more CMC

I'm probably 2/3 the way through the Count of Monte Cristo and woefully behind on keeping y'all up to date on what's happening. When last we left our hero, he was floating gently toward the sea, tied in a bag and about to drown.

After escaping (to find out how, Read The Book), Dantes joins the crew of a ship and figures out how to get to the treasure. At this point he undergoes a transformation and makes himself into several different characters, including the Count of Monte Cristo, a priest, an English lord, and some others that he uses throughout the rest of the book. He begins manipulating people and events in order to gain revenge against his enemies: the men who wronged him in order to put him in prison and those who wronged him while he was imprisoned.

Things get a might complicated from here on out, with a bunch of Paris scenesters, wives and children getting involved, and no one has the name with which he or she began the book. It's a bit like a Russian novel in that sense (insert Oprahkarinina joke here). The Count has also picked up a whole entourage of slaves and servants, most of whom owe him their lives for some reason or another. There's also some backstory fill-in that makes the revenge plots work.

I won't go over every twist and turn, but for those who enjoy intrigue, there are several. CMC still gets two thumbs up from me, but I'm realizing that I will have plenty of time to read another long novel this summer. Suggestions?