Cliffs Notes on Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo

by CliffsNotes, James L. Roberts (Editor)

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer a look into critical elements and ideas within classic works of literature. CliffsNotes on The Count of Monte Cristo takes you into a rollicking yarn of adventure, wit, and revenge. Following the story of a man imprisoned for 14 years who escapes by outsmarting his captors, this study guide shows through its expert commentaries just how the Count works justice with a vengeance on his enemies. Other features that help you figure out this important work include

Genres: Reference

92 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 1985

About the author

CliffsNotes is the original (and most widely imitated) study guide. CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams.

Reviews

[Carlos Soriano · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cliffs Notes for Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo" was written by James L. Roberts, who was teaching in the English Department at the University of Nebraska. The book is copyrighted 2000.

The Cliffs Notes are based on an abridged 73-chapter edition of the novel. The original book is quite a bit longer. For example, the edition by Barnes & Noble has 119 chapters.

However, the Cliffs Notes does a pretty good job of summarizing the main plot and describing all the main characters. The commentaries provide interesting insight behind the thinking processes of the characters, particularly Edmond Dantes aka Count of Monte Cristo who turns out to be a lot less heroic as popular media makes him out to be. The content is also very helpful in keeping track of all the multiple identities and names that many of the characters have.

Based on this, I would recommend these Cliffs Notes no matter if you are reading an abridged or the complete edition of the novel.

[Robin Redden · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a classic literature novel of the size of "The Count of Monte Cristo" (unabridged it is 1243 pages), written in the early 1800's, and due to the number of storylines and characters in the story, a reader needs some support. The Cliff Notes provides that necessary support. I find Cliff Notes to depend on the translation or version (abridged or not) one is reading - I read the unabridged Penguin Classics version of the novel translated by Robin Buss. The Count of Monte Cristo. The Cliff Notes version by Arnie Jacobson tracked it extremely well and I only noticed a few small discrepancies - likely due to differing translations.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a firm believer that using cliff notes should not replace reading the actual novel itself. I used this as a reference to catch up on what had happened in the previous chapters I read and it provided a nice "refersher." It also helped me keep track of the list of characters and the twists and turns in the plot. I have been trying to finish The Count of Monte Cristo for almost four years. (I refuse to give up). I two two different copies (one hardcopy and one on my Nook) and the only downside to this, is that the chapter numbers in the cliff notes version don't match the chapter numbers in either edition that I own.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am once again thankful for my dear friend Cliff. We have been out of touch for some time (since high school when he helped me read "The Scarlet Letter"). I found this book to be a great help when I had to set the book down for a month because it was due back at the library. It helped me keep track of who was who (because no one can keep their name the same!) Cliff Notes, not just for students.

[Matt Dillard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to go through the story again, but I didn't glean very much from the Cliffs Notes. Unlike "As I Lay Dying", this book was pretty straight-forward, and didn't need much explaining.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I noticed a few inconsistencies between this companion book and the actual novel itself.