The Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

If you are anything like me, this novel is going to blow you away and you will come back to it many times. The Count Of Monte Cristo has amazing writing, awesome characters, a timeless story, adventure, suspense and you will love, despair and rejoice with Edmond Dantes as he struggles with revenge and finds his way to happiness.

Here are my top three arguments to entice you to read this awesome book:

R-Rated, Not A Book For Children

'Ah, a children's novel!', a Russian film-maker remarked when Robin Buss, the translator behind the ultimate and unabridged English edition, told her that he was translating The Count Of Monte Cristo.

Her comment reflects how people perceive the book. They know the basic story: innocent man imprisoned, learns of hidden treasure, escapes and then plots revenge on those who destroyed his life. However, what they do not know is that this popular classic book has suffered omissions, edits and changes in the majority of its translations, as well as abridgments of the original work in French. The fact that these cuts and changes were made should tell you something.

A children's novel? How many children's novels do you know that, Buss replies, "involve a female serial poisoner, two cases of infanticide, a stabbing and three suicides; an extended scene of torture and execution,; drug-induced sexual fantasies, illegitimacy, transvestism and lesbianism?"

Not a one.

If you haven't read Robin Buss' translation of the book, you haven't actually read the English version of The Count Of Monte Cristo.

Based On A True Story

Dumas was inspired to write The Count Of Monte Cristo by an anecdote he found in the Parisian police archives, concerning one Francois Picaud.

Francois Picaud was a young man from the south of France who was imprisoned in 1807 after being denounced as an English spy. The denunciation came shortly after he had become engaged to a young woman called Marguerite. The denunciation was inspired by Mathieu Loupian, a caffe owner who was jealous of Picaud's relationship with Marguerite and of their newfound happiness.

In the later years of his imprisonment, Picaud was moved to a form of house-arrest in the castle of Fenestrelle, where he acted as a servant to a rich Italian priest. The priest grew fond of Picaud and after his death left all his money to him, including the whereabouts of a hidden treasure. After the fall of Napoleon in 1814, Picaud was released, changed his name to Joseph Lucher, collected the hidden treasure and returned to Paris.

In Paris, he discovered that Marguerite married Loupian. He learned the names of all those involved in his denunciation (by giving a valuable diamond to Allut, a man who did not participate in the betrayal) and proceeded to exact his vengeance - he stabbed one with a dagger (on which the words 'Number One' were printed), poisoned another, lured Loupian's son into crime and his daughter into prostitution, then finally stabbed Loupian himself. In the end, he was killed by Allut over disagreement on blackmail payments.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

If You Have Seen A Film, A TV Adaptation Or Read An Abridged Version Of The Count Of Monte Cristo - You Still Might Not Know The Original Story

The book has been butchered many different times, through many different abridged and watered-down editions, and many tv adaptations and films took huge liberties with the material, condensing it, eliminating certain unpleasant parts and even changing key parts of the core storyline.

The first time I read Robin Buss' Penguin edition of the book, I was blown away. The book was unlike anything I had read before, and even my memory from the book I read in elementary school was nothing like the actual story.

This is my favorite book, and although it isn't perfect, it's so full of amazing moments and brilliant writing, that I am about to read its 1138 pages for the fifth time in 15 years.

You should give it a go too!