The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

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Title: The Three Musketeers Author: Alexandre Dumas Genre: Classics Rating: 8/10 # pages: 965 Date read: April, 2008

Summary: Mixing a bit of seventeenth-century French history with a great deal of invention, Alexandre Dumas tells the tale of young D'Artagnan and his musketeer comrades, Porthos, Athos and Aramis. Together they fight to foil the schemes of the brilliant, dangerous Cardinal Richelieu, who pretends to support the king while plotting to advance his own power. Bursting with swirling swordplay, swooning romance, and unforgettable figures such as the seductively beautiful but deadly femme fatale, Milady, and D'Artagnan's equally beautiful love, Madame Bonacieux, The Three Musketeers continues, after a century and a half of continuous publication, to define the genre of swashbuckling romance and historical adventure.

Review: Now this is what I call a true classic. It has it all - love, hate, intrigues, fighting, people pretending to be somebody they're not, secrets... no wonder it's such a popular book to turn into a movie. It has a lot of the same atmosphere as Robin Hood (the movie, not the book), Ivanhoe etc. except that in this one the heros have faults and flaws. I didn't always like the four main characters nor think they acted nobly - unlike e.g. Robin Hood, they weren't always selflessly good, they had temperaments and vices... in short, they were human.

The only reason why I didn't rate it higher is that Alexandre Dumas was paid by the word, and at times it shows as the book is occasionally rather slow-moving. Not enough to make me give up on it obviously, but enough that I didn't rush through it like I would a really excellent book

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Comments

[aurillia.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it, I really enjoyed it too, for all the reasons you mentioned - though I prefer The Count of Monte Cristo. I was a bit astounded at the number of pages though; I was so sure mine was a relatively slim book (maybe it looks that way because it's next to The Count!), and I had to check - mine's only 720 pages (it's Penguin). Why's yours longer? More to the point, what is mine missing??!!

[bogormen.livejournal.com]

Probably nothing. Mine was a heavily illustrated version, so it wouldn't surprise me if the remaining 200 pages were all pictures.

The Count is on my to-read list as well :-)

[irinaauthor.livejournal.com]

Yay! Yay yay yay! You finished it! Now I know two people who have read this book! (I forced it on Steve shortly after we started dating.) What was your favorite part? I have three, I think:

1. When d'Artagnan goes to find out what happened to his friends after resolving the diamond studs thing, and finds that Porthos is pretending to have a Duchess for a girlfriend, Aramis is pining for M. de Cheveruse and wants to become a priest, and Athos is drunk in the basement. I always crack up at the Aramis part especially, and his absurd thesis about blessing with two fingers or three.

2. When they all have breakfast at the Saint-Gervais bastion and set up the dead bodies to look like guards, freaking the Huguenots out.

3. After they've killed Milady, when d'Artagnan presents the Cardinal's own "It is for the good of the state that the bearer has done this," letter to him, so the Cardinal can't send him to prison.

God, I love this book so much.

[bogormen.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed 1 and 3 as well, but while I thought 2 was amusing, it also felt a bit like one of those things Dumas just added in to make the book longer. It was a fun scene though.

My favourite is probably the very beginning where in the course of one run through Paris, d'Artagnan manages to be challenged to a duel by Porthos, Aramis and Athos on the same day. Funny!

I'm glad you made me read it :) I'd probably never have gotten around to do so if it hadn't been for your recommendation. Thank you :)