The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

I loved the movie and decided to read the book. I loved it too although it was quite different.

Interesting concepts: Dantes believes himself to be God's avenging angel... I think that although God often uses people to "punish the wicked" in his own due time, these people, if acting out of revenge, are actually comminting a sin. Dantes realizes that to some extent when things get out of hand and his enemies punishments end up being a lot harsher then Dantes intended. Feeling repentant, Dantes pardons, Danglar, his third enemy before his punishment is carried out completely.
Things I liked better in the book than the movie: I loved the way Alexandre Dumas describes the expression and the body language of the characters. The reader feels that much more involved.
In the book, you see Dantes doing good around him, especially toward the Morrell family.
Things I liked less in the book than the movie: I like fairy tales! In the movie, Albert is actually Dantes' son and Mercedes only married someone else upon Dantes' imprisonment because she was pregnant. When Dantes, comes back he gets both Mercedes and Albert back. '
My favorite parts: I really enjoyed the wisdom of the Abbe Faria.
The end of the book, when all "the dominoes fall" was very exciting, especially when Benedetto reveals, in the middle of a court session, that he is M. de Villefort illegitimate son.
The way Monte Cristo shatters most of the remainder of Danglar's fortune is hilarious although the reader is brutally brought back to soberness upon the recall of Dante's own starved to death father.
The reuniting of Maximilian and Valentine was of course sublime. From the time of Valentine's "death"until her reappearance, the author does a fantastic job of cruelly playing with the reader's emotion. He had me both anxiously hoping and desperately wondering.

Great read!!