There’s an element of this in the Count of Monte Cristo which similarly gave me mixed feelings.

I’ve forgotten whether that was stated, but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me.

This true, but he acquired a level of knowledge about the world and borderline omniscience of the personalities and circumstances of the main people in France that to me exceeds what a motivated human could be capable of. (I admit maybe I’m just envious or being small-minded.)

In addition to that, the Count’s slaves invariably succeed at achieving the Count’s exact wishes from his often broadly-described requests. At one point he even comments about how that are so attuned to his needs that this type of perfect service is possible. These servants/slaves are in Paris (and working with the highest society) for the very first time, yet they still always manage to carry out the Count’s requests on expedited schedule and with zero hiccups.

I already want to re-read the chapter in which we meet Villefort chatting with and bragging to his friends and family about wielding so much power in condemning people to prison or worse. I recall that chapter being pretty boring and confusing with the many fanciful names and virtually zero context of their interrelationships. No doubt this was by design. Now that we know the characters, I’m sure Dumas left tons of clues about their personalities and relationships that would actually make the chapter really fun to re-read.

Props for going into it with a bleh mentality and sticking with it! There’s no way I would’ve finished the book if I hadn’t glanced through a few of these types of Reddit posts with almost unanimous love for the book.

Slow burn is the perfect description, which I think I’ve heard others use as well.

I too was surprised by the emotions I felt, especially in the descriptions of Valentine and Morrel’s love for one another. I’m somewhat of a cold-hearted bastard when it comes to relationships, and this book definitely helped me start seeing the beauty behind an incredibly robust love and unconditional devotion.

Sometimes the story feels like a slough because various parts seem to be superfluous. One beauty I enjoyed throughout the book was trying to think about how the part I was currently reading could possible matter for the Count’s inevitable revenge. Invariably, every detail of the story had a purpose and wasn’t just filler even though sometimes Dumas was clearly disguising those parts so that we might forget about them only to be blindsided by those details later when he would suddenly reveal how those details truly mattered.

Being a big fan of football (namely, fantasy football), I definitely see countless posts about CMC (Christian McCaffrey) every week.

You will NOT be disappointed. I recently finished the book after picking it up and putting it down over the course of a year (sometimes re-reading entire chapters when I’d forgotten some parts). I’m simply not much of a reader. Like OP, I think I can totally become an avid reader thanks to this book.

The important thing about the book is to enjoy the journey. Undoubtedly, the buildup of anticipation for what comes next is overwhelming and makes you want to fly through the very long book. I had to remind myself to enjoy the long ride because the buildups truly make the bits of relief sprinkled throughout and toward the end so much more rewarding.

I considered much of those immediate purchases coupled with immediate decorating to be part of the unrealistic fantasy world in which the Count had so perfectly plotted every precise piece of vengeance. Even with the mega-wealthy, so much of this stuff takes time and requires the expertise of true professionals in those industries …as opposed to slaves or former criminals who are merely so devoted to their new master that they’ve acquired such attention to his details that they’ve organically developed the skill set that would take real professionals years or decades to develop.

I agree that it broke my heart how Mercedes’ life fell apart far worse than she deserved. While she herself felt guilt for abandoning Dantes, I think the main betrayal Dantes felt by Mercedes was how she allowed his father to continue living in squalor and depression only to die pathetically and alone.

I’ll just point out that it wasn’t (just) imprisonment that made Edmond so desensitized and thrilled by things like public executions. At one point in the story, he talks about how during his travels he forced himself to observe such revolting things in order to harden and prepare him for what would be necessary to exact what he believed to be a divine revenge.