I'm really glad I decided to stick with this book. I found the conclusion to be very nuanced and the book as a whole to be completely fascinating. I had only ever seen film adaptations of the book before and only had a general sense of the plot. The book itself is so much more than a simple revenge story, and Dantes character is SO much more complicated than the straightforward hero he is portrayed as. Rather than exacting his revenge in a very straightforward manner (i.e. just outright murdering those who wronged him or challenging them to a duel he would doubtless win) the path his revenge takes is so long and intricate and convoluted that one has to truly feel that he did in fact go mad while he was in prison. Not once does he simply dispatch an individual, but rather allows their lives to gradually fall apart in the most heartbreaking, malicious, devastating ways. He turns sons and daughters against their fathers, is complicit in murder. Really horrific stuff. Is he justified in the way he carries out his revenge? Would any man who, being found guilty and forced to suffer in prison for 15 years, to lose his father to poverty, his lover to another man be able to act differently? The end of the book, where Monte Cristo redeems himself with Morrel's son is really quite fascinating for me. The happy ending I was expecting based on the movies (Dantes and Mercedes running off together) was not the ending I got, but that did not make it any less "happy." In "The Black Count" I learned that Dumas believed that his grandmother and grandfather were married, whereas most historical records indicate the contrary (he freed Dumas' father but never his grandmother or his other children). Haidee, then, seems to be Dumas' romanticized version of his own grandmother in the same way that Dantes reflects aspects of his father's character. Eugenie Danglers, an all but overt lesbian, is another fascinating character that was excised from film adaptations. The fact that she is a musician may reflect Dumas' personal background in theater and the gays he knew from that world. Very interesting stuff from a book written in the 19th century. Really, I do recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an interesting character study or historical drama. It is not, however, the thrilling, sword fighting, simple revenge story that it is made out to be. The first and last thirds of the book are mesmerizing, the middle third a bit of slog, but read it and read it unabridged. If I can do it, anyone can.