caffeinatedkiwi's review against another edition
2.0
I don't have a problem with retellings of classic stories. But I DO have a problem with the non-disclosure of the fact. Nowhere in the details of my edition did it say something like, 'A modern-day .' Instead, it baited me with the promise of an exciting but ambiguous tale of injustice and revenge...so only when I was a decent way into it I thought, 'Wait a minute, I know how this goes...'
I enjoy retellings and remakes when I'm prepared for them; when it's what I want to read at that time. But because it hadn't been disclosed in this instance, so I was anticipating something new, its parallels were essentially spoilers — I knew how the story would go, even though I was a long way from the back of the book.
Such a duping cost its star-rating, from me, dearly.
Spoiler
Count of Monte ChristoI enjoy retellings and remakes when I'm prepared for them; when it's what I want to read at that time. But because it hadn't been disclosed in this instance, so I was anticipating something new, its parallels were essentially spoilers — I knew how the story would go, even though I was a long way from the back of the book.
Such a duping cost its star-rating, from me, dearly.
librarylove4eva's review against another edition
4.0
Sometimes, when I read a re-telling of a classic, I am sorely disappointed. The Count of Monte Cristo is not only a classic: it is a book I have loved for decades. It fills this reader's needs for justice. Those who do you wrong should pay.
This modern retelling does not disappoint. Raymond White is a man who escapes prison after almost 20 years of paying for a crime he did not commit. His friends set him up to take the fall for a murder. He uses the wealth gained after befriending an old art thief to make a new life for himself and to exact the revenge he has anticipated for almost two decades.
It's not always plausible (White spent most of 20 years in isolation? White can turn a stripper into a pop diva? The three hundred pound villain can defeat three other men with guns?)
But, it is a great story and a likable one.
Recommended.
This modern retelling does not disappoint. Raymond White is a man who escapes prison after almost 20 years of paying for a crime he did not commit. His friends set him up to take the fall for a murder. He uses the wealth gained after befriending an old art thief to make a new life for himself and to exact the revenge he has anticipated for almost two decades.
It's not always plausible (White spent most of 20 years in isolation? White can turn a stripper into a pop diva? The three hundred pound villain can defeat three other men with guns?)
But, it is a great story and a likable one.
Recommended.
jnlecu's review
4.0
Good book! A fast paced story that kept my attention all the way through. Not bad for a dollar store find!
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