I think that fact that this novel is abridged had a lot to do with my distaste for it.

I read this for French class and, seeing as French is not my first language, we were understandably given this version of the book. Unfortunately, I got little out of this novel. It's not because I didn't understand it, in fact, I understood this novel quite succinctly. My main grievance is that it was too simplistic, so simplistic that it was shaven down over a thousand pages from its original. Everything took place way too quickly and with so little attention to detail.

I do like the story itself though, and I hope to pick up this novel's English counterpart in the future.