Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
I've never, after four tries, been able to finish TTM. And I have, absolutely, tried. I simply can't.
It's not particularly the treatment of the women, although it's despicable by the standards of any point in time, after the cave.
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I simply don't see, time period or otherwise, what "Chivalry" or "honor" exists in the book. Nor humor, unless you're partial to the sort of crude, mean-spirited humor that infects 12-y.o. boys. (And out of which they grow, hopefully.)
"Romantic heroes?" In whose book, no pun intended? I see absolutely nothing romantic about any of them, in any sense of the word. I find them pretty loathsome, all in, on all fronts.
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The behavior that is so odious isn't related to the time period. We're not talking about that, in any way, manner, shape or form. I think most of us can look past behavior that's related to a point in time; we can read Mark Twain, etc.
I simply can't tell myself that the decidedly non-heroic antics of this gang is based in that. It seems, rather, to be based in an utterly narcissistic, nearly-sociopathic disregard for the lives, the quality of live, the feelings or existence of anyone beyond themselves. The only reason, IMHO, that this book has survived as it has is because the "high points" of the book--the alleged honorable swordfights, working for the "good guys" etc., are what get remembered and what are portrayed in the myriad movies, all of which ignore completely the more-disgusting, and more-telling, behavior of our "heroes."
I have thousands of books in my home, more on my Kindles, and I can count on one hand the number that I've never finished. This counts as one of them.
FWIW.
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I completely agree, Hitch. This was the third or fourth time I've tried to read T3M, and it's the last time I'll even try. I just don't find anything whatsoever in their behaviour that is in any way laudable or even excusable. And it isn't just the period in time -- the treatment of others is reprehensible at any point in history.
I'm really sorry we had to read this particular Dumas. His others are not as bad, if my memory serves me correctly. In fact, I quite enjoyed both
The Count of Monte Cristo and
The Man in the Iron Mask when I read them many years ago.