Thursday, September 12, 2013

Classics Retold - Intro

This month I signed up to participate in The Classics Retold, hosted by Bookish Whimsy. Her idea was to read on of the classics and then talk about it and its adaptations.
I decided to not choose Sherlock Holmes (because you know my obession and here). But to step out and read a book that I have wanted to try for some time "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas.
Here is the summary per Amazon: "The Three Musketeers tells the story of the early adventures of the young Gascon gentleman, D'Artagnan and his three friends from the regiment of the King's Musketeers - Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Under the watchful eye of their patron M. de Treville, the four defend the honour of the regiment against the guards of Cardinal Richelieu, and the honour of the queen against the machinations of the Cardinal himself as the power struggles of seventeenth century France are vividly played out in the background. But their most dangerous encounter is with the Cardinal's spy, Milady, one of literature's most memorable female villains, and Dumas employs all his fast-paced narrative skills to bring this enthralling novel to a breathtakingly gripping and dramatic conclusion."
I have to say that it was a slight hard read for me, it's one of the few times that I had watched the adaptations before reading the book. I kept trying to place my visual of Kiefer Sutherland into the character of Athos. Because I may have been bit Sutherland obessed in the time that movie came out.
The characters have traits of the movies I had seen but they did not draw me to them as they did in the movie. In fact I really couldn't stand Porthos and Aramis of the book.
D'Artagnan is likeable in the book but his ability to fall in and out of love so quickly is astounding.
The author's writing style is quit different than anything else I had read. It is playful and talks to the audience, it wasn't bad just took some getting use to.
Overall I would recommend it if for no other reason than to say you read it. And to get a better understanding of the back story to the movies.
Come back next week for the first of two movie comparisons.

~ Cassi
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1 comment:

  1. I read this awhile ago but I remember finding the characters less likeable than I expected to from the movie too. I hope you can find some re-tellings that more enjoyable :)

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