Abby
05-24-2005, 06:07 PM
I am a huge procrastinator but also a fast reader, and I had someone else pick this book up for me in town. They called and said, "Are you sure you want the unabridged version?" and I said, "Yeah, of course," and they brought it home and it was 1462 pages. Ouch. And here I was with a week and a half before I had to turn in a 10-page paper on it. Well, luckily for me, it was gripping! I mean, I couldn't put the thing down, which was a pretty good workout, too. (1500-page books aren't quite featherweights.) Well, my paper's due tomorrow, but I wanted to take some time off writing it to say DON'T READ THE ABRIDGED VERSION!! Once I finished my big-motha version, I picked up a friend's abridged copy (same class, same assignment) and it read like a dime novel. I was not impressed. Totally, people, go unabridged. It's SO worth it; the beauty of language, depth of character development, richness of plotlines . . . absolutely fantastic. I'd expected to hate it, especially after watching the far-too-predictable movie. It drives me nuts that they changed the ending for the movie, because I'd especially liked how Dumas subtly emphasized that Mercédès and Edmond were NOT sleeping together before he was arrested. So then, in the movie, when she says that Albert is Dantés' son, it sort of destroys that. But anyway. Yeah, loved it. Will probably read it again as soon as I have more time.