THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

That's a pretty good book. I read this book back in 8th grade. It was the abridged version, that was probably about 400 pages, but it took several months to finish.

Obviously reading such an advanced book is a big undertaking for an eight-grader, but I had my reasons. You see, The Count of Monte Cristo is an epic tale of revenge - revenge at all costs. And I had a thing or two to learn about revenge.

The thing about books is that a book - one single book, and no more - can change your life. It's extremely rare that this happens. If you read enough books, though, that might change your life a little. It's probably not worth the time, though. That's why they make movies!

When I read The Count of Monte Cristo, I was still just a child; a mere immature little boy; and when my friend Stan told me that I sucked at the French horn, I didn't know how to handle it. For all I knew, the proper response was to let it slide (he was clearly joking, after all) and go on with my life. I needed some one - or some thing - to guide me. And then I had to read the book The Count of Monte Cristo for school, and that's how I learned how to get revenge.

The book is about a man who gets thrown in prison for killing his wife. But it turns out that he didn't do it! There's a remake of this book called "The Fugitive". In that film, Harrison Ford is an ex-doctor who aches to prove that he didn't do the crime - and thus, shouldn't do the time. He miraculously escapes when his prisoner transport bus crashes; he goes to the hospital to find the piece of paper that says he didn't do it. That proves harder than he imagined; but all he wants is revenge on the guy who really did do it. It was then that the U.S. marshals get involved.

In the sequel, "U.S. Marshals", Tommy Lee Jones chases Wesley Snipes around. I don't know the plot, but I'm fairly certain it's similar to "The Fugitive". At any rate, at the end of the Fugitive, Harrison Ford jumps off a dam to escape from the police. Then an hour and a half later (in screentime) he finally finds justice. He catches up with the one-armed man who killed his wife, and he probably throws him off a building.

Obviously, "The Count of Monte Cristo" isn't as good as this remake, because A. it's a book, and B. it's old - thus, outdated. But it was still okay. The plot is basically the same, except replace all modern technology with the older counterpart.

Any-way, what I learned from the book is that you shouldn't take revenge on people. It takes the main guy his entire life to get his revenge. I may be young, but I don't have that kind of time. I still have other stuff to live for. So I just went up to Stan (the friend who said I sucked at French horn) and told him that what he'd said had hurt my feelings, and that he should maybe be a little more thoughtful next time. Then he told me I suck a duck, and I cried and ran out of the room; and that, as they say, is a story without a hero!