eugenie scenes are A++ material, even by the high standards Dumas has set for himself (although nothing will ever top the scene where Mercedes comes to beg the Count's clemency for her son).

[evelyn_b]

:( :( :(

From the way he reacted to Maximilian, I got the impression that Dantes intended the poisonings to cut as wide a swath through Villefort's family as possible, because of the sins of the fathers etc.. Now he's rethinking the sins of the fathers thing, but he hasn't totally convinced himself out of it. He's flailing a little. That's my impression; I could be wrong. Poor everyone. :(

Eugenie is the best. I've just read Ch. 97, and it's like a whole little novel in there; you can see the imprint of all the mental and emotional adjustments she's made over the years in order to live her own life in her father's house. And she's a match for him! Danglars isn't as clever as he thinks he is, but Eugenie is exactly as clever as Danglars thinks he is.

Mercedes turning up in her DRAMA VEIL to beg clemency has got to be one of the top ten scenes in human history.

[osprey_archer]

OH DANTES, revenge is so complicated. It's such a problem when the people you have tried to manipulate into poisoning your enemies poison their virtuous stepdaughters instead!

(Does this make Valentine Snow White? Hmm.)

I want to read The Novel Of Eugenie now. Do you think anyone has written one? There is sort of a cottage industry of spin-off novels from classics, after all... although I don't think I've ever seen one for The Count of Monte Cristo.

[evelyn_b]

I'm TORN because on the one hand, if the Novel of Eugenie existed, obviously I would have to read it as soon as I found out, but what if it's bad?? OR WORSE, what if it's technically accomplished and emotionally rich, but buries Louise and Eugenie under a slag heap of grim realism instead of giving them the dashing romantic adventures and well-earned comforts that God and Dumas intended?

Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself. I don't know! But clearly I should find out!

[liadtbunny]

I feel I won't be inviting Durrell around for tea!

[evelyn_b]

He'll hide your scones and replace them with aphorisms about sex, women, and writing! You'll be all, "Durrell, where are the scones? They were supposed to be for everyone," and he'll be like, "There were never any scones, only the rancid opium dream of the great whore Alexandria, whose eye-crusts we were, each in our separate yet equally imaginary desolation. dropping between her scented fingers into the sands of ageless Egypt."

Or Bakewell Cherry Tarts or whatever you have out. Best not to invite him at all.

[liadtbunny]

But I do have too many mince pies ...

[lost_spook]

It's not as if Dantes is poisoning people, though. He's just sort of encouraging convenient poisoning in others! (Revenge, it's so complicated, why do your enemies have to have nice people in their families? :loL:)

After reading that paragraph, I have to say that my feelings towards Lawrence Durrell are unmixed. (Will never be reading any of his stuff, if only because my head is still spinning from trying to make any of those sentences make sense. Throw in the rape she no doubt enjoyed and we're done before we started, I think.)

Count of Monte Cristo, though! ;-)

[evelyn_b]

I don't tend to show Durrell at his best because the compulsion to make fun of him is too strong. He does have some very good moments and I like the "plan" of the Alexandria Quartet; jury's still out on what I'm going to think of it when I finish Clea. But yeah, that's fair.

DANTES DANTES DANTES. I don't think he even knows what he wants anymore. He's so upset! that conveniently encouraging a Villefort family poisoning spree has UNEXPECTEDLY hurt a member of the virtuous Morrel family! dantes it appears you have some lessons yet to learn (says the ghost of Abbe Faria) (in my head, at least).

[a_phoenixdragon]

*HUGS*

[scripsi]

You know, I was always surprised Lord Peter Wimsey clearly hasn't read Monte Christo, despite being so well read. I guessed the murderer way Before him in one of the books just because *I* had. :D

[evelyn_b]

No one can read everything all the time! I shudder to think how narrowly I've escaped never reading Monte Cristo at all.

Probably he did read it at some point, but because he can't or WON'T heed the advice of Sherlock Holmes and keep his mental attic clear of extraneous information, the relevant parts just got lost somewhere among the garbage and the Gilbert and Sullivan.

If we're thinking of the same mystery, it remains one of the only times I've correctly guessed the murderer (on page ten!) simply because of the way information was introduced.