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Two Essays on The Count of Monte Cristo

I love The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I have read the unabridged version more than once, and my most recent reread was in 2023. At that time, I wrote a couple of brief essays which I posted on Tumblr, one of which was about a canonically queer character and the other discussed a character who is often left out of the various adaptations. I present for you these essays with expansion and alteration, because I keep returning to them as pieces of writing and because I don't want them to be limited to those original posts. I'd like to thank longtime Patron Case Aiken, who receives a monthly shoutout, as well as new patrons DivineJasper and Sasha Khan. (Quotes are from Robin Buss’ English translation of Alexandre Dumas’ work.) Link to Audio Version. ----- Canonical Queerness in The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas You’d need to change surprisingly little of The Count of Monte Cristo to confirm Eugénie Danglars as a trans man (or a masc-leaning nonbinary person...
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Son by Lois Lowry (The Giver Quartet, #4)

"Son" depicts sacrifice and longing in the context of a mother and son separated by the community from The Giver. Languid and urgent in turns, it brings the quartet together in a very satisfying way, giving the feeling that everyone will continue after.

The mixed feelings I'd had about the second installment (Gathering Blue) are completely wiped away with this one. I wanted more from that book and here I got a whole lot more. The characters grow and change through time in ways that feel consistent with how we met them, while also allowing for change that feels genuine.

Claire's story is very well handled. I'm someone who has never had the desire to have kids, but the emotional beats felt genuine and still made sense to someone with my perspective on this issue.

Overall I've enjoyed the whole quartet and would recommend them as a gentle introduction to dystopian fiction, or as a very good entry in that genre for those who have delved a bit more.


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