“The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas is a book I read for the first a time long ago — probably even 30 years ago. Recently I read a blog post where someone wrote how they reread the book after many years and still thought it was a great adventure book. Motivated by the post I also started to reread this classic.

The plot is fairly well known as many movies have been filmed based on the book: A young man gets thrown into prison shortly after announcing his wedding with the woman he loves. He spends several years there and finally succeeds to flee. During his time in prison he has learnt much from a fellow prisoner who also gave him directions to a place where a huge treasure was hidden. Now he uses his time and wealth to plan and execute vengeances against the people who originally plotted against him and caused him being imprisoned.

It was fun rereading this book. It is a timeless classic and very worthwhile.

Interestingly hashish is described as a wondrous substance in at least two places bringing great joy to the people who use it. I didn’t remember this detail and was astonished to find such a direct promotion of drug usage in this book.

The count does not only destroy other people. He also does good unto some people he deems worthy for some reason. But those acts of goodness are longwinded. It adds to the suspense of the book but also makes the count appear to be a show-off. This leaves a blemish on his otherwise mostly noble character. I wonder if that was Dumas plan or if he just did it for the sake of grander stories.