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·¡±ô±ô±ð²Ô’s comments from the Reading the Chunksters group.

I'd like to read something a little more contemporary so I nominate A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth.

I'm intrigued to find out where Magdalen went.

I found Francis Clare hilarious.

I'm still reading the book but I have to say it has disappointed me. There's so much detail about the magic that, for me, it overwhelms and distracts from the plot and the characters. It just feels like one long intellectual exercise by the author's imagination - and I still have no idea what, if anything, she is trying to say.

I don't find myself caring that much about what happens to either magician. I am interested enough to want to finish the book to find out what happens with the magic. Maybe the author wanted to make magic the prime focus but it feels very dry.

This book is quite a tour de force of imagination and I find that part amazing. But I am stumped about what the author is trying to say or the meaning she is trying to convey.

I'd love to know what others' thoughts are.

I have to say there are too many people and too many side doings for my taste. I marvel at the author's imagination and her ability to make it all seem real but she loses me at times with her multitude of imaginative digressions.

I'm in Volume 2 so I won't say anything about what happens next but I will say I find the thread about Emma Wintertowne the most compelling.

I have started this book and put it down in the past but am determined to get through it this time. I, too, find it a bit prosaic for a fantasy book, even though it seems obvious that the author's intention is to make magic seem prosaic.

I'm at the beginning of Chapter 15 and the book has me quite intrigued at this point.

I found this 2004 interview with the author pretty interesting.

I had trouble in the middle of the book up until around this part. I started to really enjoy it again once the revenge plot really got going.

My two favorites are the grandfather and Eugenie Danglars. But I also got a kick out of Cavalcanti and son.

I finished the book a few weeks ago and I, too, encourage people to keep reading. I found it dragged a lot after the count got out of prison but starting around here, it really picked up for me and kept going until the end.

That's a good point and I do not recall all the details of Bertuccio getting out of jail. I do recall that Dantes wore a disguise when he was Busoni

For me, this is where the book started to get really engaging again. I was engaged at the beginning, through Dantes' prison time and escape and then it lagged for me in Italy and at the opera.

The scene with Bertuccio getting dripped on made me cry out loud it was so surprisingly gross.

Yes, Busoni is Dantes. We learned that when he visited Caderousse and gave him the jewel.

I'm close to the end of the book and I still get confused with all the characters.

Wikipedia has a list and explanation of them all. I just had to look up someone

I found the part about Albert getting rescued laugh-out-loud funny. I think it was meant to show us what a dope he is. But I also found his dopiness endearing. I'm not sure if Dumas meant that or not.

I'm still ahead.

I'm on Chapter 70 something. I don't have any good quotes at hand but will keep a lookout when I pick up the book again, hopefully tomorrow.

I will say that the book really bogged down for me starting with Chapter 31 and then on and off again for many chapters. That's when I put it down in previous attempts. But it has really picked up for me since then.

So I think if you plow through, you'll find it worthwhile. A lot of what happens in those chapters have bearing on the later action. I'm glad I have.

I believe the situation with Caderousse and the jewel becomes clearer later on so I won't say anything about that now.

I'm further ahead but something that struck me today when I was reading is true from before Chapter 24 - and that is the role of disinformation in the book. There's the disinformation that sent Dantes to prison and the disinformation he uses to his own advantage afterwards.

It struck me because disinformation is such a big topic today.

Lorna, I think Bill Homewood is a very good narrator, at least for this book. There are some I can't listen to at all, either.